Peyton Manning has shown time and time, and time again, that he can be pretty mediocre against defenses that can disrupt the receivers with physical play, forcing him to hold the ball for longer than 2 seconds, which allows the pass rush to get pressure.

The Patriots defense is suspect, and Tom Brady is even less mobile now than he was when the Giants pass rush was abusing him in thier 2 SB meetings.

There is not a single juggernaught team in the AFC that the Chiefs can not win against with a couple of player additions.

A FS that allows the corners to play to their strengths, instead of trying to account for that gaping hole, and another pass rusher raises this defense to a top 10 level.

And if the Alex Smith of the second half of 2013 is behind center, then this team can compete with anyone.

You keep building for this window in 3 years, but second half Alex Smith gives us a 3 year window now.
I'd rather go in now, with a QB that we have than wait 3 years and hope we find the QB for that window when this team has only legitimately had 1 QB, and possibly 2 in it's entire 54 years of existence.

If we have a 3rd 1 now, it would be monumentally stupid to piss away that opportunity.

The Saints game while with the 9ers appeared to be Alex Smith's 1 shining moment.
But his growth over the course of the second half of last season and the Colts playoff game indicates that he has the tools to be a playmaker at QB that Flacco isn't.
Eli has that playmaking ability, but he lacks the consistency and steadyness that Smith has.

Smith could regress, but if he continues to ascend, then he can be a guy that raises the level of play around him more than a Flacco can.

To paraphrase something I've said through the years, give me second half Alex Smith and a top 10 defense, I will take my chances against the rest of the league.

Milk knocks it out of the park

I don't even think Alex needs a top 10 defense. I think he just needs a defense that doesn't give up the big play/quick score.

Weren't the Chiefs one of the top 3 big play defenses last year? Didn't we give up the most 30+/40+ yard touchdowns? That's ****ing pathetic. You can't do that stuff in the NFL. Let's a team right back in it. It's like a closer in the MLB blowing a save. Our defense is basically the Oakland A's Jim Johnson of defenses.

Still waiting for my ****ing autographed Saleaumua jersey.

Free Agency Thoughts: Kansas City Chiefs

Key Additions: Vance Walker ($3.3M per year), Joe Mays($3M)

Key Re-Signings: Husain Abdullah($1.1M per year)

Key Losses: Branden Albert (Dolphins), Tyson Jackson (Falcons), Jon Asamoah (Falcons), Geoff Schwartz (Giants), Dexter McCluster (Titans)

Major Cuts: Dunta Robinson ($3.1M cap savings)

Free Agency Thoughts:

Free agency for the Chiefs was more about the state of their salary cap than it was about signing players. The Chiefs spending spree occurred in 2013 and with a high payroll already a factor in 2015 with no starting QB under contract that season there was little that Kansas City could do this year but watch their team begin to get torn apart.

The Chiefs did not really want Albert last season and tried to trade him so it was no surprise to see him leave via free agency. There was barely an avenue to afford him last year and absolutely none this year. Could they have kept one of the guards without touching contracts on the roster? Probably not, but its realistic to question if money would have been better allocated there than to Joe Mays at LB.

Last year Mays was a late cut from the Broncos who saw no need to pay him $4 million. He signed with the Texans for around $1.1 million. While he played ok, paying $3 million for him is a bit rich. Akeem Jordan signed with the Redskins for the minimum and will only count for $635,000 against the cap compared to $2 million for Mays. That extra $1.5 million may have given the team a way to keep one of their linemen.

Vance Walker should be a solid addition in their rotation and lower in cost than the departing Jackson, who came off a career season which turned into nearly $10 million in guaranteed salary with the Falcons. Teams should always be wary of career seasons from underachievers in a walk year and Kansas City wisely was cautious.

The rest of free agency was basically just signing whatever low cost guys they could with Abdullah leading the way at $1.1 million a year. I’m assuming he will see an expanded role at that salary, if not they should have looked at a minimum contract.

Overall Grade: C-

I’m sure the first inclination is to look at the losses and gains and give the team a D or F, but what else could they have done? The team had no chance to do anything in free agency due to their cap. They were not going to trade Tamba Hali nor could they justify touching Dwayne Bowe’s contract after the hideous season he had. You can nitpick Mays but even that may not have resulted in a deal for one of the lost players. Of the teams we have gone over so far this was the first one that faced a salary cap constraint that made it near impossible to do anything.

Mays is a complete turd cut by an awful talent less defense. Turrible addition.

I don't want to wait 3 years. I want to wait one year. And when I say "wait" I'm saying I'd rather use this year to lock down Berry and Smith, and either sign Houston or prepare to sign him, which is still aggressive. Then go heavy after free agents in 2015.

I appreciate your optimism. I'm just not with you. Until Alex proves he can close games the way Eli/Flacco does or that Andy Reid isn't going to fart away close games with his game management, then no, I don't think barely top 10 defense (which is what we probably are with Byrd) is good enough. And while we can squeeze a few wins from the elite teams, do I think we could beat New England, Denver, and Seattle in back-to-back-to-back weeks? I still believe that's a long shot even with Byrd/Jackson.

Staying still today can assure that our cornerstones (Smith, Berry, Houston) stay here. It lets us pick up 3 to 4 comp picks. And it gives MORE spending money to make a big free agent run next season versus this year, where we'd run everything up on an expensive credit card bill.

All this talk about netting compensation picks is such bullshit. Winning franchises don't rely on getting the maximum amount of pity selections to improve their roster

The Ravens play for comp picks all the time.

I suggest you take a look at any good roster and see how many third to seventh round picks are starting. Good teams can find starting offensive linemen and quality depth through comp picks.

And I'm not talking about just sitting on money. The Chiefs can re-sign 2 of the three (berry, smith, houston)… all 3 would be nice, but that's a pipe dream. And if they do that, it would have been really hard to afford anyone else. So why not spend money on those guys and collect free picks on the side?

The $3M number attached to Mays is very misleading. His contract is bottom dollar with almost no guaranteed money.

He's a shit player and a cheap shot artist but he's not really overpaid.

Knowmo had Mays as a 99 in Madden...now he's a 50.

In the early stages, it seems like the chiefs are trying to stopgap. I'm okay with that. Dunta Robinson was unbelievably overpaid but was given a contract the chiefs could easily opt out of when they found a replacement. I feel like Mays, Fasano, DeVito fall into this category. Man, I really hope Daniel does too. We just have to get better at drafting so we can move these guys off our roster quicker.

If he ends Peyton's season, he'll be worth every penny.

:D

I'll bet he doesn't lay a finger on Manning at any point.