ChiefsPlanet - Vermeil on Surtain trade; "IT MAY BE OUT THE WINDOW"

Cornerback corners Chiefs

By ADAM TEICHER

The Kansas City Star

In a perfect world, the Chiefs would have their cornerback by now. They would have signed Samari Rolle, traded for Patrick Surtain or otherwise landed a veteran corner.

Then the Chiefs would be free to concentrate on this weekend's draft in that context.

But Rolle signed instead with Baltimore, Surtain is still property of the Miami Dolphins, and the Chiefs are still without a burning defensive need.

As the minutes tick off the clock without the Chiefs and Dolphins completing a trade involving Surtain, the closer the Chiefs get to having to deal with their cornerback issue in the draft. Maybe they use their first-round pick on a corner like Auburn's Carlos Rogers or perhaps their second-rounder on a player like Virginia Tech's Eric Green.

Their draft could go many ways. It all hinges on whether they pull off the trade for Surtain.

“It may be out the window,” coach Dick Vermeil said of the trade. “There's not much talk about it right now. We're just preparing to draft the best football players we can draft. We're doing it without consideration for what else may happen.”Free-agency began early last month with the Chiefs holding big plans for improving at cornerback. Rolle, who played for Chiefs defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham for three seasons in Tennessee, was among the first group of free-agent visitors.

If he fell through, the Chiefs wanted to meet with Ken Lucas and Fred Smoot. They had talked to the Dolphins about Surtain and were planning to meet with Ty Law.

The Chiefs started contract negotiations with Rolle and then backed off after learning of a spinal condition found during a routine physical exam. Lucas and Smoot signed with other teams before the Chiefs could bring them to Kansas City for a visit.

They met with Law, but his fractured foot was still mending, and with Kelly Herndon, but he signed with Seattle. The Chiefs appear to be getting nowhere in their trade talks with Miami.

So their cornerback search is more or less where it started. But the Chiefs are still determined to obtain a starter to pair with Eric Warfield. Dexter McCleon, for now at least, will be the nickel back.

“When we brought Dexter McCleon here, we really wanted him to be our nickel back and play inside because he's such a smart player,” Vermeil said. “That's what we'd like to do with him. We've got Eric Warfield. We've also got William Bartee and Julian Battle. So we already have good depth. But if we can add a high-quality player to that, either a free agent or a first-round pick, it's going to help.”

The Chiefs are almost certain to draft a cornerback in the first couple of rounds if they don't reach an agreement with the Dolphins on Surtain. If they do make the trade, it's much less of a sure thing.

If they get Surtain and then a cornerback on the first day of the draft, suddenly a weakness become a strength. Surtain would join Warfield in the starting lineup, McCleon is the nickel back, the rookie is the fourth corner, and either Bartee or Battle, or possibly both, is out of a job.

“If we sign a corner, that may not necessarily stop us from drafting a great corner if he's sitting there,” Vermeil said. “And we don't know who's going to be sitting there. I can't see why we'd alter the way we rank players and grade players based on having signed a free-agent corner. We've got to go about our business.”

The trouble with trading for Surtain is that he will cost the Chiefs a draft pick. The Dolphins are asking for a second-round selection.

If the Chiefs meet that price — which they've indicated they won't — they won't pick between the middle of the first round and the end of the third. That's a long time to wait for a team that has other positions it would like to address.

Foremost among them are linebacker, where the Chiefs have a severe shortage of healthy bodies, and wide receiver, where starters Eddie Kennison and Johnnie Morton are over 30.

Because of their inability to acquire a cornerback by now, the Chiefs might not be able to satisfy every position on their wish list in this draft.