Surprise!! Rufus knocks free agency (again)
 

DAWES: THIS YEAR'S FREE AGENT DU JOUR
Jan 27, 2005, 1:46:52 AM by Media Watch by Rufus Dawes

The tired voices of past criticism are using another off-season to postulate another Chiefs predicament. Oddly, learning nothing from the immediate past, they are beginning again to advance another generation of tired prognostications. Bob Gretz calls this time of year the “Silly Season” and, indeed, it is. As I sit here in my room in Mobile at the Senior Bowl, I’ve been reading the latest remedy for what ails the Chiefs. From what I understand from the folks back home, names are being tossed around by anybody who’s been able to talk himself onto a radio shout-fest or needs to fill a space in the local newspaper.

Gretz goes on to list some of the familiar player names that have been put out there for the Chiefs to pursue. More column inches have been spent on the notion that unrestricted free agency is a ruse than on any that this writer has contributed to this site. You can search the archives and you’ll find a fairly convincing case that building through free agency doesn’t work. Yes, there are exceptions from time to time but to contend that by signing one or more your season can be turned around it pure nonsense.

One local columnist has never met a marquee free agent name that he didn’t like. Jeff George, Hugh Douglas (he, of “give him the money, Lamar” fame) and Troy Vincent are recent names that come to mind. His latest free-agent du jour, Patriots corner Ty Law, is perhaps his silliest. Should the Chiefs seek out Law if there is a mutual interest? Absolutely. But the cost could be prohibitive considering the player’s age and physical condition. (see more in Gretz) It’s more likely that the Patriots won’t even put up much of a fuss. That’s the Patriots way, and the Steelers way and the Eagles way. Everybody is expendable in their eyes and they quickly part company with starters, all-pros, and such and move to backups. It seems to have worked well, don’t you think?

Consider, if you will, the Patriots who on this year’s trip to the Super Bowl started someone named Randall Gay (undrafted rookie free agent) at left corner and someone named Asante Samuel from that NCAA powerhouse Central Florida at right corner. They finished the season as a top-ten defense and held the explosive Indianapolis Colts offense to no touchdowns in their playoff win. The Pats ranked second in the NFL in points surrendered without last year’s starting corners Ty Law and Tyrone Poole.

So, to run around claiming once again to “give (Law) the money” is to have learned nothing, even if you don’t consider that over the past season the rules affecting cornerback play have changed so significantly as to make the idea of a shut-down corner obsolete.

Champ Bailey’s acquisition by the Denver Broncos last offseason did not improve the team’s defense. The Denver defense was better statistically against the pass in 2003 with Kelly Herndon and Lenny Walls as starters than it was with Bailey as its key cover guy. Denver was a wild card team without him and it was a wild card team with him. Maybe Ty Law would improve the Chiefs defense – it wouldn’t take much – but to throw money at him and sit back and think you’ve cured all of the team’s ills is to have learned nothing about a game you’re charged to provide insight on.

Insight is a term that doesn’t get much traction these days, least of all among some columnists, who prefer to fashion themselves more as entertainers. Good journalism is about linking fact with opinion. Good journalism is about fine analysis and making distinctions and about making a case. Because too many columnists believe they can say whatever they want without having to prove it, we are left with a journalism whose narrative and analytical failings have become ever more glairing. When will they learn and when will we?

One more nice thing about Carl Peterson leaving after the 2005 season.....we won't have to read Rufus' propaganda crap anymore.

Until we start evaluating talent like those teams, it does us no good to follow their formula. The key ingredient in doing it the way "those guys" do is drafting Willie Mcginests instead of Ryan Sims. The Chiefs payrolled excuse-makers seem to be oblivious to that.

Besides, the Eagles spent money on two of the biggest FAs to come out last year.

If this guy wants to preach "learn from history" he needs to look at what standing pat has done for the Chiefs in the past.

Rufus is an idiot, I can't make it more than 3 paragraphs into his articles anymore.

fuck Rufus.

Not one of your best columns, Titus :shake:

Can you guys actually refute anything he says?

Standing pat by trading for Trent Green and signing Priest Holmes or standing pat by signing Holiday, Barber, and McLeon?

No kidding. If we had drafted anyone who panned out on defense then we might be able to follow the Patriots' model. But I guess they aren't interested in competing now, just waiting who knows how long until they figure out how to choose talent in the draft.

What's to refute? All he does is refute Fatlock's article re: Law. He's a boring blowhard. I just wish our front office and coaching staff didn't think like him: no guts, no glory... play it safe, settle for mediocrity.

Knee-jerk anti-Rufus (again)...
 

