DaneMcCloud
09-20-2008, 10:15 AM
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Chiefs in major overhaul, but will Herm see the turnaround?
By Tom Pedulla, USA TODAY
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Heavy equipment is everywhere. Head-pounding sounds of construction pierce the air.
It is all part of a $375 million remodeling of Arrowhead Stadium (slated for completion in 2010), and this stadium-turned-construction site is the perfect backdrop for the NFL team that calls it home.
In what is arguably the most extensive youth movement since the dawn of free agency, the once-proud Kansas City Chiefs are being rebuilt from the ground up.
"Things have been rattling and rolling around here," says Pro Bowl tight end Tony Gonzalez, one of the few veteran holdovers on a radically overhauled roster that includes 32 players with three or fewer years of NFL experience.
Something dramatic needed to be done after the Chiefs dropped nine consecutive games to close last season with a 4-12 record, their worst mark since 1978. But they are choosing the road less traveled in their willingness to go young and younger.
This path certainly represents new ground for Carl Peterson, in his 20th season as team president and general manager.
"It is a different philosophy," Peterson says. "I was concerned. I have felt from the day I walked in here that the word 'rebuilding' can concern people, shock people, maybe give season-ticketholders an excuse to say, 'Well, they're not going to win for a few years. I'm not going to pay those prices to watch them rebuild. I'll wait until they get good and buy my tickets again.' "
That fear prompts many declining teams to search for quick fixes through trades and free agency. They know mediocrity might result but prefer a record in the .500 range to a free fall that might hurt ticket sales.
"First and foremost, the league is a win-now league," says former Tennessee Titans general manager Floyd Reese, now an ESPN analyst. "Win this year and don't tell me about next year or the year after."
Kansas City, helped by excellent management and coaching, beat the parity-driven system for an extended period. The Chiefs placed first or second in the AFC West every year from 1989-97, though they won only three playoff games in that span under coach Marty Schottenheimer.
Kansas City enjoyed a 13-3 season and an AFC West crown in 2003 under Dick Vermeil, but the Indianapolis Colts bounced the Chiefs from the playoffs in a 38-31 shootout.
After going 10-6 but falling short of the playoffs in Vermeil's final season, 2005, the Chiefs imported head coach Herm Edwards from the New York Jets at the cost of a fourth-round draft pick. Kansas City managed to slip back into the postseason at 9-7 in 2006, but Edwards says he had a clear vision of where the Chiefs needed to go after a 23-8 defeat at Indianapolis in the wild-card round.
More patching of the tire?
"That was what was done before," Edwards says, "and it never came to fruition. When I came on campus, I said, 'Let's build something.' "
And so there is something of a collegiate atmosphere surrounding the fresh-faced Chiefs, whose average opening-day age of 26.1 trailed only the Green Bay Packers (26.0). On the practice field, they want to go, go, go. Off it, they tend to move to the same hip-hop beat.
"We're all trying to achieve the same thing," says left tackle Branden Albert, the second of two first-round picks and one of 12 choices stockpiled from the draft. "We're going to struggle together, and we're going to succeed together."
Albert was one of six rookies to start in Week 1 when Kansas City visited the defending AFC champion New England Patriots. He was joined in the lineup by the team's other first-round choice, heralded defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, as well as cornerback Brandon Flowers (second round), running back Jamaal Charles (third), cornerback Brandon Carr (fifth) and fullback Mike Cox, an undrafted free agent.
In New England, the game will be remembered for the despair that accompanied the knee injury that abruptly ended superstar quarterback Tom Brady's season. In Kansas City, the September afternoon contest brought hope.
Gonzalez was greatly encouraged by the way his new teammates responded. "They are supposed to be the big, bad Patriots, and they didn't blink," he says of the rookies. "Their eyes were wide open, and they played well."
New England survived 17-10. Edwards says he was pondering what play he wanted for the two-point conversion when Kansas City drove to the Patriots' 5-yard line, where it sat first-and-goal in the final minute only to be turned away.
