The 2010 Kansas City Chiefs are getting great production from two of their recent number one draft picks. It was 2005 when the Chiefs selected LB Derrick Johnson out of the University of Texas with its first pick, the 15th overall, and then in 2007, the Kansas City Chiefs selected WR Dwayne Bowe out of Louisiana State University with its first pick, the 23rd pick overall. After both players were drafted, their college team went on to win the National Championship the following year. In 2006 it was QB Vince Young who led the #2 ranked Longhorns to a 41-38 victory over the #1 ranked USC Trojans. Then, in 2008 it was QB Matt Flynn who led the #2 ranked LSU Tigers over the #1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes 38-24. Noting that while Dee-Bo was attending LSU from ’03-’06, the starting quarterback was the now-defamed Jamarcus Russell.

Since their arrival to the NFL, both stars have had rocky careers.

The topic of trade rumors in 2009, Derrick Johnson has only given Chiefs fans a glimpse of what he can do for the past five seasons. However, this year he is providing more than just a snapshot of his football prowess. It was in 20005 when Johnson was drafted that there were murmurs about whether or not he could carry the jock strap of the Great One……..DT. That idea was a bit of a stretch, but the Chiefs fans were a bit desperate at the time.

Derrick Johnson was the top ranked linebacker in the 2005 NFL draft, with the hardware to support such standing. Johnson’s haul included the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the nation’s top defensive player, The Butkus Award as the nation’s top linebacker and the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year award. After setting an NCAA record with nine forced fumbles in 2004, he became the first Texas defender since Tommy Nobis to earn first-team All-America honors.

Johnson’s third season in the NFL, ’07-’08, was his best year as a Chief in which he recorded four sacks, 94 total tackles, and he had two picks, with three forced fumbles. However, by the 2009-2010 NFL season, Johnson had recorded only one sack, with a mere 37 total tackles, but had three interceptions, two of them he returned for a touchdown. The difference in the stats for the two seasons revealed such an obvious sign of decline that the trade rumors began. At first is was S Dujuan Morgan and Derrick Johnson being traded together, then he was being traded with Bernard Pollard (who eventually was traded to the Houston Texans), then it turned into Derrick Johnson simply being traded by himself.

However, on January 13th, 2010, when the Kansas City Chiefs officially hired Romeo Crennel to replace Clancy Pendergrast as the team’s defensive coordinator all of that changed. Under Crennel, Johnson is giving us glimpses of his game breaking ability again, as he did in 2007. The 6’3″, 242 lb. linebacker already has 49 tackles, and a pick-six (3rd career), and a forced fumble in just the first six games of the 2010 season. In Derrick Johnson and Tamba Hali, Chiefs fans can see the silhouette of a Neil Smith and Derrick Thomas look-a-like through week seven of the National Football League.

Johnson is playing with fire in his eyes these days, and Hali is just doing what he does best; wreak havoc. Dee-Jay began the season putting out 12 tackles and a forced fumble against San Diego in the season opener. And currently, he is the team leader in tackles. In the Chiefs most recent victory, Johnson had a 15 yard interception return for a touchdown in a 42-20 route.

Also, during that route last Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Dwayne Lorenzo Bowe had three receptions for 81 yards, with two of those receptions being touchdowns. However, Bowe’s time in Kansas City has been just as turbulent as Derrick Johnson’s, maybe even more so. In October of 2009 trade rumors began to circulate that the Baltimore Ravens were interested in exchanging a 2nd round pick for the LSU standout, and just recently, in May of this year, Bowe was reported to have said things that the Chiefs organization was not happy about. Dee-Bo told ESPN that veteran players arranged for women to join members of the team in their hotel rooms on a road trip when he was a rookie.

“My rookie year, we were playing in San Diego. You hear stories about groupies hanging out in hotel lobbies, but some of my teammates had it set up so there was a girl in every room. The older guys get on MySpace and Facebook a week before we go to a city; when a pretty one writes back, they arrange to fly her in three or four days in advance. They call it importing,” said Bowe.

When drafted, Chiefs fans were so excited to have a deep threat at the wide receiver position. A position that needed to be filled by a player that could come in and make an immediate impact. At the time, Bowe’s college resume had him ranked fourth in school history in career receptions with 154, and fifth in career receiving yards with 2,403, and is one of only seven players in school history to reach the 2000-yard mark in receiving yards. His 26 career touchdowns ranks eighth in SEC history. Thus, the Chiefs selected him with their first pick of the 2007 NFL draft.

In his first two seasons with the Chiefs, the 6’2″, 221 lb. WR from Miami accumulated 156 receptions for 2,017 yards, with 12 touchdowns. But, at the start of his third year some of the hype began to wear off. His production was down, and then on November 17, 2009, Bowe was suspended for four games for an NFL drug violation. Bowe had allegedly taken a diuretic (any drug that elevates the rate of urination and thus provides a means of forced dieresis. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics increase the excretion of water from bodies, although each class does so in a distinct way), which can be used as a masking agent to disguise anabolic steroid use. He says that he asked his grandmother for cramp medicine, but his grandmother mixed her medicines up and sent him the wrong one. So they say. As a result of this, in his first year with new QB Matt Cassel, Bowe finished the season with 589 receiving yards, and four touchdowns in just 11 games.

Then on January 8, 2010, the Kansas City Chiefs hired former Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis to be their new offensive coordinator. This move relieved head coach Todd Haley of the play calling duties, and allowed him to focus more on running the team as a whole. Weis is remembered for his offensive explosiveness from the time that he spent calling the plays for the New England Patriots from 2000 through 2004, installing the Erhardt-Perkins offensive system, and assisting the Patriots in three Super Bowl victories. This would mean big dividends for players like Dwayne Bowe. So far, this has proven to be true.

With only six games played in 2010, Dee-Bo has already recorded five touchdown receptions, the most that he has had since 2008 when he recorded seven for the season. In addition to this, Dee-Bo has recorded two 2-touchdowns games in as many weeks. Although he has been plagued with dropping passes in clutch situations in the past, he has still managed to maintain a high level of play and be a threat to any team that opposes him. Right now Dee-Bo is averaging almost 19 yards per catch, and is leading the team in receiving yards.

In summary, Chiefs fans across the country are impressed with the play of these two players. Their re-emergence has definitely rejuvenated a Chiefs team that desperately needed a few veterans to step up and lead by example for the younger Chiefs’ players to follow. So long to the dropped passes, lazy efforts, and losing ways of the Chiefs of ole’. There is a new sherriff in town, Todd Haley, with two new deputies, Derrick Johson (Dee-Jay) and Dwayne Bowe (Dee-Bo).