In 2004, the Chiefs lost Priest Holmes to injury. In 2005, the Chiefs lost Willie Roaf to retirement. In 2006, the Chiefs lost Trent Green in an ill-advised trade. In 2007, the Chiefs lost Jared Allen to what I can only assume was a bar bet gone wrong. I had hoped that a change in management might bring an end to this recent trend of losing the franchise’s best player at the conclusion of each season. My hopes have been dashed.
In the past three months I have vacillated between cautious optimism and cautious criticism toward the new regime at One Arrowhead Drive. Tonight I’m throwing caution to the wind, and I’m sending optimism along to ride shotgun. It’s time for criticism.
Todd Haley’s father, Dick Haley, was a personnel man for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1971 to 1990. Pittsburgh’s consistently strong performance over the last four decades is largely due to their personnel management. Simply put, no team has done it better. Only the Cowboys and Giants even come close.
As I detailed in my February article Steeler Way, a big part of what made (and still makes) Pittsburgh so successful is that they draft well, shy away from bringing in free agents older than 30, and only tender third contracts to their absolute best players (see: Jerome Bettis, who got paid, versus Alan Faneca, who didn’t). The Steelers age like wine.
Meanwhile, Kansas City is aging like vinegar.
The ostensible justification for trading Tony Gonzalez to the Falcons is that the 2010 second round pick the team received in exchange for their best player will help them build for the future. Anybody who dares question the trade is guilty of failing to see the bigger picture: Tony is in the twilight of his career, and there is no reasonable expectation of getting more than two or three good years out of him. It’s shortsighted to keep an elderly player at a non-impact position when a first day pick is being offered. Never mind that it’s a pick for next year – this team isn’t going anywhere in 2009 anyways.
Which, of course, is why they signed Zach Thomas, Bobby Engram, Mike Vrabel, Monty Beisel, and Mike Goff.
And now they have no offense. quarterback Matt Cassel, the college backup who came of age chucking the rock to two of the three best receivers in the league last year, now has the following weapons at his disposal: a wide receiver with a case of the dropsies, a wide receiver with a case of the breaksies, an older wide receiver with a case of the breaksies, a power running back who ran out of power two years ago when he lost his Hall Of Fame right guard, a backup running back who plays one good game every season before retreating to somewhere south of 3.0 yards per carry, another backup running back with the oratory skills of Helen Keller, and a blocking tight end. Prior to the onset of the 2007 season, erstwhile Broncos tight end turned crocodile tear manufacturer Shannon Sharpe said this about the Chiefs: “They cannot win. All the good players are gone.” Cassel concurs.
But wait, it gets better…. With left guard Brian Waters and his four Pro Bowls likely on the way out of town also, Cassel gets the privilege of standing behind both Damion McIntosh AND Wade Smith on every snap (or at least every snap until Big Mac gets hurt). No wonder he hasn’t singed a contract yet…. Would you?
But this is old hat for even the youngest Chiefs fans. They know from last season alone what can happen to one phase of the game when its best player is traded away. Complimentary players get asked to fill shoes two sizes too big, and with every step they try to take they find themselves falling backward on their asses instead. What’s the main course now in 2009? I can’t see all the way back into the kitchen, but it sure smells like more of the same.
Inevitably someone will argue that it’s a lesser position – a tight end can’t change the game the way a pass rusher can. In principle, that’s true. Tony Gonzalez, however, isn’t exemplary of the principle. Jay Novacek, one of my all-time favorites and often my first reference for how a prototypical tight end should play, garnered much of his success as a foil for Michael Irvin and Alvin Harper. Tony was never the foil. That was always somebody else’s job. His yards gained were never at the expense of a receiver. Actually it was quite the opposite – every receiver Tony ever played with gained yards at his expense. Tony drew double and triple-teams, leaving other targets wide open downfield. That’s the sort of thing receivers do, not tight ends. Not even good tight ends.
