Dontari Poe Signs with the Atlanta Falcons

After a week of free agency, the Kansas City Chiefs have lost their first round pick from 5 years ago, Dontari Poe who signed with the Atlanta Falcons today. Yes, Poe will most certainly net a 3rd round compensatory pick in the 2018 NFL draft but more importantly, they have lost one of the “Three Musketeers,” which included: Poe, Allen Bailey, and Jaye Howard.

While fans may say that the loss was huge, literally and figuratively, Bailey and Howard would probably say it was more than that.

Prior to the time that Dontari Poe came to the Chiefs with the eleventh pick of the 2012 draft, the Chiefs had years of bad luck finding top quality players at the interior of their defensive line. There were so many players like Kelly Gregg, who was once good, but came to the Chiefs in the twilight of his career, who played well but not “standout” ball. Before Gregg, there was Ron Edwards, Tank Tyler, Glenn Dorsey, Alfonso Boone, James Reed, John Browning, Jimmy Wilkerson, Lional Dalton, Derrick Ransom, Eric Browning, and Ryan Sims. All of these interior defensive linemen played for the Chiefs during a ten-year span, from 2002-2012, when Poe was drafted.

From 2002 to 2017, the Nose tackles drafted by the Chiefs in the first round are Sims, Dorsey, and Poe. Sims and Dorsey never lived up to expectations. Glenn Dorsey was a standout at LSU and became a first-round pick for the Chiefs who played much better for the San Francisco 49ers but never made a Pro Bowl. Sims left the Chiefs in 2006 and played for Tampa Bay for 4 years then tried out for the Seahawks and was cut a month later.

Dontari Poe was a stud and a standout ever since he stepped on the field for the Chiefs. He made the Pro Bowl in 2013 and 2014 and was All-Pro in 2014. His back surgery two years ago has limited his mobility to a certain degree but teams have had to continue to double-team him to have any hopes of containing him.

Most football people will tell you that to create a good team it all begins up front: meaning, the offensive and defensive lines. Chiefs general manager had a tough decision to make this offseason between signing his all-everything safety Eric Berry and his stud interior lineman Dontari Poe. Although Poe lost out this time, it may be the Chiefs who lose out in the long run because it’s hard to replace a super human like Poe. In this age of Herculean men playing a kids game for millionaire monopoly status, it’s the fastest and the biggest and most athletically gifted who usually win out. Poe falls into that category.

Dontari Poe got national attention beginning with the 2012 NFL Combine when he not only lifted 225 pounds in the bench press 44 times but garnered the attention of the President of the United Staes, Barack Obama, who said when he heard of Poe at the combine,

“They just had the Combine and they were talking about some guy who’s like 340 and runs a 4.8 and has a three-foot vertical,” Obama said. “I don’t know what you do if a guy like that hits you.”

Good luck to you in Atlanta Dontari. We will miss you. You were a quiet giant but you were never unappreciated in Kansas City. Here’s our homage to you, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.”