Chiefs John Dorsey handled the difficult 2014 offseason unbelievably well. - Page 2

Direckshun · 12-25-2015, 05:47 AM

The Chiefs faced a difficult offseason following the 2013 playoff meltdown. After GM John Dorsey's spending spree in the 2013 offseason, the Chiefs had a half dozen premier free agents getting ready to hit the market, no cap room to sign any of them (or any incoming free agents of any renown), and no second round pick due to the Alex Smith deal. How do you make a team betterwhen you're set to lose so much talent and have so little resources to replace them?

Now, I'm not an NFL General Manager, and y'all better be glad I don't run the Chiefs, because I must have ran three dozen simulations of that offseason for the Chiefs before it arrived, and every one of them had the Chiefs doing their damnedest to stay afloat replacing our departing players with free agents from the Salvation Army and midround draft picks. The intense spending spree of 2013 now looked like it had hopelessly hamstrung the Chiefs, who at this point would just have to hope to stay afloat until cap space opened up in future years.

John Dorsey, however, is an NFL General Manager. And armed with few draft picks and a shoestring budget, he totally dismantled my expectations of what can be accomplished by a Chiefs team that knows exactly what it's doing.

Let's start with the free agent departures, because this part is astonishing. The Chiefs limited budget meant that they would ultimately have to wave bye-bye to left tackle Brandon Albert, starting guards Jon Asamoah and Geoff Schwartz, playmaker Dexter McCluster, run stopping extraordinaire Tyson Jackson, starting linebacker Akeem Jordan, starting free safety Kendrick Lewis, dynamic kick returner and dime safety Quentin Demps, and would eventually cut Pro Bowl corner Brandon Flowers. Whatever you think of some of the players individually, that is objectively a lot of talent to replace. Once these players left Kansas City, they all went to sign contracts with new teams for a combined $100 million. ($140 million if you count Flowers' new deal this past offseason.)

That's right. John Dorsey allowed $100 million in talent to walk out the door, with roughly a tenth of that in cap space with which to replace said players. It was impossible to imagine a world where the Chiefs emerged from this offseason stronger than they were entering it, missing this much talent.

So armed virtually no money, Dorsey's free agent signings were meager, but solid, it's crazy to see how much he built the team for 2014 (and 2015!) with so little:

Franchise QB Alex Smith was boxed in to a four year extension at a "middle class" pay rate for QBs.
Stud safety Husain Abdullah was re-signed.
Valuable reserve safeties Kurt Coleman and Daniel Sorensen were brought in, and Kelcie McCray was traded for by throwing impending-bust guard Rishaw Johnson at the Buccaneers.
Underrated starting linebacker Josh Mauga was ushered in by DC Bob Sutton.
Underrated interior passrusher Vance Walker was inked.
Nickel corner Chris Owens was signed, which paid dividends until the last month of the year.
Prototypical third down back Joe McKnight was given a chance.
OL Jeff Linkenbach and ILB Joe Mays did very little in limited action, but were signed for pennies on the dollar.
The one disastrous signing from this entire offseason of bargain bin shopping was guard Mike McGlynn, whom the Chiefs started at left guard for most of 2014, providing nightmares to any Chiefs fans who love to watch offensive line play.

Several of these players are still helping the Chiefs today in Abdullah, Sorensen, and Mauga.

Now, it is worth mentioning that the Chiefs' limited cap space arguably did cause them to lose out on free agent WRs Emmanuel Sanders and DeSean Jackson. But by otherwise refusing to make any ridiculously-structured, ultra-back-loaded contracts that would have saddled the Chiefs' cap in future years, the cap came mostly clean in 2015, allowing the Chiefs to pay studs OLB Justin Houston, WR Jeremy Maclin, and DE Allen Bailey bundles of cash in the coming year and still have close to $30 million in clean cap space in 2015.

However, it should be mentioned that John Dorsey was just getting started. Check out this draft class from 2014, even without a 2nd rounder due to Alex Smith:

Promising pass rusher Dee Ford in the first round.
Promising corner Phillip Gaines in the third round.
Electric playmaker De'Anthony Thomas in the fourth.
Starting linemen Zach Fulton and Laurent Duvarney-Tardif in the sixth round.
WR Albert Wilson and RB Charcandrick West signed as undrafted free agents, which is a stupidly ridiculous haul.

All of these players are contributing to the Chiefs now, significantly so, though Gaines and Thomas are battling injury.

It's worth summarizing for emphasis: With little cap space, $100 million in departing free agents, and no second round pick, John Dorsey made the Chiefs a better team in 2014.