That’s a testament to what the Chiefs had, a rare Lawrence Taylor type, who singlehandedly changed every perception about how a position could be played. And, as it was with Taylor, we may not see that position played that well ever again in our lifetimes. Lesser position or not, that’s something not to be taken lightly.
Conventional wisdom declares that a passing game cannot be built around a tight end. Tony Gonzalez’s play defied conventional wisdom. The team was never mistaken for having done so the way that Baltimore was mistaken for building around Todd Heap. But now in Kansas City that one reliable cornerstone is gone, and a team that is struggling mightily for any identity at all will now struggle a little more. Tony bitched just enough while he was here to ensure that a lot of fans will declare for the time being that he won’t be missed, but it’s been over a decade since they’ve seen a game without him. They’ll figure it out soon enough. Bitching aside, as soon as Tony hit the field on Sunday he was a can’t-miss. A can’t-miss is never a won’t-miss; he’s a will-miss.
Tony, you will be missed. Todd, you’d better know exactly what you’re doing. I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t get it.
Nathan,
As much as I enjoy reading your commentaries, I am on a fence on this one. I enjoyed watching the best tight end ever to play the game for the last several years, but the winds they are a changin. If you watched any of Pioli’s press conference when he was first hired, he said he wants players here that want to play here. This philosophy I agree with. So in a way I think it is time for him to go. To me it seemed we got slapped in the face mid season last year when T.G. said he wanted traded.
As with any opinion or statement there is always another side. I find it rather ironic that you titled this commentary “things we lost in the fire”, as I choose to look at it as after any fire, there is rebirth. Things start to grow or get rebuilt where there was total distruction before. Things become fresh and new. As chiefs fans we have become dependant on our “hope for next year”. Lets give Pioli the benefit of the dought and pull out the hope card again and put it next to the faith card and hold them tight for tomorrow.
This is the Christmas Eve of football. Tomorrow is the day all us fans have been looking forward to, Christmas Day, the day when we get to rush downstairs and see whats under the tree for us. I just have to have faith that the new “Santa Claus” brings us what we are looking for. Some of us may not get what we want, but I believe Santa will bring us what we need. I have more faith in this Santa than the last. Lets see how it works out after this weekend, and hope we dont get a chunk of coal in our stockings. Have we been good this year chief fans, and do you believe in Santa?
One thing is for sure, the sun will come up tomorrow and will shine again on chiefs fans. We will never replace Tony, but we sure as hell can be competative again.
Show us what you can do, Scott!
Comment by dennis — April 25, 2009 @ 12:15 am
Well we gave up Tony and didn’t get Crabtree, we didn’t get Curry either and Tony cannot truly be “replaced”. I will STILL give Pioli the benefit of the doubt in all of this mess but seriously… WHAT THE F*CK ARE WE DOING?!?
NE traded down their first pick for still MORE pics this year… I am starting to think that New England got rid of their un-needed and over-expensive SUIT and Pioli is going to get exposed when Bellichick (spelling? oh well I don’t care) mops the floor with this draft and shows just how dumb some teams are.
Comment by RedNGold4LIFE — April 25, 2009 @ 6:54 pm
As always Nathan, a great article. I, too, have serious doubts regarding the not-so-apparent plan. I realize the new management is deserving of the opportunity to play all their cards, but I don’t currently see the benefit of the TG move.
It has been argued about Tony’s displeasure and trade requests. I sincerely doubt that would have happened had he known there would be a change in management, especially with a coach that will more than likely run a spread offense, passing over 40% of the time. And regardless of what Pioli said at his press conference, trading TG for anything other than 2 picks including a 1st rounder is not getting value out him. If we were “given” Cassel for this years 2nd round pick, how does this trade look? In our drive to be competitive, it doesn’t make sense to turn loose your best, most consistant, record breaking, best at the position ever, player, period!!
