Originally Posted by keg in kc
You can argue whether or not 2001 was was a rebuilding year or not, but that year does not equate with this year in any way, shape or form. Trent Green's only receiver was Tony Gonzalez (Derrick Alexander was trash, Eddie Kennison didn't arrive until the latter half of the season, Snoop Minnis, Larry Parker and Chris Thomas were the other guys), and as far as we knew that offseason we were going to be a RBbC (nobody expected Priest Holmes to be what he was). Tony Richardson had done okay at running back, but we had no idea that he'd be an established fullback. They did not have a good offensive line either, Tait was nothing special at left tackle (in fact I remember thinking he was a weak link, and lo and behold he was shifted to the right the next year when Roaf arrived), Victor Riley was a turnstile at right tackle, obviously Will Shields was great at right guard but he was basically it. We had no idea what Brian Waters was going to be, he was an undrafted player we got from the Cowboys a year or two earlier as I recall, who had to play center the first game of the season because Wiegmann was out. And we didn't think much of Weigmann at the time, either, as I recall. He was an undersized center who'd lost his job to Olin Kreutz.
So there was basically nothing on offense heading into the 2001 season, in other words, outside of Tony Gonzalez and Will Shields. Absolutely zero. Some of us expected exactly what we got from Trent Green because, until Kennison was picked up, he had no receivers at all, no established running back to start the season, and at best an okay offensive line.
Alex Smith has Dwayne Bowe and Donnie Avery starting, which is far better than any tandem of receivers than Green ever had to work with, and he has Dexter McCluster in the slot (whom Reid loves). And there are a variety of receivers to choose from behind them, whether it's speed in Devon Wylie or size in Jon Baldwin. He has Moeaki and Fasano at tight end, who, while they aren't Tony Gonzalez, also aren't a weakness. He has Jamaal Charles at runningback, who's more of a big play threat than any single player Green ever had, and one of the best players in the entire league. And I think it's fair to say that Draughn and Gray are better rotational backs than Mike Cloud and Jermaine Williams. Albert, if they keep him, is a better player than Tait at the time, and if they don't, he'll be replaced with a top-10 pick. The rest of the line is what should be ascending players mostly taken in the first half of the draft over the last few years. Which is at least equivalent to Green's 2001 line, and quite possibly better.
So let's not make this out to be something that it isn't. Alex Smith is being handed the keys to a Ferrari. Well, okay, maybe that's an exaggeration. The keys to a Mustang with a lot of extras. Trent Green was asked to drive a Yugo.
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