Seriously. I'd take this over drafting a lineman in the first round. Hell what's Andy Reid's old ass Danny Watkins up to, can he be had cheap? Any cheap bargains would be worth it at this point just to have competition.

Some idiot team will do this and regret it...

Danny Watkins got washed out last offseason. Because he sucks. Nobody wanted him.

i'd rather kick the tires on some sucky players cheap then watch our 23 overall pick go to some guard/tackle out of West Tennessee Eastern Bermuda Triangle University.

They're both stupid options.

I'd prefer to sign as many good players as we can...

Zack Martin will be, at worst, a solid OT and has the physical skillset and potential to be an All-Pro OG in this league. The hit rate on 1st round offensive linemen is better than the hit rate on 1st round WRs.

Reid's offense doesn't need top flight WRs, it just needs solid players who are quick, fast, intelligent, sure handed, and most importantly guys who will run good routes. This draft is loaded with players like that in the 2nd-4th rounds.

And what makes you think that Schwartz won't revert back playing like the backup that he's been his whole career? He's honestly not much better than a rookie. Otherwise, he wouldn't have only 2 seasons with more than 3 games started in his career.

Why is that? Since when are guards a hard position to find late in the draft?

well yeah but what's your interpretation of "good player" then? I mean you could argue that Ritchie Icognito the player is no worse than the Fasanos, Schwartz, Avery types we signed last year.

Geoff Schwartz was a cheap low cost journeyman last year who played his way into a nice contract. He wasn't necessarily "good" in the FA market last year. We need to find those guys again, guys who have been bouncing around the league kind of whatever that can help the team and dont affect the cap much. The players that need a second chance in the league to prove themselves.

They only used to be "not hard to find" in the later rounds when they weren't valued as highly as they are now. Teams are finally getting smart and building through the trenches so OL players are getting drafted higher than in the past. It's just like how the value of TEs has become inflated in more recent history.

And how easy do you think that is? Every year there is a crapton of OL men who get drafted late and maybe 1 out of every 15-20 of them turns out to be good enough to start. It's never easy to find good players, otherwise every team would have an All-Pro level player at every position. It's no coincidence that the vast majority of the best players in the league are former 1st or 2nd round picks.

if my options are

1)
Olineman first round pick
Scrap heap FA skill players to round out the roster

or

2)
skill player first round pick
Scrap heap FA olineman journeyman to round the roster

For this current team's make up, I'd go with option 2. Obviously the dream scenario is Draft BPA and Sign a Good FA but I am not sure the cap will give us that option.

I am not sure of the quality of these guards you are talking about. Asamoah and Allen have not turned out to be so great.
But lets look at the draft last year with keeping in mind that it was not considered a great or deep year.
There was 3 OG taken in the first round: 7th, 10th, and 20th pick overall. There were 4 other OGs taken in the 3rd round.

Guards aren't difficult to find late in the draft, but that doesn't mean every guard you draft is gold.

Hell, just look at the ones the Chiefs have taken in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Even if there's great potential in them, none of them have ever been ready to start Week 1.

It's far more likely that our late round guard or Rishaw Johnson isn't ready and sucks. Far more than it is that Geoff Schwartz, a multi-year veteran who has played well for two different teams, can't handle a starting spot that he already took over last year adequately.

Schwartz isn't ideal. I agree. He's also not Will Shields. I know that, too. But all he costs is money. And not that much. We're not giving him Andy Levitre or Carl Nicks money.

In my opinion, that's the option that provides the most security and the best player for the cheapest price.

Who's the last guard the Chiefs drafted who turned out to be not a turd?

Will Shields.

Guards are easier to find than other positions in the late rounds, but that doesn't mean you should get rid of both RGs and replace them with unproven UDFAs from last year or a late round pick. That's not a smart decision.

You do realize that we didn't have a good offense until our OL picked up their play right? If a 1st round OL player this year could improve our OL play over last year from day 1, it stands to reason that our offense, even if we just stay status quo at WR and TE, will continue to perform at a high rate on a more consistent basis.

Plus, I don't know how many times we have to say it, but there are a bunch of WRs who can be productive in this offense that will be available in the 2nd-4th rounds and maybe even later.