Chiefs Preseason Power Rankings No. 21: Kansas City Chiefs PFT - Page 5

ShowtimeSBMVP · 07-14-2012, 01:31 PM

Preseason Power Rankings No. 21: Kansas City Chiefs
Posted by Michael David Smith on July 14, 2012, 3:26 PM EDT
Romeo Crennel AP

After making a surprise trip to the playoffs in 2010, the Chiefs took a surprisingly big step backward in 2011, resulting in the firing of head coach Todd Haley and the promotion of Romeo Crennel to replace him. The biggest question for the Chiefs heading into 2012 is whether last year’s big step backward was mostly the result of bad luck with injuries, or whether this roster needs a fundamental overhaul.

What Chiefs fans have to hope is that injuries really were the primary culprit behind last season’s disappointment. And there’s a good argument that that’s the case: Safety Eric Berry, the Chiefs’ most talented defensive player, was lost for the season with a torn ACL in Week 1. Running back Jamaal Charles, the Chiefs’ most talented offensive player, was lost for the season with a torn ACL in Week 2. Throw in promising young tight end Tony Moeaki missing the entire season after a torn ACL in the preseason, and starting quarterback Matt Cassel suffering a season-ending hand injury in the ninth game of the season, and the Chiefs could make a good case that they were hit with more bad luck on the injury front than any team in the league. If they’re healthy in 2012, the Chiefs should be better.

On the other hand, Cassel wasn’t playing particularly well before he got hurt. And Berry and Charles rely heavily on their speed and ability to cut, and it sometimes takes such players more than a year to get all the way back to form after an ACL injury. So even if those injured players are all on the field for 16 games this season, the Chiefs may be in for another disappointing year.

Strengths.

If Jamaal Charles is healthy, his presence in the running game is a major strength for the Chiefs’ offense. Over the course of his four-year career, Charles has averaged a stunning 6.1 yards a carry, a number no running back in NFL history has achieved. Of course, Charles has carried the ball only 499 times in four seasons, thanks to last year’s injury and former coach Todd Haley’s underuse of Charles when he was healthy. If Charles can keep running the way he did before that ACL injury, and if Peyton Hillis can be effective when splitting carries with Charles, they should be strong in the running game. (It’s easy to forget after both players’ disappointing 2011 seasons that Hillis and Charles were two of the best running backs in the NFL in 2010.)

Assuming franchise player Dwayne Bowe signs in time to be ready to go for Week One, the Chiefs have a very good playmaker as their No. 1 receiver, but they’ll hope to get more out of their talented young No. 2 receiver, Jonathan Baldwin, a first-round draft pick last year who was limited to 21 catches for 254 yards as a rookie.

Although the Chiefs’ defense fell apart when Eric Berry went down in the first game, giving up 41 and 48 points in losses to the Bills and Lions in the first two weeks of the season, the defense actually recovered and played pretty well for most of the season. Tamba Hali has emerged as one of the best pass rushers in the league, and on the other side Justin Houston came on strong late in the year with 5.5 sacks in the last five games. With Berry back, the Chiefs have to think their fortunes are looking up on defense.

Weaknesses.

Just about everything on offense was a weakness last season, although it’s open to debate how much of that was the result of all the injuries. The biggest concern for the Chiefs has to be that Matt Cassel is a weakness. After a very good season in 2010, with 27 touchdown passes, seven interceptions and a 93.0 passer rating, Cassel struggled mightily in 2011, with his touchdowns declining to 10, his interceptions increasing to nine, and his passer rating falling to 76.6. The way Cassel played last season, it’s hard not to view him as a weakness.

Kansas City’s three-man defensive line has three first-rounders starting, with 2008 first-round pick Glenn Dorsey and 2009 first-round pick Tyson Jackson manning the ends, and this year’s first-round pick Dontari Poe at nose tackle. That means the Chiefs have talent on the defensive line, but so far Dorsey and Jackson’s talent hasn’t translated to a whole lot of production. And that was the knock on Poe in college, too: He’s enormous and explosive, but he didn’t really wreak havoc while playing against mediocre opposition at Memphis, so how confident can the Chiefs really be that he’ll wreak havoc against much better offensive linemen in the NFL? Drafting Poe makes the defensive line bigger and stronger, but not necessarily better.

