Wile_E_Coyote
04-02-2006, 08:32 AM
Not so wild in the West
Teicher I
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/football/nfl/kansas_city_chiefs/14242252.htm
ORLANDO, Fla. — In Denver, the Broncos decided the best way to defend their AFC West championship was to retain their own free agents rather than raid the rosters of other teams.
But the Chiefs, who followed the same strategy after winning the division in 2003, know this method isn’t foolproof. They haven’t been back to the playoffs since.
In San Diego, the Chargers allowed the departure of quarterback Drew Brees, a former Pro Bowler who at 27 is headed into the prime of his career. They will replace him with promising youngster Philip Rivers, but they should know this: None of last season’s AFC’s playoff teams used a first-year starting quarterback.
In Oakland, the forlorn Raiders traded one journeyman quarterback for another. They hired an old hero, Art Shell, to coach the team only after other candidates turned them down.
In Kansas City, the Chiefs hired a new coach in Herm Edwards and then viewed these developments with interest. But, like their division rivals, the Chiefs have done little or nothing to improve.
Doesn’t anybody here want to win this division?
“We watch their cap situations, their acquisitions and losses in player personnel, their strengths and weaknesses,” Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson said. “That’s important. That’s who we have to beat.
“It seems that all of us in the AFC West this year have taken a deep breath in free-agency.”
There’s still time in free-agency for teams to make improvements. The late-April draft affords another opportunity. The Raiders (seventh pick) and Broncos (15th) have choices in the first half of the opening round. The Broncos have an additional pick later in the first round.
But, based on recent activity, all four teams are content where they are. The division is the only one not to have even one major free-agent signing, though Denver’s addition of defensive end Kenard Lang could become significant if he regains the pass-rush punch he lost in Cleveland last year.
Meanwhile, the losses except in Oakland were significant. The Chargers also lost linebacker Ben Leber and pass rusher DeQuincy Scott. The Broncos will move on with defensive lineman Trevor Pryce. The Chiefs will play without starting cornerback Eric Warfield and fullback Tony Richardson.
This could spell the start of a down period for the AFC West. The division put two teams in the playoffs in 2003 and 2004. Only one made the postseason last year, though the Chiefs and Chargers were strong contenders.
That playoff team was the Broncos. They upgraded their defense with the addition of former Browns Gerard Warren and Courtney Brown, finally received steady play from quarterback Jake Plummer and won the AFC West for the first time since 1998.
“Jake settled down, did some things we wanted him to do,” general manager Ted Sundquist said. “We ran the ball well, which we’ve always done. On offense, we forced more turnovers. We found some depth on the defensive line and in the defensive backfield. We looked at all that and felt we had a good nucleus. We decided we needed to hang on to some of the players who got us there.
“We kind of knew we weren’t going to be big players in free-agency this year. We felt like re-signing some of our own guys would be our free-agency.”
The Broncos re-signed several of their own players, including Brown, Warren and running back Ron Dayne. Lang could help the pass rush, perhaps Denver’s biggest weakness.
But the loss of Pryce, running back Mike Anderson and tight end Jeb Putzier could hurt.
“You look at our club and the big-name players are older guys, but the core of our club is really in its prime, right in that four-, five-, six-year period,” Sundquist said. “We’re not as old as we appear on the surface because of Rod (Smith), because of John Lynch, because of Tom Nalen. A lot of the defensive guys we brought in last year, it seems like they were with the Browns forever, but they’re still young guys.”
The Chargers are young and talented, and Rivers is full of potential. But seldom are quarterback transitions seamless.
The free-agent loss of Brees to New Orleans has the potential to rip apart the organization. Coach Marty Schottenheimer and general manager A.J. Smith quarreled publicly last month over the decision to let Brees walk.
Schottenheimer never favored young quarterbacks, as any Chiefs fan remembers. So he wanted to keep Brees.
Instead, the Chargers will ask others like running back LaDainian Tomlinson and tight end Antonio Gates to carry the load instead of Rivers.
“We’re going to have to have upgrades in areas like the offensive line,” Schottenheimer said. “We’ve got arguably one of the best running backs ever. We’ve got a tight end that’s as good as any tight end in football. We want to be more physical in the running game because you can’t throw it all on the quarterback’s plate.”
The Raiders cut starting quarterback Kerry Collins and replaced him with former Saint Aaron Brooks. The move appears to be a lateral one, at best.
So Oakland is asking a lot of Shell, the former Raiders player and coach. The Raiders have offensive talent in wide receiver Randy Moss and running back LaMont Jordan, but they haven’t finished out of last place in the division since reaching the Super Bowl in 2002.
“I don’t mind a challenge,” Shell said. “But the Raiders … that’s home to me. That’s where I grew up. I spent 27 years in that organization before I left. So to come home and try to be a part of bringing that team back to its winning ways was exciting for me.”