Almost every team needs those splashy free agency signings to help put it over the top. But those quiet offseasons, where teams confidently stuck to the plan and didn't make any egregious errors out of impatience or impertinence, are just as important, and Dorsey aced it.

Deberg_1990 · 12-25-2015, 11:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkman

You are seriously overstating and over valuing most of these player losses.

I would like to have kept Albert if he could stay healthy, and Swartz at a reasonable contract.
But the fact is, they are all just jags, and the teams that gave them that money overpaid them, and for the most part are likely regretting the coin they dropped to sign them.

Dorsey's done a nice job, but he still has a long way to go.

You are seriously overstating the work, though.

The depth is better, and that has been a contributing factor in this streak, but the reality is that this team is winning because the guys that were here before Dorsey, DJ, Hali, Poe, and Berry are all playing exceptionally well and leading this team.

And you underestimate the work of Dorsey, Reid and A Smith.

Why didn't those guys you mentioned win under other regimes??

**RealSNR** · 12-25-2015, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunKC

West/Ware have 800+ yards and 9 TD's combined in this 8 game streak, Maclin and Kelce are both going to be 1,000 yard receivers and Peters has more INT's than the entire team last season.

This is a huge credit to Dorsey

Alex's first 1000 yard receiver of his career comes in a year when he has TWO 1000 yard receivers?

Bizarre.

**OnTheWarpath15** · 12-25-2015, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RealSNR

Alex's first 1000 yard receiver of his career comes in a year when he has TWO 1000 yard receivers?

Bizarre.

Actually, Kelce isn't going to get there, IMO.

He needs to average 89 yards over the last two games. He hasn't averaged 89 yards over any two game span this year, and has only broken that mark in a single game once - opening weekend against Houston.

Mr. Laz · 12-25-2015, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

Actually, Kelce isn't going to get there, IMO.

He needs to average 89 yards over the last two games. He hasn't averaged 89 yards over any two game span this year, and has only broken that mark in a single game once - opening weekend against Houston.

kelce would get their if he wasn't being a dumbass

He cost himself

**Tribal Warfare** · 12-25-2015, 12:13 PM

How many laughed when you read that Alex is a Franchise QB.

chiefzilla1501 · 12-25-2015, 12:56 PM

This is too polite. Just call people out for being stupid.

Cp wanted jairus Byrd and DeSean jackson
Most bitched about not bringing back Albert and schwartz
Cp criticized the hell out of anyone who praised the last offseason for being conservative
Cp marginalized the value of comp picks
Cp all demanded a restructure of hali
And to boot, in their tantrum, most of the forum claimed last year's team would be lucky to win 4 games

Dorsey has made some missteps. But they aren't close to the missteps of the dumbass armchair qbs, most of whom call people out the loudest but then squeak a mouse fart when it comes to owning up to mistakes.

Dorsey was right to go light last offseason. We significantly cleaned up our cap situation. We earned a ton of comp picks. And we improved a lot of positions on the cheap that we could have spent a shitload of money on. And not panicking on dumbass restructures like Hali gave us leverage to negotiate an ultra friendly contract this year. Period.

Halfcan · 12-25-2015, 01:50 PM

"run stopping extraordinaire Tyson Jackson"

This part made me laugh out loud.

**OnTheWarpath15** · 12-25-2015, 01:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

This is too polite. Just call people out for being stupid.

Cp wanted jairus Byrd and DeSean jackson
Most bitched about not bringing back Albert and schwartz
Cp criticized the hell out of anyone who praised the last offseason for being conservative
Cp marginalized the value of comp picks
Cp all demanded a restructure of hali
And to boot, in their tantrum, most of the forum claimed last year's team would be lucky to win 4 games

Dorsey has made some missteps. But they aren't close to the missteps of the dumbass armchair qbs, most of whom call people out the loudest but then squeak a mouse fart when it comes to owning up to mistakes.

Dorsey was right to go light last offseason. We significantly cleaned up our cap situation. We earned a ton of comp picks. And we improved a lot of positions on the cheap that we could have spent a shitload of money on. And not panicking on dumbass restructures like Hali gave us leverage to negotiate an ultra friendly contract this year. Period.

And with all that said...

If they don't win a playoff game - or two - or God forbid **** up and miss them all together somehow - it won't matter.

Competitive regular seasons should be the floor at this point. Winning consistently in January is the mark of a successful organization.

NJChiefsFan · 12-25-2015, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkman

I am not saying that Dorsey hasn't done a great job.
He has.

But Direckshun has oversold it with his observations.

Some of, if not all, those free agent losses have been insignificant, while many of the free agent signings have been okay, at best.

It certainly did help the Chiefs that those over-paid talents weren't retained with KC.