Standing Pat last season last season and 1997 to "retain our own players" is what I had in mind.

Rufus-

Here is a clue: We aren't the Pats, Eagles, or Steelers. They have personel departments that can judge talent. We don't.

I'd encourage you to read the article again but this time put aside your frustration with the team, read it slowly, and make an effort to understand it. If you don't agree with it and can make a poignant argument against what he writes then I'll listen to your arguements.

Technically, we didn't stand pat last season. The players we retained were free agents. Our front office, whether it be a good or bad decision, decided they wanted to stay with what they knew and stuck to that strategy. Also, we hired a new defensive coordinator, signed an interior defensive lineman who played halfway decent this season, and tried to address the defense through the draft with Siavii, Allen and others.
I don't agree at all the we stood pat or didn't try to improve. Whether the strategy worked is the debatable point.

shove it up your ass sideways, nmt. I don't give two shits about what you think. 4321

Typical. Can't debate with facts so you have to call names.

Fact is Rufus is a boring blowhard that does nothing but rail on the media.

I have no urge to debate the guys' takes because they're all the same. So shove it up your ass sideways, you apologist bitch :D

Why post in the thread if you don't want to debate his points? That's what we're here for, right?
Rufus may be boring and he may even be pompous but contrary to what many around want to believe, he knows what he's talking about.
Many around here have a big problem with people they don't agree with.

Rufus is living in his own little dream world. His recommendations for improving the team consist of one thing.......drafting better players. Wake up Rufus. We draft stiffs. When you can't draft, you can either sit back, sign no free agents (because free agents, after all, never are the reason for a team's turnaround), and lose with the bums you drafted (which the Chiefs did this past season), or you can go out and make an effort to acquire better players than the ones you drafted.

Here's Rufus' method for putting together a team...

1) draft good players (like the Pats, Eagles, and Steelers)

2) if you can't draft good players, you just have to suck until you start drafting good players


Hey Rufus...newsflash. This isn't the 1970's or 1980's anymore. If you can't draft, but you still want to win, you can go out and sign free agents to replace the sh*tty players you drafted. Yeah, you may have to spend some of the owner's oil money, but that's the way it is.

Dan Snyder doesn't have oil money but he's sure been successful playing fantasy football.

My post was simply "fuck Rufus"... you brought up the "can you refute his points?". I just wanted to point out that the guy really has only ONE point - always has, always will: the media sucks.

Well duh. It doesn't take 10 paragraphs to get to that point. We got it the first time. He's boring: same take, simply reworded to counter whatever article is 'in' at the time; and he's a blowhard: dozens of paragraphs to reiterate the same old take. *Yawn*

That's why I replied to your post.
The "shove it up your ass" bit was in jest (if you didn't already know) - for telling me to slow down and re-read it. Again, I don't have to: it's a Rufus piece... I already know what it says. :p

You got dat correct!!!!

I can't stand blind homerism! No S.B. in how many years! And, not even a play-off win in .....

One of you said something about evaluating talent.... the Chiefs F.O. doesn't have the talent for doing that????

With these guys writing this non-sense I'm beginning to think that Kingless, D.V., the scouting department can't leave soon enough. But, I've afraid we will have to hit rock bottom and the stands are empty before the Hunt family will tell him to hit the road.... doens't look good.

He also took a franchise that wasn't making a lot of money and turned it into the most profitable franchise in the entire league. The 'Skins are worth more than any team in NFL history. It hasn't translated to on-the-field success (yet); but it sure as hell has got the fanbase interested. You have to admit: the guy goes all-out in attempts to improve his team. IMO where he has failed is in evaluating coaches.

No problem. My post asking for refutation of Rufus' points was to everyone who posted on this thread. You were the one who took time to answer. I know where you stand.

Free agency is why there are more 8-8 teams than ever before. Unless you can assemble the right group of guys, one player is not going to turn around a team.

The idol worship that has taken over the game is more of a detrement to success than productive.

Our trouble is instead of picking players that can play.

DV and company pick nice guys that fit DV profile.

Basically a bunch of crying pussies!

Soooo....It looks like the battle lines have been drawn. This entire 2005 season depends on whether or not KC signs Ty Law.

Actually, he doesn't know what he's talking about. He blatantly contradicts himself by offering up the three examples that he did.

The Pats: Addressed a need at RB by signing a "big name" FA. And according to rufus, Dillon is old (same age as Law).

The Steelers: addressed a need at RB by signing a "big name" RB. He's also old according to Rufus' standards

The Eagles: Adressed a need at WR and pass rush by signing what could easily be considered the top FA at their respective positions.

