DeepSouth
09-08-2005, 11:45 AM
http://www.kcchiefs.com/news/2005/09/08/the_presidents_pen4/
The 2005 NFL Regular Season is Finally Here
To me, this week is always an exciting time of year as the National Football League season truly begins anew. We have established our 53-man roster and our nine-man developmental squad for our first week of regular season practice. Getting to this point represents the culmination of a full “off-season” of work for our organization – players, coaches, front office and staff. Those collective efforts will all come to fruition on Sunday here at Arrowhead when our team squares off against the N.Y. Jets and the regular season officially kicks off.
Across the league there’s always much anticipation and excitement leading up to Opening Day. In Kansas City, the enthusiasm of our great legion of fans is always evident this week with a series highly-anticipated events circled on the calendar leading up to Sunday’s game: the Chiefs Kickoff Luncheon, the Chiefs Night Fundraiser for the Arthritis Foundation and of course, Red Friday.
I thought it fitting during this Labor Day week to briefly recap some of the “labor” that the Chiefs organization has undertaken in the “off-season.” Of course, the term “off-season” is always a misnomer since there truly is no “off-season” in the NFL. But to me, this week always signifies a new beginning across the NFL, the end of the “off-season” and the start of the regular season where every snap and every game is significant. While there’s always some tinkering and adjustments, the rosters are set, the coaches and players are ready and 32 teams are preparing to begin their annual quest for the Lombardi Trophy.
Even before the 2004 regular season concluded, our preparations for the 2005 season were well underway. Lynn Stiles, Chuck Cook and our college scouts were on the road scouring the nation for college talent. Denny Thum and Woodie Dixon were making calculations, projections and preparations in anticipation of the current 2005 salary cap. Bill Kuharich and our pro personnel staff were evaluating potential free agents and how they might fit into our football program based on our possible needs. As an organization, we were faced with making decisions on which potential free agents on our own roster to retain. The list of choices and decision goes on and on. Clearly, the business of professional football is a year-round endeavor and from my perspective, we explored virtually every opportunity we could to improve this team “on paper” in the “off-season.” During the veteran unrestricted free agency period, we acquired players like LB Kendrell Bell (Pittsburgh) and S Sammy Knight (Miami).
Of course, the marquee event of the “off-season” is the NFL Draft, a nationally-televised two-day spectacle that annually breathes new life into our game with the top talent in the college game. We made a very conscious effort to acquire extra picks in this year’s draft and when it was all said and done, we held 11 picks in all. Not only did this give us opportunity to acquire nine players via the draft – eight of whom are either on our 53-man roster or practice squad – but we also traded a pair of draft choices to acquire two players who we expect to make an impact in 2005, namely CB Patrick Surtain and DE Carlos Hall.
Certainly giving up a second-round pick and negotiating a very large contract was a steep price to pay for the services of Patrick Surtain, but based upon what we have seen to date, it is a deal that I wouldn’t hesitate to make again. If you’ve watched Patrick perform during our OTAs and training camp, there’s no question he’s one of the top players at his position in the league. He’s one of many new faces who we expect will make an immediate and positive contribution to our team this year.
For every high-profile decision that was made such as the trade for Patrick or the acquisition of a Kendrell Bell or a Sammy Knight, there were countless other player personnel decisions that didn’t make the front page. Take the case of guys like T Will Svitek, T Jeremy Parquet or LB Kris Griffin. Outside of the scouting world, even the most rabid of Chiefs fans probably wouldn’t have known who these players were, players who are now members of our 53-man roster.
Svitek is a talented young prospect who played defensive tackle at Stanford. We believe both he and Parquet may have bright futures as offensive tackles, which is why we drafted Svitech late in the sixth round and Parquet late in the seventh round. Griffin played at NCAA Division II Indiana University (Pa.) and signed with the Chiefs as a rookie free agent. Kris enjoyed a solid training camp and beat the odds to make this team. The 53-man roster is always a veritable melting pot of talent acquired through a variety of means. And as we’ve frequently discovered in the past, you never know just how that talent will develop until you get those players on the field. When a college free agent makes your roster, it is like getting an additional draft choice and it indicates your scouting department is doing a fine job.
It’s my job to keep our organization focused on the “big picture” and to balance the pros and cons of all these personnel decisions, no matter how big or small. This week is when that bigger picture truly begins to take shape. Our complete roster is established – active roster, practice squad and injured reserve – and we are under the salary cap. After many months of work by many, many people, after many cap and cash decisions, after countless personnel evaluations, it’s now time to get down to the business of actually playing the game.
Now it’s time for me to turn the keys over to our head coach Dick Vermeil and his staff and let them go to work. Obviously, our coaches and players have been hard at work for some time, but now is when we find out if the fruits of so many individuals’ off-season labors will come to fruition.
It’s a time of excitement, anticipation and enthusiasm across the National Football League. There are 31 other teams and 31 other sets of fans anxious for the regular season to begin. I know our coaches and players are likewise eager to begin the season and so I am. On behalf of Lamar Hunt, the Hunt Family and the entire Kansas City Chiefs organization, we’re ready for the challenges of the 2005 regular season. We all know what the ultimate goal is and hopefully with some strong performances, good health and a measure of good fortune, we’ll have the opportunity to qualify for the NFL’s most important season – the postseason.
For those of us who truly love this game of football, the wait is over. It has taken many individuals countless hours to painstakingly put together this team over the past nine-plus months. Now it’s time to find out how this team comes together on the field. It’s time to kick off the 2005 NFL regular season. I personally appreciate the tremendous loyalty of Chiefs fans everywhere and I look forward to seeing many of you supporting this team – our team – in person at Arrowhead Stadium and on the road this year. May this be a “special” year for the “Home of the Chiefs!”
