Chiefs vs Progress:
The Biggest 2017 Foe
Laddie Morse
Every Kansas City Chiefs fan wants the team to make progress this offseason but there are reasons it may not happen. Like fans in any other city, we want to see our city’s NFL franchise flourish. In the Chiefs case, we want the team to take another step up the ladder to be a consistent competitor for the AFC crown and ultimately the Super trophy. However, like any other team in the league, this organization faces the distinct possibility that they’ll take a step backward instead of forward. So, what are those stumbling blocks from keeping the players, coaches and front office, from making some sweet, sweet progress?
Near the end of the last offseason I wrote a piece called, “Re-signings and Familiarity Thrust Chiefs Atop AFC West.” In that post, I outlined how familiarity plays out like continuity and that continuity offers: stability, limits disruptions, improves decision making and conserves energy. While these are essentially the reason why the Chiefs may progress in 2017, these may also be the same reasons why the team limits their potential.
Stability
How long does it take for stability to become complacency? While the roster has been blessed with a strong inner core of players, many of those same players have grown old in football-dog years and if the team is to take the next steps forward it will have to detach from some of these long-term Chiefs who have outgrown their usefulness. Likely mistakes in handling the contract of Tamba Hali — who turns 34 later this year — last offseason and then signing him In 2015, Hali had 48 tackles and 6 1/2 sacks last season and went to his sixth Pro Bowl. So, he signed a three-year deal with the Chiefs for 22M and 10M guaranteed. The problem is, he had half the tackles and sacks in 2016 (24 and 3.5). If your name is Bill Belichick you see Hali’s decline coming two years ago and you don’t sign him to that deal last year. If you’re John Dorsey?
Stability can be a great building tool but, it can also hog-tie your program to a bunch of aging stars who can’t help the team as much as you’d like to think they can. I consider myself a loyalist and like to see stars retire with their team… if possible. If a player signs a contract that is not good for the team — like Hali did — then the presence of that star player is essentially hurting the team instead of helping it.
Limiting Disruptions
Changing personnel can bring disruptions. The Chiefs seem to have latched onto a core group of players and them kept them. Head coach Andy Reid has created a playbook that is so complex that incoming players and rookies require a year to learn it. A complex west coast playbook would appear to be counter-intuitive to limiting disruptions so one way the Chiefs can get better is to become more efficient. That efficiency could come in the form of simplifying the playbook. The reality for John Dorsey is… he brings in more players to populate the bottom of the roster throughout the year than any other general manager I know of. However, it’s hard to criticize a GM who has found a CB to replace Sean Smith — Terrance Mitchell — by signing him to the practice squad in September. Mitchell was then promoted to active roster in October then he became the starter and finished the year with 252 snaps in 7 games (Mitchell was called the Chiefs best defensive player by ProFootballFocus against the Titans and he had excellent games against the Broncos and the Raiders at the end of the year).
Improved Decision Making
When the same players continue to occupy the locker room it can and will improve decision making because any time players feel more comfortable making better decisions is easier. Being overly optimistic can also impede decision making. Being unrealistic is what we fans do each and every offseason. However, if you’re a coach or GM, asking players to do what they can not, or what — realistically or statistically — has too steep a curve for being successful, is bad personnel implementation. Andy Reid says wants to put players in positions to maximize their talents. Maybe he can keep the goal setting more realistic… and maybe John Dorsey can get Reid some players who can realistically win it all.
Conserving Energy
When you keep a lot of the same players around it saves you time in orientating and training but it can also present problems like… asking the same group to do the same things they’ve done before while expecting them to get different results. The Chiefs need some changing of the guard and turnover in personnel to keep things fresh and infused with new life. While it looks like John Dorsey is accomplishing that directive at the bottom of the roster… it’s time for some change at the top too. I believe Jamaal Charles should go. So should Tamba Hali. If he would retire it would help the team by helping the cap. If Jamaal Charles is released, it doesn’t hinder the cap situation at all. Zero dollars to cut JC but 8.9M to cut Tamba. Frank Zombo will be 30 in March. He can go and I don;t think he’ll be missed. Dustin Colquitt will be 35 years old this year. When would you like to cut him lose? Better sooner than later because when his skills begin to fade it’s better to not be over-paying for a punter. Is he great? Yes, but he has to be replaced eventually so let’s make it happen… save the cap room… and get another punter who is trainable.
While I was tempted to say that “complacency” is the number one enemy of offseason progress… that kind of thinking won’t get you very far with the Chiefs especially since they have someone like Eric Berry in the locker room.
If I had to say what I thought was the biggest foe of the Chiefs making progress this offseason, it would be… themselves. Sometimes when you step back and do some reflection, you don’t just change the things that you see in front of you… you must change from the inside. Do I think it will happen? We can always hope.
What would you say is the biggest thing holding the Chiefs back this offseason?
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