HC_Chief
09-20-2004, 08:08 AM
Going into the 2004 season, it was obvious what holes needed to be filled to take the Chiefs to the next level: defense and wide receiver.
Kansas City, sporting the 3rd highest ticket price in the league, which equated to a 20+ million dollar windfall for ownership (not to mention healthy bonuses for the front office folks), has plenty of cap space to work with.
What move(s) do the Chiefs make?
They hire a new D-Coordinator and stand-pat on personnel. They maintain the rest of their bloated coaching staff - the most numerous and collectively, highest-paid in the legue.
Going into Training Camp, the coaches and front office are innundated with questions regarding lack of movement in regards to personnel upgrades/replacement. The now famous "we're out of money" line is presented and repeated.
During camp, KC discovers its starting Mike LB is still injured; will miss the season. His backup, an unspectacular second-year player, will get the start. He is then injured. With a reported six-million-dollars of free salary cap space available, KC decides again to stand pat, trot out the "we're out of money" line, and start a converted DE at middle linebacker... giving him no more than two weeks to prepare for the regular season.
During camp, the starting X, Y and Z receivers all sustain injuries. With a reported six-million-dollars of free salary cap space available, KC decides again to stand pat, trot out the "we're out of money" line, and refrain from pursuing an all-pro wideout who wants out of his contract in Tampa.
Into the season KC limps; gets soundly thumped, and exposes their weaknesses on national television for every coach and player in the league. The D is still susceptable to surrendering huge running plays, they bite on misdirection and they cannot tackle. The wide receivers are below average; bracket KC's all-world TE and concentrate on stopping Priest Holmes. Even if he gains a ton of yards and scores, no worries - KC's coaching staff will eventually quit feeding him the ball; in favor of more complex playcalling meant to confuse the opposing D (by inexplainably removing the single threat the O poses?).
There is something seriously wrong in KC. (and it's not the fans)
Kansas City, sporting the 3rd highest ticket price in the league, which equated to a 20+ million dollar windfall for ownership (not to mention healthy bonuses for the front office folks), has plenty of cap space to work with.
What move(s) do the Chiefs make?
They hire a new D-Coordinator and stand-pat on personnel. They maintain the rest of their bloated coaching staff - the most numerous and collectively, highest-paid in the legue.
Going into Training Camp, the coaches and front office are innundated with questions regarding lack of movement in regards to personnel upgrades/replacement. The now famous "we're out of money" line is presented and repeated.
During camp, KC discovers its starting Mike LB is still injured; will miss the season. His backup, an unspectacular second-year player, will get the start. He is then injured. With a reported six-million-dollars of free salary cap space available, KC decides again to stand pat, trot out the "we're out of money" line, and start a converted DE at middle linebacker... giving him no more than two weeks to prepare for the regular season.
During camp, the starting X, Y and Z receivers all sustain injuries. With a reported six-million-dollars of free salary cap space available, KC decides again to stand pat, trot out the "we're out of money" line, and refrain from pursuing an all-pro wideout who wants out of his contract in Tampa.
Into the season KC limps; gets soundly thumped, and exposes their weaknesses on national television for every coach and player in the league. The D is still susceptable to surrendering huge running plays, they bite on misdirection and they cannot tackle. The wide receivers are below average; bracket KC's all-world TE and concentrate on stopping Priest Holmes. Even if he gains a ton of yards and scores, no worries - KC's coaching staff will eventually quit feeding him the ball; in favor of more complex playcalling meant to confuse the opposing D (by inexplainably removing the single threat the O poses?).
There is something seriously wrong in KC. (and it's not the fans)