Cornerback Brandon Carr, who started all 64 games in his four seasons with the Chiefs, has departed for the Cowboys in free agency. The Chiefs signed Stanford Routt, formerly of the Raiders, to replace him, but the loss of Carr makes cornerback look like a weakness.

Changes.

Upgrading at right tackle isn’t a sexy change, but it’s an important one for the Chiefs: Barry Richardson left to sign with the Rams and was replaced with free agent Eric Winston, and that’s an improvement, especially in run blocking. It was a surprise when the Texans released Winston to give themselves more salary cap room, and a pleasant surprise in Kansas City when Winston arrived.

Also arriving is Peyton Hillis, the free agent running back from the Browns who was one of the most disappointing players in the NFL last season with the Browns. In Kansas City he’s reunited with Chiefs offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who was the Browns’ offensive coordinator when Hillis had his breakout 2010 season. Daboll and Hillis arriving together give the Chiefs some interesting possibilities on offense.

And the biggest change may turn out to be that Romeo Crennel, and not Todd Haley, is the head coach. When Haley was fired late in the season and Crennel appointed to interim head coach, the Chiefs seemed to get a spark, playing their best game of the season in a Week 15 win over the Packers. The team seemed worn down by Haley early last season, and energized by Crennel late last season. Crennel needs to keep that energy going into 2012.

Camp Battles.

The Chiefs’ coaching staff has talked about the competition improving everybody at the quarterback position. That doesn’t mean Cassel is in much danger of losing his starting job during training camp, although it does mean they want backups Brady Quinn and Ricky Stanzi to push Cassel, and push each other for the No. 2 job.

Peyton Hillis and Jamaal Charles are so different as runners that they’re not really battling for the No. 1 job as much as they’re planning to complement each other in the Chiefs’ offense. Still, each of them will try to show in camp that he’s the guy who’s ready to get most of the running workload.

And between the quarterback and the running back, there will be an interesting training camp battle at fullback, where Shane Bannon and Taylor Gentry are competing for a spot in the starting offense. The Chiefs might use some packages where Hillis lines up at fullback in front of Charles, but during minicamp and OTAs, the indications were that the Chiefs see Hillis as a halfback and want to have a fullback who can lead Hillis and Charles through holes.

Prospects.

We have the Chiefs just outside the Top 20 teams in the NFL, which is right around where they were when it was all said and done last season. At 7-9 in 2011, the Chiefs were a last-place team, but last place was only a game out of first place in the mediocre AFC West. With a healthier roster, Kansas City might have made the playoffs last season.

Unfortunately, it probably won’t be as easy to make the playoffs in the AFC West this season, and the questions about Matt Cassel’s effectiveness as a starting quarterback and the loss of a very good cornerback in Brandon Carr make the Chiefs look like a team that’s going to miss the playoffs again this season.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...s-city-chiefs/

Quesadilla Joe · 07-14-2012, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sofa King

You're not even trying anymore.

I've already discussed the Chiefs roster at length a few times. No need for me to write 5 or 6 paragraphs on the Chiefs again.

O.city · 07-14-2012, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassel>Manning

Frachise QB, Franchise LT, elite passrush, shutdown corner.... Denver has all of the tools that GM's look for when building a roster. Without Manning the Broncos would probably be ranked near where PFT has the Chiefs ranked, but with him they are a top 10 team.

Chiefs have all those, save for 1.

O.city · 07-14-2012, 03:16 PM

I forget you think every shit guy the Broncos bring in are elite.

Jerm · 07-14-2012, 03:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by O.city

Chiefs have all those, save for 1.

...and we have 2 if not 3 "elite" pass rushers.

Better RBs, better WR core, better TEs, secondary...etc.

It's a joke.

O.city · 07-14-2012, 03:18 PM

The Broncos do have 2 elite pass rushers, won't argue that.

Just Passin' By · 07-14-2012, 03:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassel>Manning

Frachise QB, Franchise LT, elite passrush, shutdown corner.... Denver has all of the tools that GM's look for when building a roster. Without Manning the Broncos would probably be ranked near where PFT has the Chiefs ranked, but with him they are a top 10 team.

QB - Coming off a lost season and multiple neck surgeries
LT - hasn't played at "franchise" level in years
Pass rush - true
Shutdown Corner - Who'd the Broncos trade for?