So tell me agian how these teams built from within and didn't need Free Agency.

No doubt.

I heard a bit of Fatlock's show yesterday as I drove home... what-a-moron! On and on and on about Law being the only player we need to add. Shear stupidity! He's the same guy who bitched because all we did last season was add ONE guy: Gunther Cunningham. It was wrong then, but now it's right because it's Ty Law?! :spock:

I'll take Samari Rolle, Derrick Mason AND Ed Hartwell over just Ty Law (probably cost us the same).

I wholeheartedly agree!!! The fans of KC deserve an owner/GM like Snyder.

So let me get this straight. It's OK to not win the Superbowl if your fans are interested and your franchise is worth the most? We are halfway there. Chiefs fans are definitly interested.

Seriously, I think you're giving Snyder a pass you'd never give Carl.

Heard the same arguement when Vermiel started remaking the offense. It was a dumb arguement then and still is now.

Yep, that's always the one example. Or you can look at the Jets, who signed Barret, Barton, and Tongue and should've been in the AFC Championship game despite Hackett's ineptness.

Getting back to Snyder.....yeah, he's an ass, but he gives their fans hope by making an effort, no matter how misplaced it is. As opposed to Hunt, who's teams win as many playoff games as Snyder's, yet offer Chiefs' fans little hope.

I'll be rooting for the Redskins in 2005 to win it all, so Rufus and the rest of the apologists can shove it up their ass. With Ramsey at QB and Gibbs offensive scheme, and Williams directing their defense, they have as good a shot as anyone else in the NFC to make it. Actually, I hope they go trade for Randy Moss and then win the Super Bowl so the "win only by drafting well" crowd can all fug off.

I never said teams don't need or shouldn't use free agency. Dillon was aquired in a trade. Duce Staley was a free agent but didn't play most of the last half of the season and Terrell Owens was technically a trade too. The Eagles wouldn't have gotten Owens had he not thrown a fit when he was traded to Baltimore and they sure wouldn't be where they are now without him. We can say Kearse was a good signing now but what about next year if he gets hurt and misses most of the season which has been part of his history?

No no no, just pointing out that the guy, like CP, has envigorated the fan base and turned the franchise into a cash cow. No one can argue that CP isn't a damn fine President and CEO - he excels in that capacity.

Where the two differ is Snyder actively pursues improvement. He is not afraid to add free agents at ANY position. If they don't work out, so be it - they part ways. And you notice, all without wrecking their 'cap'.

So now it's OK to not win the Superbowl if the team offers hope and gives an effort?
I'd argue that the Chiefs did give an effort last offseason as well as the previous offseason. Whether or not that effort worked is the debatable point.

What if Kearse gets hurt next year? Who the fuck cares? They signed him to help them get to the Super Bowl, and they made it.

Another player JSP could've named is James Farrior (came in 2nd for NFL Defensive Player of the Year). Wow, you mean the Steelers actually signed an UFA? Oh, I thought they drafted all of their players. Jeff Hartings, their Pro Bowl center? Another UFA.

You're saying that Peterson doesn't actively pursue improvement? You can't be serious about that. You can't tell me, objectively, that Peterson doesn't try to improve the Chiefs.
The thing is, you don't agree with the way Peterson trys to improve the team. The only difference between Peterson and Snyder is that Peterson is a football guy and Snyder is a fan.

None of that sh*t matters. Rufus' point was "here are 3 teams that get it done without spending in FA". That's simply not true. Trading fits into the same category, it's just spending draft picks instead of money.

And if FA is so unneccessary to winning, why did the Superbowl champions go out and get a FA? Why did the team that made the NFC championship game 3 years straight go out and get two huge name guys?

I'm not arguing whether it's the proper method to build a team or not. I'm simply saying that Dawes gave examples that contradicted his theory, rather than support it.

FA is like the draft, sometimes it will work out and sometimes it won't. But how can we not try? We must upgrade our defense with some accomplished players. Will it make us SB champs? No. But it certainly will not hurt at all.

Yes, it will hurt. Hunt's pocketbook. And that's all that really counts.

Read the first sentence of my post again. I never said teams shouldn't use free agency and I never said teams aren't successful in free agency. That would be an idiotic arguement considering the best player on our team was a free agent.
I would care about Kearse if I was a member of the Eagles staff. If he gets hurt next season, they'll be wasting a lot of money on him. Yeah, they made it to the Superbowl this year but there will be other NFL seasons and they'll still have to manage their salary cap.

And "insight" is not blind homerism for everything Kingless and the Chiefs do....

Another issue with him .... why does he repeat Gretz's work. Some of us read or had to suffer through it when it was published on the Chiefs site. Can't he write something on his own.

