Top 10 Off season moves the Chiefs need to make

[Packfan]

1. Fire Peterson. 12 years is long enough and unprecedented for a GM with no playoff wins in seven straight years

2. Fire Gunter and staff. I said two years ago that Gunter was a bad choice. He still is.

3. Hire new coach. A young, innovative assistant who has been mentored by the league's best coaches: Fisher, Holmgren, Shanahan, Green. Hire someone that can teach players, is strategic, and relates to Gen X. Gunter was none of the above.

4. Clean up cap mess. Get rid of underachieving cap eaters: Shields, Hasty, Chester, Dan Williams, Gray.

5. Do not mislead fans. No more season ticket holder letters bragging about a Bam Morris signing. Lower season ticket prices and ask for patience.

6. Do NOT resign Grbac. He is 30 years old and probably has reached his peak. Still makes many poor decisions. Interior of his line will have to be rebuilt and thats bad news for a guy who cant scramble. Signing him conflicts with #3

7. Draft/trade for young QB. Musical QBs of the 90s failed. so has the Elvis Grbac experiment. The coaching staff needs to be able to train, motivate, and develop.

8. Ditto for running back

9. Adopt zero tollerance policy. You fumble/jump offsides/miss meetings/mis manage the clock, you dont play. The great coaches do this and get great results. Gunter has been accepting the same mental mistakes for two years.

10. Find a kicker once and for all. This is something that is often overlooked by Chiefs fans but has cost this team a lot of wins. Carl played musical chairs with three of the most critical positions in the game: QB, RB, and kicker (yes, kicker - they put up points) Find one. Its not that hard.

[Cormac]

1. The main reason I'd like to see this happen would be to achieve #2.

3. Agreed.

4. Shields will likely not be re-signed. Gray will be cut. He has been inactive for several weeks. Hasty must retire if he meant what he said the last couple of offseasons. Chet and Williams will remain. They are rumoured to cause a cap-hit of $11-12m combined if both are released. It can't be done.

6. It hurts that Grbac is so immobile, but he has not reached his peak. His mental mistakes are frustrating and inexcusable at times, but we are OK with him. He should be re-signed assuming he agrees to a cap-friendly contract. But it is time to bring in a young promising QB to groom, because there will come a time Elvis won't renegotiate to our satisfaction. Here's hoping it's not this year.

[Cormac]

8. Obviously.

9. I can't understand why Gun can't instill some discipline. His D had gone to crap ('98) by the time he became HC. I haven't seen evidence that "players love to play for him". Why does he keep having to say "I'm going to have to look hard at that" or "it's eating me up" or "I'll get to the bottom of it". Come on already!

10. I also can't understand why everyone is so down on Todd Peterson. He is in the top 3-4 all-time in FG accuracy. So he got off to a bad start with the Chiefs. What did we expect?
* he was under tremendous pressure with a new team
* he was working with a new holder and snapper
* he was coming off a long lay-off due to a kicking leg injury, which is BOUND to have some effect on him (at least rustiness)
* he has still kicked 10 of 14 despite all the bitching, and is beginning to knock them through with regularity. My prediction: he'll be a stud kicker for the next few years at KC. I think he was an excellent signing.

[This message has been edited by Cormac (edited 12-09-2000).]

[G_Man]

1. Yep
2. Hell yep!
3. Yep
4. I agree, except for Hasty. He's definitely not underachieving. He's having a great year, IMO. Don't let one missed tackle skew your view of him.
5. Sure
6. I disagree, unless his salary demands are absolutely ridiculous. I don't know where you get the idea that he's peaked. You probably said that last year.
7. Yes, but only for a 2nd/3rd stringer, QBOTF to back up Elvis.
8. Hell yes.
9. Within reason. Even the great RBs fumble sometimes. I wouldn't sit someone for fumbling once; maybe if it was a regular occurance.
10. I really think Peterson's (Todd) going to work out. He struggled early on, but as was already mentioned, he probably needed some time to adjust to Sauerbrun and Gammon. He's been solid the last few weeks.

[G_Man]

To expand on the Hasty issue, cut him only if he has an outrageous cap #. I realize we need to start the youth movement. But his cutting would have nothing to do with performance. You've always had something against Hasty, Ken, but he's definitely not underachieving if you watch the games.

[This message has been edited by G_Man (edited 12-09-2000).]

[Packfan]

G Man,

Hasty is a smart player who seems to be in the right place at the right time. I am for rebuilding, and he doesnt fit into my five year plan being that he is 35 years old. Also, I see him hand tackling. Tyring to tackle guys with his bare hands. Its like his body has taken enough punishment and he doesnt want to hit anymore. Plus, I lost respect when he walked into Carl's office before game one last year and demanded more money while threatening to retire.

[Logical]

I agree with G-man, except in the case of Shields as well. I do not think we will be able to keep him, but he is definitely not an underperformer.

So guess what Packfan for the most part I agree with you.

Oh I also disagree with one other thing, you do not lower the prices, just pledge to keep them constant for the next three seasons while the team matures. The Chiefs prices are well in line with the rest of the NFL and in fact are cheaper than quite a few places including here in San Diego.

------------------
Jim Reynolds
If I were a Democrat I would surely be a sore loser!

[This message has been edited by Logical (edited 12-09-2000).]

[FloridaChief]

1. Will not happen. Lamar Hunt will not fire Carl Peterson.

2. See #1. A couple assistants will likely lose their jobs, though.

4. It's debatable just how much of a "mess" our cap situation really is. It always looks bad this time of the year, but somehow, it always gets handled. This seems to be Peterson's forte. I will agree it is infuriating to think what we are paying Gray to sit on the bench all season long. He shoud be cut at the most advantageous moment (cap-wise). Carlton Gray is, IMO, Peterson's biggest blunder in 12 years.

5. I believe every NFL team sends out those feel-good-state-of-the-team letters to season ticket holders. It's SOP, and hardly 'misleading' if said season ticket holder has an ounce of common sense. Not going to lower season ticket prices either, though they could pledge to stabilize prices for 2 or 3 years.

6. LMAO! Grbac will restucture that ludicrous $10M bonus away and will return next year. And thank God for it.

7. Draft a young QB?? To do what with him? This organization hasn't taught a F--'n thing to a young QB in years! This is a situation that should have been looked into and and taken care of a long time ago: Sad state of QB coaching staffs.

8. Sadly, see #7.

9. Agreed. Stupid mistakes and penaties have gone on for far too long.

10. Disagree. I'm willing to stick w/ the two Todd's for a while longer. Neither are doing badly right now. Way too early to call either a bust.



[This message has been edited by FloridaChief (edited 12-10-2000).]