I am also disgusted by the draft. Curry was rated by most as the best player in the draft. He made the biggest impact on scouts at the combine. Yet we take a guy projected lower than 20th overall. I understand that Jackson is loosely compared to Richard Seymour and fills that 3-4 position they obviously wanted. I still think Curry was the better pick. Not having the 2nd round pick also made finding a quality OT that much more difficult, although we went with another defensive player. The ratings of the players we drafted are not highly regarded. I realize the ratings are subjective and different players will fit differently in certain systems, but….damn.
I will obviously continue to cheer for my team, but I am having a hard time following the direction they are plotting. I hope you know what you are doing.
As far as Tony goes, I will continue to follow his career and wish nothing but success for him. Thank you for everything you did as a Chief and for the community, on and off the field. You do deserve the best. Hopefully you choose to go into the Hall as a Chief.
Comment by Travis — April 26, 2009 @ 6:31 pm
Time to move on…..Curry didn’t fit our teams needs defensively. It looks possible that unless Dorsey can be converted to fit the scheme, he may have been drafted for the wrong reasons…c’mon, just because he was available? It doesn’t mean Dorsey or Curry have ANYTHING wrong with them talent-wise, they just don’t fit….that’s why the new mgmt. was able to spot that as the old staff drafted Dorsey and put him in a bad position for his skills…
We can’t hang on to long ago traded players or what WE think is a good move…we’re all Chiefs fans. Let’s give these guys a chance to change the face or our organization before we start burning them to the stake. GO CHIEFS!!!
–change is painful, but lack of it signifies defeat and exceptance to lose or be mediocre. Won’t everyone be happier than hell if we can turn this thing around? At least we made changes to TRY AND IMPROVE….i.e. bringing in a mix of vets and hopeful prospects.
Comment by Mike — May 3, 2009 @ 9:54 am
Mike
I simply stated an opinion as you have. I have the right to my opinion as everyone else does. I am and will always be a Chiefs fan. However, I reserve the right to be critical when I do not understand the direction or reasoning for personnel moves. I agree they deserve the opportunity to make their moves to better the organization and product on the field. I am quite sure I am not the only person who is having trouble understanding the path they have taken to this point. That was simply the point I was making. I think you draft for what you need, keeping in mind the value of the other players on the board. That is why I would have preferred Curry. He was rated by most as the best player in the draft and really the only one to make an impact at the combine. Tyson Jackson may fit just fine and solidify the defensive line, but we won’t be able to make any significant judgement until the season is a few weeks old. The combination of that pick and the TG trade are confusing to me at the current time. Say what you want, nothing and no one will be able to convince me these are the right moves until I see the product on the field. I, least of anyone, want the Chiefs to fail. I hope they make a profound turn around, simply confused by some of the moves.
Comment by tkrolo — May 3, 2009 @ 8:48 pm
tkrolo, yes you have an opionion and I respect the fact that you draft what you need, but if the shoe doesn’t fit, you can’t wear it no matter how much it looks right. Yes, we agree to be Chiefs fans and we are only stating opinions for OUR concern! We just want to win dammit! Right?
The problem with plugging in a guy who is not familiar with a scheme, is like taking a fish out of water. Curry is a LB, but there are many types of LB’s…as you well know. Some MLB’s are born to do what they do, but are not as effective on the edges…simple fact. Not all LB’s are capable of playing all the LB positions. Obviously, we have hired people who recognize that and can possibly find the right folks to fill those needs. They must have seen enough of Curry to make them think he was not the right fit.
No harm done
GO CHIEFS!!!
Comment by Mike — May 6, 2009 @ 9:46 pm
tkrolo, I PRAY that we made the right choices of players!! It’s time for Arrowhead to fill up and regain that excitement that’s been missing!!! GO…CHIEFS!!!
Comment by Mike — May 6, 2009 @ 9:49 pm
Very good read.
Comment by ChiefsWarpath.com — July 14, 2009 @ 9:40 am