The next team up on our Gridiron Blitz is the Kansas City Chiefs
Music to listen to: Blurry by Puddle of Mudd
Current State: In the past three years, the Chiefs have a total record of 10-48.
While we may mock the Raiders for the ineptitude and dysfunctional state of the ownership, the calamities of the Browns, the prospects of the Bills playing in Canada, Kansas City has become one of the most forgotten franchises in the NFL and that’s a shame. The Lions may have gone winless two years ago but top draft picks have some talking about four wins this year. The Bucs are struggling but have won a Super Bowl in the past ten years for fans to remember. Even the Rams have Sam Bradford and Justin Smith to hopefully build around.
Kansas City is just Kansas City.
However, there is hope on the horizon. Starting last season the Chiefs began a complete rebuilding plan that will hopefully reap benefits for the future but may make for a rough current season.
Biggest Offseason Change: The larger changes took place last year with the removal of former general manager Carl Peterson by ownership with former New England GM Scott Pioli.
The new GM hired former Arizona Cardinals assistant Todd Haley and signed quarterback Matt Cassel to a large contract to provide security to the position.
Now the Chiefs have focused on bringing in new talent through the draft like Eric Berry and Dexter McCluster to merge with established players such as Jamaal Charles, Chris Chambers and Thomas Jones.
Both sides of the ball lacked production last season so the Chiefs now have two new coordinators with a strong pedigree in the NFL, Charlie Weis for offense and Romeo Crennel on defense.
All of this means is that Kansas City may continue to have struggles this season, but it won’t be from a lack of effort to make positive changes.
Uniform Grade: The Chiefs have had the same uniforms for at least the past forty years. I respect that. The red and yellow color scheme looks very good, especially the red jerseys with the white pants. I wouldn’t make any changes. Grade: B+
Best Player: If you asked the Chiefs personnel what ranking order it would like for its best non-rookie players to be it would be Cassel, receiver Dwayne Bowe, running back Thomas Jones, defensive lineman Glen Dorsey and than probably Charles.
However, that hasn’t happened. Cassel had to deal with a bad offensive line and injury woes but it still wasn’t an excuse for throwing as many interceptions as touchdowns (16). Bowe has been inconsistent with his work ethic and maturity even though he has had some solid moments in his short career.
The best players have been the running backs. Charles emerged as a surprise player in the second half of the season by nearly rushing for 1,000 yards over the final eight games. His outside speed will be a nice compliment to new free agent running back Jones, who rushed for a career-high 1,402 yards for the New York Jets last season., his fifth consecutive season of more than 1,000 yards rushing. If the Chiefs can get about 2,400 yards rushing between the two players, maybe the offense wouldn’t have to be as reliant on Cassel to make throws with the poor offensive line.
Most Important Player: For any 3-4 defense to be productive, the defensive linemen have to produce at a high level to allow the linebackers to make open tackles in space.
For Kansas City to attain any success in the win-loss column, the defense has to improve. For the defense to improve, the line has to become much better therefore the unit qualifies as the most important player(s) on the team.
The Chiefs must receive more production from their former first-round picks, defensive linemen Dorsey and Tyson Jackson. Both guys try hard but are too small to be effective in the defensive scheme set up for them. Kansas City is relying on them to improve because the rest of the unit will still be one of the worst in the league if changes aren’t made.
Best Case: The defense and offensive lines find a way to reach respectability. Cassel stays healthy and shows the skills he had in his last year in New England. The running backs become the top tandem in the NFL. Six wins and the growth of the entire organization continues.
Worst Case: The lines continue their struggles. Cassel doesn’t develop into the top-five NFL quarterback that his salary and expectations require. Another three-win season.
Coaching: Haley is the head coach but this section is more about the four men in the power positions of coaching and management merging to build a winning team.
Pioli helped built a dynasty in New England which builds his credibility with the project of improving the Chiefs. Weis and Crennel may have had a lack of success as individual head coaches but have shown an excellent skill level of being the coordinator of their sides of the ball.
The jury is still out on Haley. One year is not enough to judge the ultimate success of a head coach but last year was not a good harbinger of what may happen in his tenure with the Chiefs. For the sake of Kansas City, hopefully another year as a head coach will give Haley experience to improve on the job.
First memory of team: The Chiefs always seemed to be the team to me in the early to mid 1990’s that would have a great regular season, look like it would make a big run in the playoffs but than lose in its first postseason game. Sounds a lot like the current edition of the San Diego Chargers. I wonder what man coached the Chiefs during that period and than moved on the Chargers to find the same woes?
Oh I did jump on the Christian Okoye band wagan as a kid. He wore big shoulder pads and I was easy to impress.
Also, Derrick Thomas was a monster on defense. Great, great player who deserved to go to the Hall of Fame.
Schedule: The Chiefs will have to deal with Denver, Oakland and San Diego in the division.
The home games are against San Francisco, Jacksonville, Buffalo, Arizona and Tennessee. The away games are at Cleveland, Indianapolis, Houston, Seattle and St. Louis.
City Nicknames: The names are varied. You have KC, Big KC, KCMO, City of Fountains, Heart of America and Paris of the Plains. Good diversity overall, even though I don’t think you can consider the initial of the city to technically be a nickname but I’ll allow it.
Fantasy Focus: Jones and Charles would be nice additions to your running back unit but I’m unsure who will get more carries and more opportunities to score more points for you so beware if you draft one of them.
Overall Outlook: The Chiefs has a front office that has won championships in the past and started out in the same low state that KC is in right now. However, the talent, especially on defense, isn’t there to make a significant run. Establishing techniques and practices while increasing the talent level should be the goal. Making the playoffs and winning divisions aren’t in the immediate future.
Final Record: 5-11
Gridiron Blitz 2010 Season Previews:
AFC East:
AFC North:
AFC South:
AFC West
The Sports Inquirer 
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