Shell coached the Raiders from 1989 through 1994 and took them to one AFC championship game and two other playoff appearances. Oakland’s cantankerous owner, Al Davis, went through five coaches since firing Shell.
“What he did in Oakland, they’re just figuring it out now that he did a heck of a job,” Edwards said. “He’s going to bring stability there again. The one thing Art knew … The Nation was the Nation. He was part of the Nation. He was a part of the Raider Nation. He was an integral part of that. He was there as a player. He understands how the system works, and the players will respect that. He knows where all the ghosts are.”
All of this leaves an opening for the Chiefs, but their productivity in free-agency was limited to the signing of former Buffalo defensive tackle Ron Edwards and former Denver cornerback Lenny Walls. Edwards is depth, and Walls missed the last half of last season with a groin injury.
They still have a hole in their starting lineup at cornerback and would like to add some help in a pass rusher and a wide receiver. A backup quarterback wouldn’t hurt, either.
All for another day, evidently.
“We’re going to continue to look for players,” Peterson said. “We said we were going to wait until this first wave of free-agency was finished. We’re picking and choosing as much as we can. We’ll sign some players.
“I feel good where we are. I know Herm does. We have some positions of need, but we have seven picks in the draft coming up.”
Teicher II
Chiefs pick up cornerback Lenny Walls
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/football/nfl/kansas_city_chiefs/14243142.htm
Lenny Walls jumped to the start of the line to be the Chiefs’ starting right cornerback Saturday by merely agreeing to terms of a one-year contract.
Walls may have plenty of competition by the start of the season from another veteran or two and perhaps a draft pick. But for now, Walls, a former starter with Denver, is the most logical choice among a field that also includes Julian Battle, Benny Sapp and Alphonso Hodge.
Patrick Surtain is the starting left cornerback.
Walls, 26, is one of the NFL’s tallest cornerbacks at 6 feet 4. He was a starter for Denver in 2003, but injuries limited him to seven games in each of the last two seasons.
He started three of those games for Denver last season. Walls was placed on the injured-reserve list at midseason because of a groin injury and was later released.
Harrington
Quarterback Joey Harrington was leaning toward agreeing to a contract with the Dolphins on Saturday, eliminating the major hurdle to Miami and Detroit working out a low-level trade for the former first-round pick.
A source close to Harrington said the Lions quarterback preferred the Dolphins' two-year offer over a one-year deal from Cincinnati and interest from Denver. The terms of the Dolphins' deal were not available, although Harrington is expected to earn approximately $2 million in 2006 from either the Dolphins or Bengals.
more....
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/14244381.htm
Teicher I
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/football/nfl/kansas_city_chiefs/14242252.htm
ORLANDO, Fla. — In Denver, the Broncos decided the best way to defend their AFC West championship was to retain their own free agents rather than raid the rosters of other teams.
But the Chiefs, who followed the same strategy after winning the division in 2003, know this method isn’t foolproof. They haven’t been back to the playoffs since.
In San Diego, the Chargers allowed the departure of quarterback Drew Brees, a former Pro Bowler who at 27 is headed into the prime of his career. They will replace him with promising youngster Philip Rivers, but they should know this: None of last season’s AFC’s playoff teams used a first-year starting quarterback.
In Oakland, the forlorn Raiders traded one journeyman quarterback for another. They hired an old hero, Art Shell, to coach the team only after other candidates turned them down.
In Kansas City, the Chiefs hired a new coach in Herm Edwards and then viewed these developments with interest. But, like their division rivals, the Chiefs have done little or nothing to improve.
Doesn’t anybody here want to win this division?
“We watch their cap situations, their acquisitions and losses in player personnel, their strengths and weaknesses,” Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson said. “That’s important. That’s who we have to beat.
“It seems that all of us in the AFC West this year have taken a deep breath in free-agency.”
There’s still time in free-agency for teams to make improvements. The late-April draft affords another opportunity. The Raiders (seventh pick) and Broncos (15th) have choices in the first half of the opening round. The Broncos have an additional pick later in the first round.
But, based on recent activity, all four teams are content where they are. The division is the only one not to have even one major free-agent signing, though Denver’s addition of defensive end Kenard Lang could become significant if he regains the pass-rush punch he lost in Cleveland last year.
Meanwhile, the losses except in Oakland were significant. The Chargers also lost linebacker Ben Leber and pass rusher DeQuincy Scott. The Broncos will move on with defensive lineman Trevor Pryce. The Chiefs will play without starting cornerback Eric Warfield and fullback Tony Richardson.
This could spell the start of a down period for the AFC West. The division put two teams in the playoffs in 2003 and 2004. Only one made the postseason last year, though the Chiefs and Chargers were strong contenders.
That playoff team was the Broncos. They upgraded their defense with the addition of former Browns Gerard Warren and Courtney Brown, finally received steady play from quarterback Jake Plummer and won the AFC West for the first time since 1998.
