You grade the draft- all 7 rounds (Poll)

[Ultra Peanut]

Originally Posted by Mecca

I really think Flowers character concerns are very overblown and being made a huge deal of when they really aren't there.

But FACEBOOK, man. FACEBOOK!

[Mr. Flopnuts]

Monster draft. I even give them a pass on the CB. I trust Herm with those guys. If they took him, they probably picked a winner. Time will tell. I'll say this much, I never thought I'd be as excited about this year as I am. It's going to be fun watching these guys develop.

[KcMizzou]

Originally Posted by Mr Flopnuts

Monster draft. I even give them a pass on the CB. I trust Herm with those guys. If they took him, they probably picked a winner. Time will tell. I'll say this much, I never thought I'd be as excited about this year as I am. It's going to be fun watching these guys develop.

Yep, and being excited doesn't mean we expect a 12 win season. This is just a start.

A hell of a good start.

[Mr. Flopnuts]

Originally Posted by KcMizzou

Yep, and being excited doesn't mean we expect a 12 win season. This is just a start.

A hell of a good start.

Yep. It'll be the first time in my life that I watch football and don't EXPECT wins each and every week. Well, the first time I'll watch AND enjoy it.

[shaneo69]

Dorsey --- A-, not our biggest position of need, but he's supposed to be a great one

Albert --- A-, plays the same position as Brian Waters; ask Welbourn how easy it is to switch OL positions

Flowers --- A-, sounds like another Kevin Ross; needs to be a day-1 starter

Charles --- A+, this is like the LJ pick in '03, except we got him in the 3rd round

Cottam --- D-, should've taken Rucker or Kellen Davis; can't waste a 3rd rounder on a boom-or-bust player

Morgan --- C, should at least be good on special teams, but sounds like a clone of Page/Pollard; we'll probably dump Wesley now. Good trade-off?

Franklin --- D+, it was a position of need but he doesn't play as fast as his timed speed, doesn't have great hands, and is a slow learner; sounds like the makeup of a practice squad player

Carr --- B+, position of need; good size/speed; he played at a Div II powerhouse; I like looking at these kind of players in the 5th round; practice squad if he can't beat out D. Patterson for dime CB

Richardson --- A+, love the pick, All-Conference in a major league; hopefully he can start somewhere on the line this season

Robinson --- A+, great pick, we need a returner in the worst way

Johnston --- A+, hopefully he can start at RDE this season

Merritt --- A+, need to replace Dunn; we'll probably keep 4 TE's and maybe one FB

[shammus]

Coach - great work! You captured a lot of the same opinions I have about the draft. Thanks for the detailed breakdown/analysis. I'll add a few of my own comments, grades and a couple questions below -

Dorsey --- possibly the best overall player in the entire draft and I believe this was the guy at the top of the Chiefs draftboard. I'm thrilled we got him. Now, when our ends come flying around the side, the QB won't simply be able to step up to avoid them as we'll have Dorsey clogging up the middle. While this was sort of a "duh" pick, I do give the Chiefs a lot of credit for not taking the offered trades and sticking with "their guy". People were upset after the Allen trade because they felt we could have built our defense around him. Now we have a new centerpiece. A+

Albert --- seems as though we were heavily considering Albert for the #5 spot because the general feeling was that Dorsey would be gone. The fact that we got both of them is outstanding. His position is sort of up in the air right now but I'm thinking he'd be able to play at a high level at guard if not tackle. This was another pick that the Chiefs really managed well. They noticed the "run" on tackles that was beginning with Clady and Williams being taken off the board and were proactive enough to trade up so that they'd still have a shot at their guy. A

Flowers --- Lots of corners were yanked off the market in the late first round. The Chiefs managed to get one that fits their defensive scheme very well and is tough against the run. This is the third pick in a row where we acheived solid value while filling a position of need. I'm not sure who we'd start opposite Surtain if we hadn't drafted Flowers in this spot. B+

Charles --- At first, my reaction here was "What the...." thinking that the last thing we needed was a third running back. But then again, Larry Johnson is not guaranteed to regain his form after the mysterious foot injury. If he reinjures himself again, we'll be down to Kolby. If Kolby gets hurt again or otherwise regresses. We'll have...uhhhh, Jackie Battle??? Charles was expected to be gone long before now so we got terrific value here too. B-