Sounds to me that all the writers on the Chiefs sites are all quoting the "talking points" that Kingless puts out ... kinda like the guy does for FOX news channel. Except for Rand they all sound the same. Got to where I seldom read it.

The Planet is a much better read and more factual... Some of you guys have good insight!!!!

And that 'football guy' has done so much better than that 'fan'. :rolleyes:

Peterson makes token efforts.

This is funny!

Looks to me like they've both done the same, 0 for 0 in Superbowls. Oh wait I forgot, it's OK to not win the Superbowl as long as you keep fans interested and make the team worth a lot of money.

I don't see where Rufus said the team shouldn't use free agency to help build the team. I did see him say the some of the free agents pimped by Whitlock have not amounted to much.

Like you said, Peterson is supposed to be a 'football' guy - Snyder is just some stupid 'fan'. Which is worse: a fan who spends money to bring in BIG NAME free agents, but hasn't won anything of significance, or a 'football guy' who makes minimal efforts in free agency year-over-year and hasn't won anything of significance?

I say the latter is worse. The 'football guy' should know his stuff - he should bring success to the field. He hasn't.

Agree .... and how many years has Snyder been at this compared to Kingless? With Gibbs as coach and Snyder willing to help him win ... I'd say D.C. has a better chance of winning a S.B.

I don't think Gibbs will be nearly as successful as he once was. His glory days were pre-cap. He used to 'hide' players on IR for years. Can't do that any more - new rules are in place; the loopholes he employed no longer exist. It will be interesting to see how long he lasts in the 'new' NFL. Again, I think Snyder made an error in judgement re: HC. One of these days, he'll get it right.

He may not have said it outright, but it sure seems to be the meat of his (and Gretz's) article.

If he really is just trying to convince us that we don't need Law, maybe he should concentrate his article on why we don't want Law. Instead, he's decided to try and paint FA in a bad light, and make it look like the recipe for success doesn't include free agency.

Personally, I think this is just the front office PR machine preparing us for KC not even glancing in Law's direction. I don't like that. I don't like these FO mouth pieces spinning, under the guise of journalism. It's that much more hypocritical and bush that in the sane breath they take shots at other journalists' proffesionalism.

I could care less if we got Law. I've never been big on him. I do however think we need to get some talent on the field through FA, and for once I'd like it to be something other than second tier guys.

Snyder has had 6 years, Peterson 16. I'm willing to bet that with his "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing" attitude, he'll get a Super Bowl win in the next decade.

He's got a HOF coach, Pro-Bowl RB, up-and-coming QB, and a top 5 defense. A Super Bowl is inevitable. Just like you can hate Steinbrenner with a passion, but you know he'll have another World Series ring sooner or later because he settles for nothing less.

This is not a quesiton but my point ... And, how many D players did Kingless add last off season. Also, where was Kingless during the first week or so of F.A.?

Point ... he didn't even TRY to upgrade the defense. That worked out well, didn't it. I know he couldn't sign every player he wanted but last off season he didn't even try and we lost a season of opportunity.

We have maybe one more year with our O. We need a quality D to help us win a S.B. while the opportunity is there.

Point is Kingless is only interested in filling seats so the bottom line can remain fat. He is less interested in winning a S.B.

I do not disagree with you ... but on the other hand ... Gibbs was smart enough to work the system and I think he has that same insight in the cap area. New England's BB seems to be able to work the system....

Plus, unlike Marty ... Gibbs has won it all.

Cant compare football and baseball...Steinbrenner just outspends everyone and has the money to afford the flops.

We'll see. He is definitely a bright guy and a proven winner. I was surprised when he came back - his NASCAR team has been a huge success.

He does have a couple of things going for him: an envigorated fanbase, an owner willing to give him whatever he asks for, a very good defense, and a superstar RB. What he really needs to do now is fix that offensive line. If he can get that done w/o having to dismantle the D, that team will be solid.

I'm still not sold on Ramsay.

___________________________________________________________
That’s the Patriots way, and the Steelers way and the Eagles way. Everybody is expendable in their eyes and they quickly part company with starters, all-pros, and such and move to backups. It seems to have worked well, don’t you think?
___________________________________________________________

Um.... to do that you MUST DRAFT WELL. The CHIEFS don't, so to even use that as an argument in the CHIEFS case is moot. :shake:

I can tell you the fan base, at least those that are vocal (the sports talk callers) are not happy with Gibbs.

I'm waiting for the Drafting 101; The Chiefs Way article from Rufus/Gretz.

