Chiefs D: My Cooling Off Period

Chiefs D: My Cooling Off Period – PART I

by David Bell

I watched the game on Sunday with a lot of consternation, the game being the Kansas City Chiefs vs. the Cleveland Browns. I told our illustrious editor that I was so angry that I was spitting nails. It took me 24 hours to chill out a bit and be realistic. So here follows the results of my “My Cooling Off Period.”

In his article on Tuesday, Laddie asked a final question and I briefly answered in comments. The Question was this: “Can you project a better playoff outcome for this year’s Chiefs than that?”

Yes, I think I can, but we have to back up to spring time, when things were looking up despite not having a one-pick in the draft and have a low pick in the order of picks due to “Success”. Remember, that is our overall goal, to have a successful team year after year to build a competitor that can get over the top in the playoffs.

We knew going in that the team needed to solve a lot of problems on both sides of the ball and would not have enough high draft picks to fill needed starter positions, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Knowing this was going to be the case, Brett Veach made several moves in his first year and one half of being GM.

Let’s count the ways:

Reggie Ragland – Brett Veach had worked behind the scenes to obtain Anthony Hitchens from Dallas. It didn’t work but he found Ragland and brought him on board
Anthony Hitchens – Veach, after the 2017 season was able to obtain Hitchens anyway.
Sammy Watkins (WR) – was brought to have a top notch pair of Wide Receivers.
Derrick Nnadi (NT) and Xavier Williams (NT). After the draft a survey by Willie R asked which player among the drafted would have the most meaningful Rookie Season. I answered Nnadi. Adding Williams solved a problem of having no depth for the position. Did this mean, for me, that Nnadi would all of a sudden play at a pro bowl level? No it didn’t but the draft pick and addition of the ‘X-man’ aided the Chiefs at a position which lacked a 1-2 punch for the previous 5 seasons.
Breeland Speaks (OLB) – With Hali Gone an Ford having missed a majority of 2017, Speaks, a tweener and a gamble was brought in to continue to attempt to find that next OLB who would excel. The jury is out on that but thus far Speaks has shown improvement week to week and is beginning to make game changing plays.
Dee Ford (OLB) – Dee Ford hurt his back in early 2017 and was unable to play and this was evident in his time on the field. He was finally put on the IR and his season was lost. 2018’s draft and developing Tanoh Kpassagnon were to address the need to have at least 3 OLBs to rotate in and out and play with ferocity.
Justin Houston – JH coming back after injury did not play well in 2017. It was believed that his return to form would provide once again the ferocious pass rush, pressure, hurries and sacks that the Chiefs needed to make the defense work.
Armani Watts (FS) – Watts, whose stock had fallen before the draft due to tackling, was a pick in the draft that I believed would yield a player who would earn the FS Starter role by midway through this season.
Dan Sorensen (FS) – would be able to return to his more hybrid role as the 3rd safety if Watts could achieve what I thought he was going to achieve.
Marcus Peters – the Chiefs released Peters (CB) and the public howled or cheered. I was in the latter category. In the Alex Smith trade the Chiefs were able to obtain the top 2017 Slot Corner in the NFL.
Dorian O’Daniel – knowing that the ILB position was going to be a problem when DJ was not retained and needing a more speedy ILB, the Chiefs drafted Dorian O’Daniel.
Tremon Smith (CB) – needing CB help, the Chiefs drafted a promising CB out of Central Arkansas — Tremon Smith.
Last but not least, the Chiefs drafted Kahlil McKenzie(OG) , son of the Raider’s GM Reggie. He was a defensive player in college and they moved him to offense for the future as an Guard(the only player who was drafted for the offensive side of the ball.
Charvarius Ward (CB) – The Chiefs, always scouting talent were able to effect a trade to obtain another promising corner and did so trading Parker Ehinger to Dallas in order to acquire Charvarius Ward, another promising CB of the Cowboys.
Jordan Lucas (Safety) – the Chiefs acquired Lucas due to the Injury of Dan Sorensen in pre-season and since Eric Berry had a sore heal.

So, when I cooled off… I stopped and reviewed what I had written about Sutton and what he was trying to accomplish. This was before the season began. At that time I wrote about the success of Sutton’s defenses both at the Jets and for the first 3 years at the Chiefs. I even stated that we were too quick to rush to judgement about what Sutton was able to accomplish.

Here is where Laddie referred to the Gary McKenzie’s article and this should give us all pause. Most of us wrote that retooling the offense and defense was going to take 2 years. Most of us were at least honest enough to admit that our players were not of top caliber. Gary McKenzie’s research shows this to be the case — especially when you consider that Marcus Peters had been a shutdown corner for the Chiefs and was traded away.

The net result of Laddie’s view is that, as of now, the Chiefs had 3 players contributing at top form: Jones, Ford and Fuller. This is a key point. The Chiefs had counted on two other top performers to be part of that mix and thus far Eric Berry has not appeared in a game and Justin Houston has not played like the highly talented pass rusher that he was prior to 2016 before his injury. Now he is out again.

Tomorrow, in PART II of “My Cooling Off Period” I’ll Set the Stage and finish with my take on the Defense and Bob Sutton.

David Bell – ArrowheadOne

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