It was a defeat, but one that filled the Chiefs with confidence.
Albert, primarily a guard at the University of Virginia, is making the adjustment to left tackle despite missing the preseason with a foot injury. He still beams with pride when he discusses his debut against Patriots defensive lineman Richard Seymour.
"I played against a Pro Bowl defensive end," he says. "I'm not going to say I destroyed him, because that was not the case. But I held my own."
Says Flowers: "We don't think any stage is too big for us. We look at it that we're starters in the NFL, and we've got to play like we're starters in the NFL."
Other teams took note of Kansas City's gritty performance.
"It's a great statement by the organization and the head coach to go out and play in New England and take it down to the wire," Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin says.
Kiffin's Raiders, who were manhandled by the Denver Broncos in Week 1, threw some cold water on Kansas City's optimism in Week 2, leaving Arrowhead with a 23-8 win.
"They came out and knocked us off the ball and ran the ball down our throat," said Edwards after his team surrendered 300 rushing yards. "We got embarrassed at home."
Third-year center Rudy Niswanger, another of the Chiefs' new starters, echoed his coach's frustration.
"He's just as disappointed as the rest of us," said Niswanger. "He cares about this and puts just as much out there as the people on the field do. (The Raiders) came in here and, the way they played, embarrassed us.
"Hopefully, we can take that embarrassment and use it to fuel us to play better in the future."
With such a sweeping youth movement, Peterson knew there would be extensive growing pains and pressure to see dividends.
"I'm not interested in young players just replacing older players," he says. "Our business is a performance business, and performance is measured by winning. You want to acquire young players who can help you win, not just replace someone."
Given how inexact a science the process of player evaluation can be, Edwards acknowledges that not every member of his incoming class will succeed.
"If you hit on 75% with all of the players you draft," he says, "you are doing really well. The ones you can't miss on are those guys in the first through third rounds because those are really quality players."
While Oakland selected running back Darren McFadden fourth overall, just ahead of Dorsey, Kiffin is enamored with the Chiefs' pick.
"I thought he was a dynamic player, potentially the best player in the draft as you look at the long term for a team," Kiffin says.
"How do you build a team for a long, long run? The best way to do it is with a defensive lineman, especially a dominant defensive tackle like Glenn."
Kiffin thinks highly of Peterson and Edwards, who have the blessing of chairman of the board Clark Hunt, for their willingness to essentially start over.
"There is so much job insecurity in this league," says Kiffin, who might not have much security himself while toiling under Raiders owner Al Davis. "Very few coaches and general managers want to do that — especially coaches — because they are so worried about winning now.
"A lot of times guys side with veterans and don't play young players because of job security. That's the reality of it."
Reese can relate to what Kansas City is going through. Massive salary-cap woes forced him to cut loose many good veterans and take a new direction after the Titans rolled to a 12-4 record in 2003. Records of 5-11 and 4-12 ensued before the team climbed back to 8-8 and then a 10-6 playoff campaign last season.
Reese says of a heavy infusion of youth: "In my opinion, it is the very best and shortest-term way of rebuilding. But you are going to have to go through some bumps."
Some of the bumps were evident in the opener. Promising second-year wideout Dwayne Bowe was guilty of a number of dropped passes, including a potential score in the final minute. And it was a huge blow when Charles picked up the wrong blitzing defender on the first drive of the second half. Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas leveled Brodie Croyle with such force that the quarterback separated his right shoulder.
That game left Croyle winless in seven starts. He was unable to finish three of those games.
"The not-winning part would not concern me," Reese says of Croyle, "as much as the not finishing."
The Chiefs are worried, knowing it could be devastating if injuries prevent their 2006 third-round choice from becoming the passer they think he can be. Croyle missed time last year with back and hand injuries.
