Late Night Bullshit, Vol. 2: the Chiefs last offseason will be the outlier.

[Direckshun]

I was reading this report by a guy who has a great nose for compensatory picks (he projects the Chiefs will get zero in 2014 -- hardly a surprise), and I started thinking about compensatory picks, and Dorsey's plans for the future.

Last offseason, we had one of the busiest front offices if not THE busiest front office in all of football.

The goal was simple: hit the salary floor (at LEAST), build a winning team ASAP, and turn over as much of the roster as was responsible while paving a path towards the future.

In doing that, the Chiefs have hamstrung themselves for this offseason. It's looking increasingly likely that the Chiefs simply can't make any free agent signings worth a damn because they're too close to the cap while having the tall task ahead of re-signing Schwartz (probably), McCluster (probably), TJax (maybe) and Abdullah (possibly).

I believe that this was, more or less, intentional work by Dorsey, however. I believe he rushed the team to the salary cap in one offseason in order to turn the roster over and pack it with talent. I believe going forward, we're going to see the Ted Thompson in John Dorsey from here on out, making 2013's offseason the outlier, and 2014 the trendsetter.

What's that trend? Pay attention to what the Pack does. Little to zero free agent acquisitions. Build the team through the draft. Re-sign talent when it's manageable -- let it go, even great talent like Greg Jennings, when it's not expedient to bring them back.

It's not sexy, but as you can see in Green Bay, it's stable as ****. The Packers regularly field one of the league's younger teams, with one of the league's highest percentage of "true" players, or players who've only played for that franchise -- because, as common wisdom suggests, having played with one team, whether it be on just one contract or multiple contracts, increases your loyalty and your solidarity in the locker room, and potentially yields better results on the field.

What that does, however, is it speeds up your ability to build through the draft -- as you score compensatory picks by the handful. 2015 alone means we're going to bring in compensatory picks for Albert (most certainly), Asamoah (probably), Abdullah (possibly), McCluster (definitely, if he doesn't sign here), TJax (ditto), and Schwartz (probably not going anywhere). And with how desperate this league is for safeties right now, even Kendrick Lewis could score a contract.

All the while, the Chiefs sit on their hands as the Pack often did/does under Ted Thompson, Dorsey's protege.

That, of course, means that 2014 will be an offseason of pain. Not only do we see talented players walk in free agency, and not only are we going to get zippo for them until next year, but we're going to also be down a pick thanks to the (now clearly necessary) acquisition of Alex Smith. (I would put money on Dorsey trading down in the 1st for more picks, but that's another conversation.)

But the strategy will begin hitting its stride in 2015, and so long as Alex Smith keeps playing at a high level, and the team has an adequate talent to eventually replace him, we could be looking at the same degree of stability here that Andy Reid and Dorsey enjoyed almost entirely during their times with their respective teams.