The Chiefs New Team Building Model
This is not your older brother’s Chiefs. That’s how quickly things have changed at One Arrowhead Way. One minute they’re talking about using the draft to develop and build a team for the long haul… and the next they’re signing everyone in sight and appear to be building to win immediately. It’s obvious, the Chiefs have a new team building model.
It’s fairly well known that through the first three drafts together Andy Reid and John Dorsey have kept all but one of their drafted players that same year on the opening day roster. In their first three seasons, that one player who they did not keep would be, Braden Wilson: a fullback who was made expendable once they had traded DB Javier Arenas for FB Anthony “Sausage” Sherman.
In fact, almost every player the Chiefs have drafted had at least a two-year stint to prove they could make it in the NFL. However, once the third year came around, many of those draft picks found themselves looking for another team. Those who made it onto John Dorsey and Andy Reid’s roster as second-year players includes: DL Mike Catapano, C Eric Kush, S Sanders Commings, and QB Aaron Murray. ILB Nico Johnson was drafted in 2013 and made the second year team as a practice squad player but was then signed off of the Chiefs PS by the Bengals in October of 2014. In, Reid and Dorsey’s first two seasons, their team-building approach was to draft-develop-and-keep as many of their own players as possible. They even said as much. You could often hear either of them saying they wanted to build the team through the draft. In 2013, 2014 and 2015 that looks like it’s exactly what they were doing.
In 2016… something changed.
*WR Ron Brown– a second-year player drafted in 2015 was cut before the beginning of this season.
*DL Rakeem Nunez-Roches– a second-year player drafted in 2015 was cut before the beginning of this season.
*ILB Ramik Wilson– a second-year player drafted in 2015 was cut before the beginning of this season.
QB Kevin Hogan– a first-year player drafted in 2016 was cut before the beginning of this season.
CB KeiVarae Russell– a first-year player drafted in 2016 was cut before the beginning of this season.
* These players were signed to the practice squad so they may still be able to contribute to the Chiefs in the future.
The Kansas City Chiefs general manager John Dorsey has now begun the new practice of choosing to keep players he didn’t draft… over players he did draft…. presumably to make the team better… in a more immediate fashion. Nick Williams over Rakeem Nunez-Roches. Tyler Bray over Aaron Murray. Justin March-Lillard over Ramik Wilson. Plus, trading for a DB like Kenneth Acker (who is currently listed as a back-up on the CB depth chart) over Dorsey’s own 2016, 3rd round pick KeiVarae Russell, shows a willingness to move beyond the “draft-develop-and-keep” orthodoxy practiced in his first three seasons with the Chiefs.
KeiVarae Russell
I don’t know what happened with Mr. Russell but his release is a mystery as well as a disturbing event. Did John Dorsey… and his band of merry evaluators… make a blunderous decision when drafting Russell? If not, then what happened? Did Russell, the person, become a distrusted teammate overnight? Did he revert to previous questionable ways, ways they had thought were past him, while at Notre Dame? When Russell was being investigated for academic improprieties and impatiently awaiting a hearing on his behalf he stated,
“Just think about how mad these people are going to be when they realize they couldn’t hold me down. When all my dreams still become fulfilled. When I use them for a degree. When I come back and dominate the NCAA. Just think…”
It’s quite one thing to have confidence… and quite another to boast that you’re going to ”use” a university for a degree or “dominate the NCAA” … which I don’t believe I ever saw, heard or read anything about him ever doing. In fact, when his name was called on draft day, my first thought was, “Who?”
I’m not trying to disparage KeiVarae Russell in any way here but I am willing to consider possible personality idiosyncrasies as reasons that he and coach Reid may not have gotten along. I would think that if Russell misrepresented his own knowledge of the Chiefs playbook by even a little bit… and then repeated such a stunt… Andy Reid would have lost all respect for him and wondered if he could trust him. I’m not saying I have inside information here but, I what I did hear is that Russell was struggling with the defensive terminology quite a bit and if he was not being straightforward about that with his coaches (and he was placing expectations on his own performance because after all, he was the 3rd round pick)…. Well, you can see the problem, especially in light of his apparently muddied view of an academic suspension while in college. I don’t think Andy Reid does, “muddy” relationships.
In any event, Russell’s release was shocking and rather unprecedented. Can you name another 3rd round draft pick who was released before the first game of the same season they were drafted? I know there are guys out there… it’s just rarer than rare. So, I’m assuming that there must have been a darn good reason. One that was not anticipated prior to the draft.
Streater and DAT Notes: the trading of Rod Streater was another surprise this offseason. After signing Streater to a 4.8M contract (including incentives) in March, it may have been a bad contract for Dorsey to offer and consequently one he was hoping to unload, even though Streater had an excellent training camp for K.C. Otherwise, it’s hard to imagine John Dorsey trading away a valuable commodity such as a wideout who could help his team, for what may turn out to be nothing: San Francisco and K.C. are trading 7th round picks………… two ½ years from now, in 2019. Also, as it concerns De’Anthony Thomas: it’s been my belief that Andy Reid lost faith in him (because of the way the end of last season went down) but, John Dorsey knows DAT has value. So, DAT is stuck in Neverland chasing a future which may never come. The only question now is, will DAT become a hero in anyone’s land?
A positive in this new team building process is that this regime is willing to not only draft the best player available but… keep the best player available (with the exception of one-wee-wittle-wilson). Although, releasing RNR was surprising, keeping Nick Williams on the roster, based on his performances, was a real plus for the team now and the process of building a team for the future. Sure, drafting and developing players is great… if the players you draft turn out to be what you had hoped for. If not, why wait around for the owner to replace you? Move on and grab the best player available on the market (depending what time of year it is, because the market for players changes dramatically from one time of year to another). Another plus for keeping the BPAs based on their performance is that it sends a message to the players… not only in the locker room but around the league: play better than the guy you’re competing with, and the job is yours.
Accepting the Unacceptable
There also appears to be a shift in the “kinds” of players John Dorsey and Andy Reid are willing to draft. The introduction of Tyreek Hill was difficult. Hill was charged with domestic abuse and he plead guilty to beating and choking his girlfriend who was pregnant. KeiVarae Russel had the academic issues. Demarcus Robinson had three drug suspensions in college and spent 45 days in drug rehabilitation. While Chris Jones appears to have done nothing wrong he was interviewed by the NCAA in an investigation into some out of control Mississippi State and Ole Miss fans who made death threats to Jones in the process of his freshman recruiting year. However, at one point Jones eligibility was in question unless he cooperated. The point is John Dorsey has obviously given his area scouts the message that he wants them to evaluate everyone… everyone no matter of raciness, religiosity or greed. So, if a player has “questions” ask more questions, enough to say you’ve properly “vetted” them.
As with any new “model” there always seems to be a fly in the ointment and in this case, Russell is the first to qualify.
Open Competition
I’m all in favor of not only outwardly stating that you’re having an open competition for every position… which the Chiefs do each year… but then actually making final roster decisions based on that open competition. There have been too many times in the past when fans have wondered why a certain player has made the team and the only criteria should not be that they were drafted that year, or last year, by a general manager who may not wish to admit a mistake. No free passes anymore. I like it and believe it’s a solid way to build a team… and a better way.
Now, players like Charcandrick West and Spencer Ware are placed ahead of Knile Davis (a drafted player) on the depth chart. TE Ross Travis is also in front of James O’Shaughnessy (a drafted player) on the depth chart.
It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life and I’m feeling good.