With Croyle out and backup Damon Huard injured against the Raiders, the Chiefs also got a peek at second-year man Tyler Thigpen, who's long on potential but short on big-game experience after playing collegiately at Coastal Carolina.
Thigpen struggled most of the day against Oakland, completing 14 of 33 passes for 151 yards. His fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Gonzalez and two-point pass to Cox cut the deficit to 16-8, giving the Chiefs life.
But Thigpen was intercepted on the next drive, putting the final nail in Kansas City's coffin.
"(He's a) young quarterback, green," Edwards says of Thigpen. "You know that. He's got a pretty good arm. He was put in a tough spot, (and) I thought he did a good job in the two-minute at the end where he took the team down and made some throws. But it's a work in progress."
And be it Croyle, Thigpen or someone else, Edwards knows finding stability at quarterback is a keystone to the Chiefs' restoration efforts.
"At the end of the day, all of the teams that end up winning and being successful have got a quarterback who is consistent," Edwards says. "He is their guy, and the availability of that guy is critical because you build everything around him."
Croyle, who had some history of injuries at Alabama, should return soon. He might be running out of opportunities, though, and needs to justify the Chiefs' investment in him.
"He's got to be available, and that's been his deal. He's not been quite available," Edwards says of Croyle, adding, "It's his third year. That's kind of a defining moment for a lot of these guys."
It would be a huge blow if Kansas City can't find an answer under center on its current roster.
"What you don't want to do is get the whole team in place, and in Year 4 everybody is ready to go, and you don't have the quarterback," Reese says. "You're almost better off getting the quarterback first and then the rest of it."
No matter what happens, the Chiefs are too far along to change course now. Edwards is as committed as he can be to the youth movement, even if it costs him his job at the end.
"If it happens, it happens, but I did the right thing," he says. "I just believe when you do the right thing, things work out."
An uneasy Peterson already has an eye toward the '09 draft. "Two good drafts back-to-back can change your club pretty dramatically," he says.
Anyone have any draft choices to trade?
Contributing: USA TODAY's Steve Wieberg
Chiefs in major overhaul, but will Herm see the turnaround?
By Tom Pedulla, USA TODAY
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Heavy equipment is everywhere. Head-pounding sounds of construction pierce the air.
It is all part of a $375 million remodeling of Arrowhead Stadium (slated for completion in 2010), and this stadium-turned-construction site is the perfect backdrop for the NFL team that calls it home.
In what is arguably the most extensive youth movement since the dawn of free agency, the once-proud Kansas City Chiefs are being rebuilt from the ground up.
"Things have been rattling and rolling around here," says Pro Bowl tight end Tony Gonzalez, one of the few veteran holdovers on a radically overhauled roster that includes 32 players with three or fewer years of NFL experience.
Something dramatic needed to be done after the Chiefs dropped nine consecutive games to close last season with a 4-12 record, their worst mark since 1978. But they are choosing the road less traveled in their willingness to go young and younger.
This path certainly represents new ground for Carl Peterson, in his 20th season as team president and general manager.
"It is a different philosophy," Peterson says. "I was concerned. I have felt from the day I walked in here that the word 'rebuilding' can concern people, shock people, maybe give season-ticketholders an excuse to say, 'Well, they're not going to win for a few years. I'm not going to pay those prices to watch them rebuild. I'll wait until they get good and buy my tickets again.' "
That fear prompts many declining teams to search for quick fixes through trades and free agency. They know mediocrity might result but prefer a record in the .500 range to a free fall that might hurt ticket sales.
"First and foremost, the league is a win-now league," says former Tennessee Titans general manager Floyd Reese, now an ESPN analyst. "Win this year and don't tell me about next year or the year after."
Kansas City, helped by excellent management and coaching, beat the parity-driven system for an extended period. The Chiefs placed first or second in the AFC West every year from 1989-97, though they won only three playoff games in that span under coach Marty Schottenheimer.
