Teicher: Chiefs owner Hunt puts emphasis on draft to rebuild team

[Tribal Warfare]

Chiefs owner Hunt puts emphasis on draft to rebuild team

By ADAM TEICHER

The Kansas City Star



Clark Hunt


Even after free agency became a vehicle for player acquisition, Lamar Hunt never lost his enthusiasm for the college draft. He, more than anyone, eagerly anticipated the Chiefs’ annual rookie haul.His son Clark, now the Chiefs’ chairman, may not be as outwardly enthusiastic, but he does understand the draft’s importance. The Chiefs are placing an emphasis on the draft like no time in recent years, at least partly by Hunt’s direction.
That, Hunt said, is not a one-time thing because the Chiefs have the fifth pick in this weekend’s draft or 10 choices in the seven rounds, the most they’ve had in years.
This, with the intermittent exception, is how the Chiefs will do business from now on.
“We’re going to be very focused every year on the draft as the key tool that we build this team with,” Hunt said. “Certainly there will be an occasional year where we might sign a free agent who the public considers to be a marquee player. That’s how it will shake out. I don’t want to say we’re never going to sign a player that has name recognition, because that’s not true.
“But the focus will always be on the draft. We need to make sure we have the people and the process in place that allows us to be successful drafting every year. We’ve seen that if you go two or three years with poor drafts, that eventually will catch up to you. There’s nothing you can do in free agency to make up for that.”
Hunt, as his father would do, spent time the last few weeks getting briefed on the Chiefs’ draft strategy and sitting in on the occasional draft meeting.
“What I really want to know is how our scouting department and player personnel department are going about the process and their rationale for how they end up putting our draft together,” he said. “That’s something I really need to be familiar with on an annual basis to ultimately evaluate how they’re doing.
“It’s a very good educational process for me to hear their comments about certain players.”
Hunt, after last season, was most supportive of Herm Edwards, saying he believed Edwards was an ideal coach not only to help the Chiefs locate good, young players but also to help them develop.
Those, Hunt said, were major factors in the decision to hire Edwards two years ago. The Chiefs, at that time with one of the league’s oldest rosters, knew this was coming.
“This process started, to some degree really started, a couple of years ago when Herm came in,” Hunt said. “We’ve had two very good drafts. The first one of those draft classes is entering its third year this year, and that’s a very important time for those players in terms of their development.
“Our hopes are to build on that. We have 10 picks, and that should give us a chance to get some additional good, young players. Having those extra picks really helps us rebuild the team.”
The Chiefs purged a large portion of their roster since the end of last season. Ten players who either started or received significant playing time are gone, leaving the Chiefs with serious shortages on the offensive line, at wide receiver and at cornerback, among other positions.
They signed only three free agents, and only linebacker Demorrio Williams has a strong chance to be a starter. In that respect, the Chiefs are asking a lot of this year’s draft class — perhaps as much or more than they ever have.