Cottam --- My reaction to this pick was just about the same as that of the Charles pick. Nice value but not necessary. Then I remembered that After Tony G, we have Michael Allen? This guy reminds me a bit of Jason Dunn although hopefully with better knees. B

Morgan --- I was really really disappointed with our third round at first. I was hoping for a WR, DE and other Olineman. Then I started really thinking through our picks. I remembered, in this case, that we're counting on Pollard to be a starter next year. Morgan is a terrific candidate to start if Pollard doesn't show improvement and like previously mentioned, he may already be the best Safety on the roster. Tremendous value here as well. A

*** So yes, I didn't get any of the positions I had originally wanted in the third round. But cases can be made for all three of our picks. Also, another point....I think we would have been reaching if we had taken an Olineman and I didn't really see any DE I would have wanted us to take anyway. Someone feel free to correct me though if one was there that I missed. ***

Franklin --- Well we addressed one position that I was hoping we would in round 3 here in the 4th round. Franklin is fast so he should be a decent candidate to at least give Darling some competition for the #2 receiver or hopefully be a slot receiver if that doesn't work. B-

Carr --- Well, we got all the way to the 5th round before making one of those picks that makes you throw your hands up and go "Who?!?" At this point, there were several Olinemen left and I would have preferred to see us go after a Jonathan Sullivan or Steve Justice sort to give us some more options there. It seems as though we have plenty of options already for backup corner - Barksdale, Brackenridge, etc... He runs a 4.4 so he's fast, but he wasn't even projected to be drafted at all which makes me think he's a significant reach in the 5th round. C-

Richardson --- Nice pick here. He's huge so he fits the running "grind it out" style of offense Herm wants to run. I always get really leery of the guys that have motivational issues though. We seem to attract a lot of D-linemen with that character trait. Still, good value on this pick and if there's a time to undertake a bit of a "project", the 6th round would probably be it. B+

Robinson --- Nice return man, but another "who?!?" pick. Not projected to be drafted at all and apparently he runs a 4.69 - did I read that correctly? Does fill a large need though from last season. C

Johnston --- Johnston was slated to be drafted two entire rounds before now so this looks like outstanding value for a 7th round pick. And unless I'm missing something, we don't really have anyone slated to fill our left DE postion except Boone? From everything I've read about him, Johnston sounds like a poor man's Jared Allen. A


Merritt --- I was disappointed with this pick as I was really hoping for Radovich or Eric Young. Just one final stab at getting an Olineman in the draft. I thought Darrell Robertson, Erin Henderson or Wesley Woodyard might have made solid picks here too. But tight end was a pick we already addressed and now we have a fourth. We probably could have signed him as a free agent afterwards on top of that. I feel any of the other four guys I listed above would have a solid chance to at least be second string. This guy would be practice squad at best. D

On the whole, I'm thrilled with the draft and while a few of these guys raised an eyebrow, this is a terrific group altogether. We got tremendous value for a lot of these while addressing a lot of needs. In a perfect world, I would have liked to have seen us draft an extra G/C type. I don't think we even have a clearcut starter at Center right now. I also would have preferred Doucet, Bennet or Caldwell to Will Franklin. An extra DE would have helped too but there really didn't seem to be a good one available in the middle rounds. I knew things weren't going to go exactly the way I wanted them too though but I'm happy they went the way they did. No questionable "Kris Wilson" sort of picks in the second round this time either!

Total grade....a solid A- for me.

[DT Fan]

Day 1, I'd give an A+. Landing Dorsey and Albert is unbelievable and I think Brandon Flowers may turn out to be the best corner in the draft. He only dropped because of combine speed, but just from watching him play, I suspect his game speed is right there with any of the corners drafted ahead of him. They took who I wanted with both first round picks and with round 2 pick I was hoping for Flowers or James Hardy, so I'm thrilled.

Day 2, I'd give a B. We got BPAs, but they didn't exactly match up with need so it's not an A.

The killer for me was passing twice on Early Doucet. That guy would have started for us at WR from day 1.

Otherwise, I was thrilled with the Morgan, Johnston, and Richardson picks, and I don't mind us burning a 6th on a possible KR.

I suspect we reached on Franklin because we hadn't addressed WR yet and I was a little disappointed with the last pick (wanted Eric Young), but I'm not going to lose sleep over the 32nd pick of the second round.

Overall, I give it an A- with only passing on Early Doucet as a regret.