“Jake settled down, did some things we wanted him to do,” general manager Ted Sundquist said. “We ran the ball well, which we’ve always done. On offense, we forced more turnovers. We found some depth on the defensive line and in the defensive backfield. We looked at all that and felt we had a good nucleus. We decided we needed to hang on to some of the players who got us there.
“We kind of knew we weren’t going to be big players in free-agency this year. We felt like re-signing some of our own guys would be our free-agency.”
The Broncos re-signed several of their own players, including Brown, Warren and running back Ron Dayne. Lang could help the pass rush, perhaps Denver’s biggest weakness.
But the loss of Pryce, running back Mike Anderson and tight end Jeb Putzier could hurt.
“You look at our club and the big-name players are older guys, but the core of our club is really in its prime, right in that four-, five-, six-year period,” Sundquist said. “We’re not as old as we appear on the surface because of Rod (Smith), because of John Lynch, because of Tom Nalen. A lot of the defensive guys we brought in last year, it seems like they were with the Browns forever, but they’re still young guys.”
The Chargers are young and talented, and Rivers is full of potential. But seldom are quarterback transitions seamless.
The free-agent loss of Brees to New Orleans has the potential to rip apart the organization. Coach Marty Schottenheimer and general manager A.J. Smith quarreled publicly last month over the decision to let Brees walk.
Schottenheimer never favored young quarterbacks, as any Chiefs fan remembers. So he wanted to keep Brees.
Instead, the Chargers will ask others like running back LaDainian Tomlinson and tight end Antonio Gates to carry the load instead of Rivers.
“We’re going to have to have upgrades in areas like the offensive line,” Schottenheimer said. “We’ve got arguably one of the best running backs ever. We’ve got a tight end that’s as good as any tight end in football. We want to be more physical in the running game because you can’t throw it all on the quarterback’s plate.”
The Raiders cut starting quarterback Kerry Collins and replaced him with former Saint Aaron Brooks. The move appears to be a lateral one, at best.
So Oakland is asking a lot of Shell, the former Raiders player and coach. The Raiders have offensive talent in wide receiver Randy Moss and running back LaMont Jordan, but they haven’t finished out of last place in the division since reaching the Super Bowl in 2002.
“I don’t mind a challenge,” Shell said. “But the Raiders … that’s home to me. That’s where I grew up. I spent 27 years in that organization before I left. So to come home and try to be a part of bringing that team back to its winning ways was exciting for me.”
Shell coached the Raiders from 1989 through 1994 and took them to one AFC championship game and two other playoff appearances. Oakland’s cantankerous owner, Al Davis, went through five coaches since firing Shell.
“What he did in Oakland, they’re just figuring it out now that he did a heck of a job,” Edwards said. “He’s going to bring stability there again. The one thing Art knew … The Nation was the Nation. He was part of the Nation. He was a part of the Raider Nation. He was an integral part of that. He was there as a player. He understands how the system works, and the players will respect that. He knows where all the ghosts are.”
All of this leaves an opening for the Chiefs, but their productivity in free-agency was limited to the signing of former Buffalo defensive tackle Ron Edwards and former Denver cornerback Lenny Walls. Edwards is depth, and Walls missed the last half of last season with a groin injury.
They still have a hole in their starting lineup at cornerback and would like to add some help in a pass rusher and a wide receiver. A backup quarterback wouldn’t hurt, either.
All for another day, evidently.
“We’re going to continue to look for players,” Peterson said. “We said we were going to wait until this first wave of free-agency was finished. We’re picking and choosing as much as we can. We’ll sign some players.
“I feel good where we are. I know Herm does. We have some positions of need, but we have seven picks in the draft coming up.”
Teicher II
Chiefs pick up cornerback Lenny Walls
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/sports/football/nfl/kansas_city_chiefs/14243142.htm
Lenny Walls jumped to the start of the line to be the Chiefs’ starting right cornerback Saturday by merely agreeing to terms of a one-year contract.
Walls may have plenty of competition by the start of the season from another veteran or two and perhaps a draft pick. But for now, Walls, a former starter with Denver, is the most logical choice among a field that also includes Julian Battle, Benny Sapp and Alphonso Hodge.
Patrick Surtain is the starting left cornerback.
Walls, 26, is one of the NFL’s tallest cornerbacks at 6 feet 4. He was a starter for Denver in 2003, but injuries limited him to seven games in each of the last two seasons.
He started three of those games for Denver last season. Walls was placed on the injured-reserve list at midseason because of a groin injury and was later released.
Harrington
Quarterback Joey Harrington was leaning toward agreeing to a contract with the Dolphins on Saturday, eliminating the major hurdle to Miami and Detroit working out a low-level trade for the former first-round pick.
A source close to Harrington said the Lions quarterback preferred the Dolphins' two-year offer over a one-year deal from Cincinnati and interest from Denver. The terms of the Dolphins' deal were not available, although Harrington is expected to earn approximately $2 million in 2006 from either the Dolphins or Bengals.
more....
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/football/14244381.htm