Quote:
Originally Posted by the Talking Can
we placed a value on 8-8
think about that...we called up the 49ers and said our ambitions were to go 8-8 and we'd pay anything to do it....not the playoffs, 8-8
can you imagine the look on Baalke's face when Dorsey said, "Clark wants us to be 8-8, take as many draft picks as you want"..
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You obviously feel that there is no difference between 2-14 and 8-8, and I can certainly understand that viewpoint. Neither one gets you into the playoffs, certainly not with any hope of a deep playoff run. If the ultimate goal of Reid and Dorsey is to simply go 8-8
every year and put as many butts in the seats as possible, then I'm right there with you.
But I think Reid and Dorsey are looking at this in two phases. The first phase is to simply lift the team up to respectability as quickly as possible. Let's face it: Scott ***** destroyed everything and alienated most of the fans. You may not think it's a significant improvement if this team goes 8-8 next year, but I respectfully disagree. The 2-14 debacle of last year was horrific. 8-8 next season is realistically achievable and would stop the hemorrhaging that turned this team into the laughingstock of the NFL. Obviously I would rather see the Chiefs improve from 2-14 to 14-2 next season, but that's just unrealistic. And based upon the apparent lack of real talent in this rookie class, the Chiefs sure as hell wouldn't go 14-2 next year witih a rookie quarterback as the starter.
The second phase will be to build a team for the future, which will include drafting a QBOTF.
Did they overpay for Alex Smith? Yes, obviously. But it sounds like the 49ers took advantage of a seller's market, and it's not really a reach to assume that the teams that wound up picking up the other retread quarterbacks were bidding against the Chiefs for Alex Smith. It was a really bad time to be in the market for a quarterback. Drue Brees wasn't sitting out there as a free agent. Andrew Luck wasn't sitting there waiting to be drafted. Reid and Dorsey made their decision and went with it.
I'm willing to give Reid and Dorsey the benefit of the doubt for now. I hope that the majority of the decisions they make turn out to be good ones, even if I don't necessarily love this one. Time will tell. It's going to take a hell of lot more time than a couple of months in their first offseason to evaluate whether they're total morons, competent, or total ****ing football geniuses. If they go 8-8 and 10-6 in their first two seasons AND they have a promising young quarterback on their roster, I would call that a damn good start.
I know, everything would be rainbows and unicorns if they had drafted Geno Smith and Smith turned out to be the next Aaron Rodgers. But Reid and Dorsey obviously didn't think that highly of Geno or any other quarterback in this draft. The fact that every other GM in the NFL agreed with them gives credibility to their decision making process.
It's fine to make risky draft choices. But if you draft someone just because you wish and hope they'll be great when every evaluation you do tells you otherwise, that's not a risky draft choice. It's a stupid one.
In other words, cool your jets. There will be plenty of time for wailing and gnashing of teeth if Reid and Dorsy fail. In the meantime, all you're doing is driving up each other's blood pressure and you're not accomplishing anything.