Hey why not? Another Ty Law Thread.

[CoMoChief]

Where Will Ty Law End Up?
By Nick Athan Publisher
Date: May 3, 2005

The Kansas City Chiefs spent much of the off-season rebuilding and reshaping their defense. They’ve added somewhere between four and five new starters. But is that enough to get them over the hump in 2005? With cornerback Ty Law still on the market and still interested in being a part of the Chiefs; fans want to know which team he’ll be playing for this season.


In a perfect world, Ty Law would be the icing on the cake for the Kansas City Chiefs 2005 off-season. I agree its wishful thinking on my part as well but hey with the most impressive off-season in the teams’ history; why not think about it at least for now.

On Monday Ty Law’s agent the infamous Carl Poston, indicated that the Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers were still very much interested in his client. In fact he claims that the primary reason that Law removed the screws in his foot was because if the Chiefs signed him, they felt those screws could cause more damage to the foot.

Law had them removed last month and he’s working diligently to regain strength in the foot. He’s not able to cut on the foot at this time and until he can do that’ it’s doubtful that any team would be willing to sign him to any type of contract.

Depending on who you talk to in NFL circles everyone seems to agree that Law will probably end up with the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets or Kansas City. The fact that rumors still suggest that the Chiefs would be interested in signing the former New England Patriot cornerback will probably not end anytime soon or at least not until he has a new home.

Chiefs President and General Manager Carl Peterson told me after the draft that they’d only consider signing Law if he would agree to play for the veteran league minimum. That would mean Law would have to sign a one-year deal somewhere in the neighborhood of $850,000 to play for the Chiefs in 2005.

If I’m Carl Peterson, I make the deal even with Patrick Surtain in the fold. But Poston has to be assured if Law accepts a one-year deal that parameters for a long term deal would have to be in place if he meets certain incentives. The Chiefs have about $450,000 in cap space to sign any additional veterans but that number could be increased with the release of wide receiver Johnnie Morton and/or veteran safety Jerome Woods in June.

One thing that Peterson indicated to me and the rest of the media is that they would not rule out making additions to the roster after June when a plethora of veterans will be looking for new teams. That’s been a stark contradiction in years past but Peterson is not going to leave any stone unturned this off-season and that includes signing Law if the price was right.

Still some would say the signing of Law would give the Chiefs an excess in cornerbacks. Though if Eric Warfield is suspended for the first four games of the season, then bringing in Law makes sense and that’s something that could happen if the chips fell in the right place.

Considering what Kansas City has done to date in free agency, trades and the NFL Draft; Law still is the most enticing carrot on the market. His leadership would help the entire defense. With three Super Bowl rings in hand, Law would give the Chiefs what could end up being the final piece of what might turn out to be a Super Bowl Championship defense.

Even if Warfield isn’t suspended, most NFL teams employ three and four wide receiver sets; thus Law, Surtain and Warfield would be on the field for most of the game anyway. In fact, Law could get even stronger as the season wore on if he was not playing as much through the first half of the year. In reality, they need a healthy Law down the stretch and into the post season.

With the AFC West up for grabs this season, the Chiefs could cement themselves as the team to beat not only in the division but in the NFL. If Kansas City can continue to score points on offense, this defense with Law would almost be sick! In fact, even if the Chiefs defensive front seven can’t get pressure on the quarterback; it’s doubtful any team would have a lot of success throwing the ball on those three cornerbacks.

Granted the idea of signing Law is still a pipe dream and honestly it has a remote chance of happening. But as Chiefs fans, we can still ponder the possibilities. However, as June ore even better July rolls around and Law is still sitting in Florida working out and no teams are calling; then it comes down to which team he’ll want to sign a one-year contract with.

Does he play the New York Jets in arguably the toughest division in the AFC or does he go to the Steelers who are hoping that they can ride the wave of a strong 2004 campaign that led them one game short of the Super Bowl. Each of those teams is flawed. Both have solid defenses but their offenses can go silent and each has a question at quarterback; giving Law some doubt as to their chances of getting back to the AFC Championship game.

That leaves the Chiefs who have the NFL’s best offense, best special teams player and a defense that has enough talent to limit opposing teams to 20 points or less a game.

With Law in the mix, they could be even better than that. In fact they would be down right dominating.