– Carl Peterson
The 2005 NFL Regular Season is Finally Here
To me, this week is always an exciting time of year as the National Football League season truly begins anew. We have established our 53-man roster and our nine-man developmental squad for our first week of regular season practice. Getting to this point represents the culmination of a full “off-season” of work for our organization – players, coaches, front office and staff. Those collective efforts will all come to fruition on Sunday here at Arrowhead when our team squares off against the N.Y. Jets and the regular season officially kicks off.
Across the league there’s always much anticipation and excitement leading up to Opening Day. In Kansas City, the enthusiasm of our great legion of fans is always evident this week with a series highly-anticipated events circled on the calendar leading up to Sunday’s game: the Chiefs Kickoff Luncheon, the Chiefs Night Fundraiser for the Arthritis Foundation and of course, Red Friday.
I thought it fitting during this Labor Day week to briefly recap some of the “labor” that the Chiefs organization has undertaken in the “off-season.” Of course, the term “off-season” is always a misnomer since there truly is no “off-season” in the NFL. But to me, this week always signifies a new beginning across the NFL, the end of the “off-season” and the start of the regular season where every snap and every game is significant. While there’s always some tinkering and adjustments, the rosters are set, the coaches and players are ready and 32 teams are preparing to begin their annual quest for the Lombardi Trophy.
Even before the 2004 regular season concluded, our preparations for the 2005 season were well underway. Lynn Stiles, Chuck Cook and our college scouts were on the road scouring the nation for college talent. Denny Thum and Woodie Dixon were making calculations, projections and preparations in anticipation of the current 2005 salary cap. Bill Kuharich and our pro personnel staff were evaluating potential free agents and how they might fit into our football program based on our possible needs. As an organization, we were faced with making decisions on which potential free agents on our own roster to retain. The list of choices and decision goes on and on. Clearly, the business of professional football is a year-round endeavor and from my perspective, we explored virtually every opportunity we could to improve this team “on paper” in the “off-season.” During the veteran unrestricted free agency period, we acquired players like LB Kendrell Bell (Pittsburgh) and S Sammy Knight (Miami).
Of course, the marquee event of the “off-season” is the NFL Draft, a nationally-televised two-day spectacle that annually breathes new life into our game with the top talent in the college game. We made a very conscious effort to acquire extra picks in this year’s draft and when it was all said and done, we held 11 picks in all. Not only did this give us opportunity to acquire nine players via the draft – eight of whom are either on our 53-man roster or practice squad – but we also traded a pair of draft choices to acquire two players who we expect to make an impact in 2005, namely CB Patrick Surtain and DE Carlos Hall.
Certainly giving up a second-round pick and negotiating a very large contract was a steep price to pay for the services of Patrick Surtain, but based upon what we have seen to date, it is a deal that I wouldn’t hesitate to make again. If you’ve watched Patrick perform during our OTAs and training camp, there’s no question he’s one of the top players at his position in the league. He’s one of many new faces who we expect will make an immediate and positive contribution to our team this year.
For every high-profile decision that was made such as the trade for Patrick or the acquisition of a Kendrell Bell or a Sammy Knight, there were countless other player personnel decisions that didn’t make the front page. Take the case of guys like T Will Svitek, T Jeremy Parquet or LB Kris Griffin. Outside of the scouting world, even the most rabid of Chiefs fans probably wouldn’t have known who these players were, players who are now members of our 53-man roster.
Svitek is a talented young prospect who played defensive tackle at Stanford. We believe both he and Parquet may have bright futures as offensive tackles, which is why we drafted Svitech late in the sixth round and Parquet late in the seventh round. Griffin played at NCAA Division II Indiana University (Pa.) and signed with the Chiefs as a rookie free agent. Kris enjoyed a solid training camp and beat the odds to make this team. The 53-man roster is always a veritable melting pot of talent acquired through a variety of means. And as we’ve frequently discovered in the past, you never know just how that talent will develop until you get those players on the field. When a college free agent makes your roster, it is like getting an additional draft choice and it indicates your scouting department is doing a fine job.
It’s my job to keep our organization focused on the “big picture” and to balance the pros and cons of all these personnel decisions, no matter how big or small. This week is when that bigger picture truly begins to take shape. Our complete roster is established – active roster, practice squad and injured reserve – and we are under the salary cap. After many months of work by many, many people, after many cap and cash decisions, after countless personnel evaluations, it’s now time to get down to the business of actually playing the game.
Now it’s time for me to turn the keys over to our head coach Dick Vermeil and his staff and let them go to work. Obviously, our coaches and players have been hard at work for some time, but now is when we find out if the fruits of so many individuals’ off-season labors will come to fruition.
It’s a time of excitement, anticipation and enthusiasm across the National Football League. There are 31 other teams and 31 other sets of fans anxious for the regular season to begin. I know our coaches and players are likewise eager to begin the season and so I am. On behalf of Lamar Hunt, the Hunt Family and the entire Kansas City Chiefs organization, we’re ready for the challenges of the 2005 regular season. We all know what the ultimate goal is and hopefully with some strong performances, good health and a measure of good fortune, we’ll have the opportunity to qualify for the NFL’s most important season – the postseason.
For those of us who truly love this game of football, the wait is over. It has taken many individuals countless hours to painstakingly put together this team over the past nine-plus months. Now it’s time to find out how this team comes together on the field. It’s time to kick off the 2005 NFL regular season. I personally appreciate the tremendous loyalty of Chiefs fans everywhere and I look forward to seeing many of you supporting this team – our team – in person at Arrowhead Stadium and on the road this year. May this be a “special” year for the “Home of the Chiefs!”
– Carl Peterson