Quesadilla Joe · 07-14-2012, 03:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by O.city

Chiefs have all those, save for 1.

No. You have a single passrusher, the Chiefs had the third fewest sacks in the entire league last year.

Brandon Flowers is a #1 corner, not a shutdown corner. Ray Crocket was a solid #1 corner but he wasn't a shutdown corner.

And Albert is a solid LT. He won't shutout an elite pass rusher one on one.

Pasta Little Brioni · 07-14-2012, 03:19 PM

Below average defense and running game. QB missing an entire year with a broken neck. Meh recieving threats. Not seeing it.

O.city · 07-14-2012, 03:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassel>Manning

No. You have a single passrusher, the Chiefs had the third fewest sacks in the entire league last year.

Brandon Flowers is a #1 corner, not a shutdown corner. Ray Crocket was a solid #1 corner but he wasn't a shutdown corner.

And Albert is a solid LT. He won't shutout an elite pass rusher one on one.

Didn't Hali abuse your "franchise" LT last year?

Champ's not a shutdown guy anymore. Sorry.

Pasta Little Brioni · 07-14-2012, 03:22 PM

Chiefs were one of the best pass rushing teams the 2nd half of the year last year. It was a totally different defense.

Chiefs Pantalones · 07-14-2012, 03:22 PM

We would be a Super Bowl contender with a QB. Reminds me of the Vikings of a couple years ago before they got Favre. All we need is a QB. I think we're good enough to win the West this year with Cassel though. Just nothing after that.

Ace Gunner · 07-14-2012, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiefsandO'sfan

the Chiefs took a surprisingly big step backward in 2011

Do people watch any football before they write this crap? 1 Block FG away from winning the West and that's a big step backwards?

The AFCW leader was 8 - 8 with Jesus on the team. I'm confident when I say the Chiefs took a major step backward last season when it became evident they could not even look good going 8 - 8 and win the division over awful competition.

DBOSHO · 07-14-2012, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassel>Manning

Sounds right to me. The Chiefs front seven is filled with backups aside from DJ and Tamba. Their secondary is good. Their OL is decent, RB's are good (assuming Charles is healthy), and if Bowe pulls a VJ the Chiefs have nothing at WR.

The Chiefs have a solid roster but no game changers aside from Jamaal Charles and who knows if he will ever be the same.

Lol two tackles in the top 12 according to pff is "okay"

Glenn and tyson are bad. Houston is bad.

And the chiefs have nothing at wr except a 1st rounder with near calvin johnson type upside and a #2/3 reciever that had 700 yds with matt cassel and tyler palko throwing to him.

DBOSHO · 07-14-2012, 03:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassel>Manning

Frachise QB, Franchise LT, elite passrush, shutdown corner.... Denver has all of the tools that GM's look for when building a roster. Without Manning the Broncos would probably be ranked near where PFT has the Chiefs ranked, but with him they are a top 10 team.

Weird how kc has all of those minus a 36 year old qb with a broken neck.

Lonewolf Ed · 07-14-2012, 03:42 PM

Preseason power rankings don't get me too worried or too enthused. Unless a team drafts or signs a player who is expected to make a big impact, it's pretty much looking at where the team was at the end of the previous season. What was the key weakness on this team last season? Simple: the QB. Palko was a disaster and Cassel was having a crappy season before his injury. Since KC didn't replace Cassel, how could they be ranked much higher at this point? The back up QB situation has improved, but unless Cassel somehow loses his starting job, and that will likely be only due to another injury, the team's fortunes are largely tied to how he plays. Sad, but true. If Cassel does go in the tank, there are fewer excuses this season, so perhaps that is a plus.