Kansas City enjoyed a 13-3 season and an AFC West crown in 2003 under Dick Vermeil, but the Indianapolis Colts bounced the Chiefs from the playoffs in a 38-31 shootout.
After going 10-6 but falling short of the playoffs in Vermeil's final season, 2005, the Chiefs imported head coach Herm Edwards from the New York Jets at the cost of a fourth-round draft pick. Kansas City managed to slip back into the postseason at 9-7 in 2006, but Edwards says he had a clear vision of where the Chiefs needed to go after a 23-8 defeat at Indianapolis in the wild-card round.
More patching of the tire?
"That was what was done before," Edwards says, "and it never came to fruition. When I came on campus, I said, 'Let's build something.' "
And so there is something of a collegiate atmosphere surrounding the fresh-faced Chiefs, whose average opening-day age of 26.1 trailed only the Green Bay Packers (26.0). On the practice field, they want to go, go, go. Off it, they tend to move to the same hip-hop beat.
"We're all trying to achieve the same thing," says left tackle Branden Albert, the second of two first-round picks and one of 12 choices stockpiled from the draft. "We're going to struggle together, and we're going to succeed together."
Albert was one of six rookies to start in Week 1 when Kansas City visited the defending AFC champion New England Patriots. He was joined in the lineup by the team's other first-round choice, heralded defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, as well as cornerback Brandon Flowers (second round), running back Jamaal Charles (third), cornerback Brandon Carr (fifth) and fullback Mike Cox, an undrafted free agent.
In New England, the game will be remembered for the despair that accompanied the knee injury that abruptly ended superstar quarterback Tom Brady's season. In Kansas City, the September afternoon contest brought hope.
Gonzalez was greatly encouraged by the way his new teammates responded. "They are supposed to be the big, bad Patriots, and they didn't blink," he says of the rookies. "Their eyes were wide open, and they played well."
New England survived 17-10. Edwards says he was pondering what play he wanted for the two-point conversion when Kansas City drove to the Patriots' 5-yard line, where it sat first-and-goal in the final minute only to be turned away.
It was a defeat, but one that filled the Chiefs with confidence.
Albert, primarily a guard at the University of Virginia, is making the adjustment to left tackle despite missing the preseason with a foot injury. He still beams with pride when he discusses his debut against Patriots defensive lineman Richard Seymour.
"I played against a Pro Bowl defensive end," he says. "I'm not going to say I destroyed him, because that was not the case. But I held my own."
Says Flowers: "We don't think any stage is too big for us. We look at it that we're starters in the NFL, and we've got to play like we're starters in the NFL."
Other teams took note of Kansas City's gritty performance.
"It's a great statement by the organization and the head coach to go out and play in New England and take it down to the wire," Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin says.
Kiffin's Raiders, who were manhandled by the Denver Broncos in Week 1, threw some cold water on Kansas City's optimism in Week 2, leaving Arrowhead with a 23-8 win.
"They came out and knocked us off the ball and ran the ball down our throat," said Edwards after his team surrendered 300 rushing yards. "We got embarrassed at home."
Third-year center Rudy Niswanger, another of the Chiefs' new starters, echoed his coach's frustration.
"He's just as disappointed as the rest of us," said Niswanger. "He cares about this and puts just as much out there as the people on the field do. (The Raiders) came in here and, the way they played, embarrassed us.
"Hopefully, we can take that embarrassment and use it to fuel us to play better in the future."
With such a sweeping youth movement, Peterson knew there would be extensive growing pains and pressure to see dividends.
"I'm not interested in young players just replacing older players," he says. "Our business is a performance business, and performance is measured by winning. You want to acquire young players who can help you win, not just replace someone."
Given how inexact a science the process of player evaluation can be, Edwards acknowledges that not every member of his incoming class will succeed.
"If you hit on 75% with all of the players you draft," he says, "you are doing really well. The ones you can't miss on are those guys in the first through third rounds because those are really quality players."
While Oakland selected running back Darren McFadden fourth overall, just ahead of Dorsey, Kiffin is enamored with the Chiefs' pick.
