Judgment day for Herm Edwards

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Judgment day for Herm Edwards
By RANDY COVITZ
The Kansas City Star


Herm Edwards presided over the two most dismal seasons of Chiefs football in 30 years. The Chiefs went 4-12 in 2007 and 2-14 in 2008, yet that might not have been the worst part of Edwards’ three-year tenure.

If new general manager Scott Pioli, as expected, decides to make a coaching change, Edwards can trace his downfall to 2006, when the Chiefs actually made the playoffs.

The Chiefs’ wild-card berth that season delayed Edwards’ plan to overhaul an aging team, and by the time his program was fully put into place this year, he tried to implement it with too much youth too soon and failed.

“We had a plan,” he reflected toward the end of a season-ending nine-game losing streak in 2007. “It just didn’t come about.”

Consequently, all signs indicate the Chiefs failed to make enough progress to retain Edwards, whose club lost 23 of the last 25 games.

When Edwards came to Kansas City in 2006, he inherited a 36-year-old quarterback in Trent Green, ancient cornerbacks in Ty Law and Patrick Surtain and some overmatched offensive tackles.

Once the 2006 season ended, the roster purge would begin.

But on the last day of the season, the Chiefs needed several scenarios to go their way to make the playoffs, including a victory over Jacksonville at Arrowhead Stadium and an unlikely Denver loss at home to a 6-9 San Francisco team.

That’s exactly what happened. The Chiefs, 9-7, reached the postseason and were promptly dispatched 23-8 by the eventual Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts.

The taste of the postseason was intoxicating to then-president/general manager Carl Peterson and, to a certain extent, Edwards. So they tried patching up the team with the hope of being good enough to do it again. They signed veterans such as offensive tackle Damion McIntosh, linebackers Napoleon Harris and Donnie Edwards and defensive tackle Alfonso Boone, putting the rebuilding plan on hold.

It backfired.

The Chiefs got off to a 4-3 start in 2007, but injuries to running back Larry Johnson and quarterbacks Damon Huard and Brodie Croyle led to nine straight losses to finish the season. The Chiefs never recovered.

“Your expectations get built up when you get in the playoffs, which is fine,” Edwards said late last season of the altered philosophy of 2007. “But as an organization, you know the reality of where you are. You get in the playoffs (in 2006), which was great, but it was basically the same team that was here before.”

• • •

Edwards has made some huge miscalculations as well.

With ownership’s blessing, Edwards hitched his future to Croyle, who had a history of injuries in both high school and at the University of Alabama, causing him to drop to the third round of the 2006 draft.

Edwards saw something in Croyle, who despite his slender build had a strong arm. Edwards likened Croyle to Chad Pennington, a cerebral but injury-prone quarterback who led Edwards’ New York Jets to the postseason in 2002 and 2004, when healthy.

The Chiefs cleared the way for Croyle by trading Green to Miami, and handed Croyle the starting job in training camp of 2007. But Croyle was so ineffective in the preseason that Huard, an 11-year journeyman, became the opening-day starter and kept the job for nine games.

Each time Croyle got a chance to play in 2007, he got hurt. He suffered a back injury in his second start, a hand injury in his fifth start.

Edwards still had faith in Croyle going into 2008 and not only failed to shore up the position in the offseason, he also didn’t give many preseason snaps to Huard to prepare him in the event Croyle might get hurt again.

Sure enough, Croyle, playing behind a shaky offensive line, didn’t make it out of the 2008 season opener at New England, where he suffered a separated shoulder in the third quarter. When Croyle returned five weeks later, he suffered a season-ending knee injury against the Tennessee Titans.

Croyle’s career record as a starter was 0-8. And his replacement this season, Tyler Thigpen, was 1-10.

• • •

Edwards has had a soft spot for young players, mainly because he was given a chance as an undrafted rookie free agent and played 135 consecutive games at cornerback for the Philadelphia Eagles during 1977-85.

But he may have gone overboard in 2008. The Chiefs had 26 rookies and first-year players on their roster at the end of the season. Injuries played a role in that inordinate number, but so did philosophy.

The plan was to stockpile draft picks, but at what expense? It was one thing to trade an aging Green, an ineffective Dante Hall, an inconsistent Lawrence Tynes and little-used Michael Bennett for mid- to late-round draft picks.

But the signature deal of the 2008 season was a disaster — sending NFL sack leader Jared Allen, at just 26 years old, to Minnesota for a first-round selection (17th overall) and two third-round picks.

The players taken with those picks — offensive tackle Branden Albert in the first round, and running back Jamaal Charles and safety DeJuan Morgan in the third round — might turn out to be good players. Albert, in fact, started 15 games and showed he might be a cornerstone for the next 10 years.

But the trade of Allen left the Chiefs with no pass rush. They set an NFL record for sack futility with 10 all season, while Allen picked up 14 1/2 himself, giving him 30 for the last two seasons.

Edwards planned to move Tamba Hali into Allen’s rush end spot, but Hali, who has turned out to be a disappointment as Edwards’ initial first-round pick in 2006, could not handle it.

Edwards’ other two prized first-round picks, wide receiver Dwayne Bowe and defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey, both out of LSU, also have had spotty starts to their careers.

Despite all the injuries and inexperience, or maybe because of it, the Chiefs lost eight games by seven points or fewer. But they inexplicably blew leads of 24-3 at home to Tampa Bay, and 21-10 in the fourth quarter at home to San Diego. And they simply failed to compete in lopsided losses to Oakland, Atlanta, Carolina and worst of all, a 54-31 loss at home to Buffalo, the most points allowed by any Chiefs team.

Maybe all those players Edwards brought in will fulfill his vision of building with youth. But will it be a new coach who benefits?