Not surprising... like I said, his time was pre-cap. He's a dinosaur. It'll take him a while to adjust to the new league, or it'll flush him.

Did Gretz/Rufus poo poo the free agent impact of TO and Jevan Kearse? I must've missed that one.

The latter. Consider it a form of dialogue that we're all given the "privilege" to be exposed to.

The fact is the Pats, the Steelers, and especially the Eagles are all reaping the rewards of FO and these numb nuts are just talking about it. If you look a Philly, you have to admire the way things have worked out for them; finally getting the pieces and experience to get there... Hugh Douglas (just one example) was brought back to fill a role. Was this case worth it? I would say absolutely. Douglas could have been a Chief, or a player on any other team.
You could argue the pressure the Eagles have had heaped on them from Philly Fan and Philly Media for the past 4 years has made a difference in their attitude for acquiring players. I don't see that type of pressure from KC Fan. Even if the atmosphere from KC Fan(s) was nasty it's hard to see any affect on the "philosophy" of the Org.



--->

That is funny! Verry true but funny as well.

His comments at his nascar press conference earlier this week about how his time in the nfl will be short and really short if he has another year like last year--riled the base considerably.

Their talking about how great Gregg Williams will be as HC. They must not watch Buffalo games here.

Philly made <i>several</i> FA acquisitions: Owens, Douglas, Kearse, Trotter

Nah, Free Agency doesn't help. Nope. Nu uh.

This is a question for you: Is it OK to not win the Superbowl and not make the playoffs as long as you don't go on vacation during the first week of free agency?

Point...He did try to upgrade the defense, you just don't agree with the strategy. The Chiefs signed several free agents. They happened to be former Chiefs. Did it work out for them this past season? No. The Chiefs also fired their defensive coordinator, hired a new one, picked up Dalton, and drafted several defensive players.

30 other teams besides the Chiefs will have "lost a season of opportunity."

OMG. If Snyder hires him as HC it will confirm that he has absolutely NO CLUE when it comes to picking HCs.

Yeah, f8ck Rufus.

I have yet to see where anyone said free agency doesn't help. I'll keep looking.
Douglas and Trotter were drafted by the Eagles. Horror of all horrors, they brought back their own players, after disappointing seasons with other teams no less.

I'll give you Owens and Kearse, but Trotter and Douglas were proven FA failures that went back to their old club while still hitting the salary caps of Washington and Jax respectively.

Trotter was definately playing for a new contract this year after he took the last 2 years off.

31 other teams didn't have the best offense in the league going into the year for the second consecutive season. That's THREE years now that we've had half a team.

The 'decision' to replace the DC and JUST the DC was frigging brain-dead. Yeah, it was ALL Knobinson's fault.... Guinta and the rest of DV's buddies had nothing to do with a league-wide JOKE of a defense. Players had nothing to do with it either.... nope, Knobinson was so bad, he made them miss tackles. Yeah, that's it. Replace just GR and re-sign all the players from the league-wide JOKE of a defensive squad. Brilliant!

I want them ALL fired. Inept. Totally inept.

He did hire Marty.

And Spurrier.

i would not be surprised in the least to find out that KcTits/nmt1 was Rufus Dawes.


his intense disdain for anything fans related is VERY dawes-esque




and he's been licking carl's anus for as long as i've seen him post.

I'm going to have to remember this next year's salary negotiation: "Sure the year was a failure and I haven't completed my objectives in 16 years...but I tried!!!".

I'm in the wrong business.

I could only be so lucky...alas, I am not. Im sorry to disappoint you, but it's been evident for a long time disappointment and you are good friends.

My disdain isnt for the 'fans' it's basically for people like you...too stupid to realize you're an idiot.

Cannibal might be upset at you taking his 'insult'...

You do have a point about the Chiefs having half a team though the Chiefs aren't the only team that only has half a team.
It'd be great to have a top five team in both categories but it's hard to accomplish in today's NFL.
The Chiefs did replace the defensive coordinator but they did aquire one player who never had played for the Chiefs before via free agency(who played well, BTW) and several via the draft(one of which nearly tied DT's rookie sack record). Regardless of what you say, you don't agree with what the Chiefs did last offseason. I'll be the first to agree that those players didn't work out this past season.
I'm sure I could find many quotes from last offseason saying that the defense would be so much better with out Greg Robinson.
I don't know why you care so much about the Chiefs coaching staff now, I thought you said you were going to root for the Redskins this year.

This thread just didn't feel right without Laz's great insights.

Well we can both see that they didn't achieve a Superbowl victory. I guess we should fire the other 31 GM's that don't make it this year too. Hope your tight with all the NFL team owners.