"I thought he was a dynamic player, potentially the best player in the draft as you look at the long term for a team," Kiffin says.
"How do you build a team for a long, long run? The best way to do it is with a defensive lineman, especially a dominant defensive tackle like Glenn."
Kiffin thinks highly of Peterson and Edwards, who have the blessing of chairman of the board Clark Hunt, for their willingness to essentially start over.
"There is so much job insecurity in this league," says Kiffin, who might not have much security himself while toiling under Raiders owner Al Davis. "Very few coaches and general managers want to do that — especially coaches — because they are so worried about winning now.
"A lot of times guys side with veterans and don't play young players because of job security. That's the reality of it."
Reese can relate to what Kansas City is going through. Massive salary-cap woes forced him to cut loose many good veterans and take a new direction after the Titans rolled to a 12-4 record in 2003. Records of 5-11 and 4-12 ensued before the team climbed back to 8-8 and then a 10-6 playoff campaign last season.
Reese says of a heavy infusion of youth: "In my opinion, it is the very best and shortest-term way of rebuilding. But you are going to have to go through some bumps."
Some of the bumps were evident in the opener. Promising second-year wideout Dwayne Bowe was guilty of a number of dropped passes, including a potential score in the final minute. And it was a huge blow when Charles picked up the wrong blitzing defender on the first drive of the second half. Patriots linebacker Adalius Thomas leveled Brodie Croyle with such force that the quarterback separated his right shoulder.
That game left Croyle winless in seven starts. He was unable to finish three of those games.
"The not-winning part would not concern me," Reese says of Croyle, "as much as the not finishing."
The Chiefs are worried, knowing it could be devastating if injuries prevent their 2006 third-round choice from becoming the passer they think he can be. Croyle missed time last year with back and hand injuries.
With Croyle out and backup Damon Huard injured against the Raiders, the Chiefs also got a peek at second-year man Tyler Thigpen, who's long on potential but short on big-game experience after playing collegiately at Coastal Carolina.
Thigpen struggled most of the day against Oakland, completing 14 of 33 passes for 151 yards. His fourth-quarter touchdown pass to Gonzalez and two-point pass to Cox cut the deficit to 16-8, giving the Chiefs life.
But Thigpen was intercepted on the next drive, putting the final nail in Kansas City's coffin.
"(He's a) young quarterback, green," Edwards says of Thigpen. "You know that. He's got a pretty good arm. He was put in a tough spot, (and) I thought he did a good job in the two-minute at the end where he took the team down and made some throws. But it's a work in progress."
And be it Croyle, Thigpen or someone else, Edwards knows finding stability at quarterback is a keystone to the Chiefs' restoration efforts.
"At the end of the day, all of the teams that end up winning and being successful have got a quarterback who is consistent," Edwards says. "He is their guy, and the availability of that guy is critical because you build everything around him."
Croyle, who had some history of injuries at Alabama, should return soon. He might be running out of opportunities, though, and needs to justify the Chiefs' investment in him.
"He's got to be available, and that's been his deal. He's not been quite available," Edwards says of Croyle, adding, "It's his third year. That's kind of a defining moment for a lot of these guys."
It would be a huge blow if Kansas City can't find an answer under center on its current roster.
"What you don't want to do is get the whole team in place, and in Year 4 everybody is ready to go, and you don't have the quarterback," Reese says. "You're almost better off getting the quarterback first and then the rest of it."
No matter what happens, the Chiefs are too far along to change course now. Edwards is as committed as he can be to the youth movement, even if it costs him his job at the end.
"If it happens, it happens, but I did the right thing," he says. "I just believe when you do the right thing, things work out."
An uneasy Peterson already has an eye toward the '09 draft. "Two good drafts back-to-back can change your club pretty dramatically," he says.
Anyone have any draft choices to trade?
Contributing: USA TODAY's Steve Wieberg