07-14-2012, 01:31 PM
ShowtimeSBMVP Chiefs Join Date: Feb 2009 Casino cash: $1236009	Preseason Power Rankings No. 21: Kansas City Chiefs PFT Preseason Power Rankings No. 21: Kansas City Chiefs Posted by Michael David Smith on July 14, 2012, 3:26 PM EDT Romeo Crennel AP After making a surprise trip to the playoffs in 2010, the Chiefs took a surprisingly big step backward in 2011, resulting in the firing of head coach Todd Haley and the promotion of Romeo Crennel to replace him. The biggest question for the Chiefs heading into 2012 is whether last year’s big step backward was mostly the result of bad luck with injuries, or whether this roster needs a fundamental overhaul. What Chiefs fans have to hope is that injuries really were the primary culprit behind last season’s disappointment. And there’s a good argument that that’s the case: Safety Eric Berry, the Chiefs’ most talented defensive player, was lost for the season with a torn ACL in Week 1. Running back Jamaal Charles, the Chiefs’ most talented offensive player, was lost for the season with a torn ACL in Week 2. Throw in promising young tight end Tony Moeaki missing the entire season after a torn ACL in the preseason, and starting quarterback Matt Cassel suffering a season-ending hand injury in the ninth game of the season, and the Chiefs could make a good case that they were hit with more bad luck on the injury front than any team in the league. If they’re healthy in 2012, the Chiefs should be better. On the other hand, Cassel wasn’t playing particularly well before he got hurt. And Berry and Charles rely heavily on their speed and ability to cut, and it sometimes takes such players more than a year to get all the way back to form after an ACL injury. So even if those injured players are all on the field for 16 games this season, the Chiefs may be in for another disappointing year. Strengths. If Jamaal Charles is healthy, his presence in the running game is a major strength for the Chiefs’ offense. Over the course of his four-year career, Charles has averaged a stunning 6.1 yards a carry, a number no running back in NFL history has achieved. Of course, Charles has carried the ball only 499 times in four seasons, thanks to last year’s injury and former coach Todd Haley’s underuse of Charles when he was healthy. If Charles can keep running the way he did before that ACL injury, and if Peyton Hillis can be effective when splitting carries with Charles, they should be strong in the running game. (It’s easy to forget after both players’ disappointing 2011 seasons that Hillis and Charles were two of the best running backs in the NFL in 2010.) Assuming franchise player Dwayne Bowe signs in time to be ready to go for Week One, the Chiefs have a very good playmaker as their No. 1 receiver, but they’ll hope to get more out of their talented young No. 2 receiver, Jonathan Baldwin, a first-round draft pick last year who was limited to 21 catches for 254 yards as a rookie. Although the Chiefs’ defense fell apart when Eric Berry went down in the first game, giving up 41 and 48 points in losses to the Bills and Lions in the first two weeks of the season, the defense actually recovered and played pretty well for most of the season. Tamba Hali has emerged as one of the best pass rushers in the league, and on the other side Justin Houston came on strong late in the year with 5.5 sacks in the last five games. With Berry back, the Chiefs have to think their fortunes are looking up on defense. Weaknesses. Just about everything on offense was a weakness last season, although it’s open to debate how much of that was the result of all the injuries. The biggest concern for the Chiefs has to be that Matt Cassel is a weakness. After a very good season in 2010, with 27 touchdown passes, seven interceptions and a 93.0 passer rating, Cassel struggled mightily in 2011, with his touchdowns declining to 10, his interceptions increasing to nine, and his passer rating falling to 76.6. The way Cassel played last season, it’s hard not to view him as a weakness. Kansas City’s three-man defensive line has three first-rounders starting, with 2008 first-round pick Glenn Dorsey and 2009 first-round pick Tyson Jackson manning the ends, and this year’s first-round pick Dontari Poe at nose tackle. That means the Chiefs have talent on the defensive line, but so far Dorsey and Jackson’s talent hasn’t translated to a whole lot of production. And that was the knock on Poe in college, too: He’s enormous and explosive, but he didn’t really wreak havoc while playing against mediocre opposition at Memphis, so how confident can the Chiefs really be that he’ll wreak havoc against much better offensive linemen in the NFL? Drafting Poe makes the defensive line bigger and stronger, but not necessarily better. Cornerback Brandon Carr, who started all 64 games in his four seasons with the Chiefs, has departed for the Cowboys in free agency. The Chiefs signed Stanford Routt, formerly of the Raiders, to replace him, but the loss of Carr makes cornerback look like a weakness. Changes. Upgrading at right tackle isn’t a sexy change, but it’s an important one for the Chiefs: Barry Richardson left to sign with the Rams and was replaced with free agent Eric Winston, and that’s an improvement, especially in run blocking. It was a surprise when the Texans released Winston to give themselves more salary cap room, and a pleasant surprise in Kansas City when Winston arrived. Also arriving is Peyton Hillis, the free agent running back from the Browns who was one of the most disappointing players in the NFL last season with the Browns. In Kansas City he’s reunited with Chiefs offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who was the Browns’ offensive coordinator when Hillis had his breakout 2010 season. Daboll and Hillis arriving together give the Chiefs some interesting possibilities on offense. And the biggest change may turn out to be that Romeo Crennel, and not Todd Haley, is the head coach. When Haley was fired late in the season and Crennel appointed to interim head coach, the Chiefs seemed to get a spark, playing their best game of the season in a Week 15 win over the Packers. The team seemed worn down by Haley early last season, and energized by Crennel late last season. Crennel needs to keep that energy going into 2012. Camp Battles. The Chiefs’ coaching staff has talked about the competition improving everybody at the quarterback position. That doesn’t mean Cassel is in much danger of losing his starting job during training camp, although it does mean they want backups Brady Quinn and Ricky Stanzi to push Cassel, and push each other for the No. 2 job. Peyton Hillis and Jamaal Charles are so different as runners that they’re not really battling for the No. 1 job as much as they’re planning to complement each other in the Chiefs’ offense. Still, each of them will try to show in camp that he’s the guy who’s ready to get most of the running workload. And between the quarterback and the running back, there will be an interesting training camp battle at fullback, where Shane Bannon and Taylor Gentry are competing for a spot in the starting offense. The Chiefs might use some packages where Hillis lines up at fullback in front of Charles, but during minicamp and OTAs, the indications were that the Chiefs see Hillis as a halfback and want to have a fullback who can lead Hillis and Charles through holes. Prospects. We have the Chiefs just outside the Top 20 teams in the NFL, which is right around where they were when it was all said and done last season. At 7-9 in 2011, the Chiefs were a last-place team, but last place was only a game out of first place in the mediocre AFC West. With a healthier roster, Kansas City might have made the playoffs last season. Unfortunately, it probably won’t be as easy to make the playoffs in the AFC West this season, and the questions about Matt Cassel’s effectiveness as a starting quarterback and the loss of a very good cornerback in Brandon Carr make the Chiefs look like a team that’s going to miss the playoffs again this season. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...s-city-chiefs/
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07-14-2012, 03:16 PM	#63
O.city In Search of a Life Join Date: Jul 2009 Casino cash: $-665936	I forget you think every shit guy the Broncos bring in are elite.
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07-14-2012, 03:18 PM	#65
O.city In Search of a Life Join Date: Jul 2009 Casino cash: $-665936	The Broncos do have 2 elite pass rushers, won't argue that.
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07-14-2012, 03:19 PM	#68
Pasta Little Brioni Consuming CP souls Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: U.S.A. Casino cash: $238880	Below average defense and running game. QB missing an entire year with a broken neck. Meh recieving threats. Not seeing it. __________________ **Official TFWdemB Trivia Commisioner**
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07-14-2012, 03:22 PM	#70
Pasta Little Brioni Consuming CP souls Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: U.S.A. Casino cash: $238880	Chiefs were one of the best pass rushing teams the 2nd half of the year last year. It was a totally different defense. __________________ **Official TFWdemB Trivia Commisioner**
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07-14-2012, 03:22 PM	#71
Chiefs Pantalones GO CHIEFS!!!!!! Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: Kansas City Casino cash: $6868717	We would be a Super Bowl contender with a QB. Reminds me of the Vikings of a couple years ago before they got Favre. All we need is a QB. I think we're good enough to win the West this year with Cassel though. Just nothing after that. __________________ Don't be fooled by my username, I'm white.
Posts: 26,653

07-14-2012, 03:42 PM	#75
Lonewolf Ed Veteran Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Olathe, KS Casino cash: $10606233	Preseason power rankings don't get me too worried or too enthused. Unless a team drafts or signs a player who is expected to make a big impact, it's pretty much looking at where the team was at the end of the previous season. What was the key weakness on this team last season? Simple: the QB. Palko was a disaster and Cassel was having a crappy season before his injury. Since KC didn't replace Cassel, how could they be ranked much higher at this point? The back up QB situation has improved, but unless Cassel somehow loses his starting job, and that will likely be only due to another injury, the team's fortunes are largely tied to how he plays. Sad, but true. If Cassel does go in the tank, there are fewer excuses this season, so perhaps that is a plus.
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