Saccopoo · 12-25-2015, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Dude, have you SEEN the QB contracts this league's been handing out to middle of the road QBs? Cutler, Kaepernick, Dalton.

QB play is so atrocious in the NFL that even middle class QBs have all the leverage over their teams.

We've got a fair deal that doesn't hurt the rest of the team, cap-wise.

Considering that this is going to be our third straight winning season with Smith as our QB and what looks to be the second appearence in the playoffs in three years, I'd say we got a goddamn bargain considering what Smith signed for.

And for this system and what he's done with it, I would hardly consider Smith "middle of the road." Maybe the best QB in the NFL for what Reid runs and it's really taken two plus seasons to finally get this ship righted and playing to their potential. And that's still with a questionable receiving corps and a continually rotating offensive line that's starting two rookies (Morse and LDT) and a guy at RT (Jah Reid) who was discarded by what is currently the worst team in the NFL (Ravens).

I mean, the guy got internal organs ruptured he was getting hit so much and so hard last season playing behind what might have been the worst line in football while throwing to the worst receiving corps in NFL history. And he still got us to a winning season.

Smith has been a ****ing stud if you ask me.

Saccopoo · 12-25-2015, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tribal Warfare

How many laughed when you read that Alex is a Franchise QB.

At this point?

Only the stupid ones.

O.city · 12-25-2015, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

Actually, Kelce isn't going to get there, IMO.

He needs to average 89 yards over the last two games. He hasn't averaged 89 yards over any two game span this year, and has only broken that mark in a single game once - opening weekend against Houston.

Luckily for him, both the next two teams they play are shit at covering TE's so he might get there.

**Saul Good** · 12-25-2015, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkman

You are seriously overstating and over valuing most of these player losses.

I would like to have kept Albert if he could stay healthy, and Swartz at a reasonable contract.
But the fact is, they are all just jags, and the teams that gave them that money overpaid them, and for the most part are likely regretting the coin they dropped to sign them.

Right. Kudos to Dorsey for recognizing what those teams couldn't.

**jjchieffan** · 12-25-2015, 04:26 PM

I agree. Dorsey is doing a great job. I know that we all want wins in January and I fully believe that we will get there. If not this year, then soon. Right now, it's good to see this team winning consistently again
With one more win, Andy will pass Schottenheimer for most wins by a Chiefs coach in his first three seasons. That from a team that won only 2 games the season before he started. It wasn't like when Vermeil came in and took over a team loaded with talent and with a winning record the year before. He took a team picking first in the draft and built a winner overnight. Do you realize that the Buffalo Bills have missed the playoffs for 16 years in a row now?? That's not even one postseason appearance this century! We could be in that boat. But we're not. Kudos John Dorsey. Kudos.

RINGLEADER · 12-25-2015, 04:27 PM

I tripped at:

"run stopping extraordinaire Tyson Jackson"

I mean dude was OK his last season here but the Falcons went on to have a mediocre to poor D-Line the year he arrived there on a huge Pioli-soaked contract. Since his arrival he has 22 and 27 combined solo and assisted tackles, 0 sacks, and 2 plays stuffed.

12-25-2015, 05:47 AM
Direckshun __ Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Springpatch Casino cash: $2033447	John Dorsey handled the difficult 2014 offseason unbelievably well. The Chiefs faced a difficult offseason following the 2013 playoff meltdown. After GM John Dorsey's spending spree in the 2013 offseason, the Chiefs had a half dozen premier free agents getting ready to hit the market, no cap room to sign any of them (or any incoming free agents of any renown), and no second round pick due to the Alex Smith deal. How do you make a team betterwhen you're set to lose so much talent and have so little resources to replace them? Now, I'm not an NFL General Manager, and y'all better be glad I don't run the Chiefs, because I must have ran three dozen simulations of that offseason for the Chiefs before it arrived, and every one of them had the Chiefs doing their damnedest to stay afloat replacing our departing players with free agents from the Salvation Army and midround draft picks. The intense spending spree of 2013 now looked like it had hopelessly hamstrung the Chiefs, who at this point would just have to hope to stay afloat until cap space opened up in future years. John Dorsey, however, is an NFL General Manager. And armed with few draft picks and a shoestring budget, he totally dismantled my expectations of what can be accomplished by a Chiefs team that knows exactly what it's doing. Let's start with the free agent departures, because this part is astonishing. The Chiefs limited budget meant that they would ultimately have to wave bye-bye to left tackle Brandon Albert, starting guards Jon Asamoah and Geoff Schwartz, playmaker Dexter McCluster, run stopping extraordinaire Tyson Jackson, starting linebacker Akeem Jordan, starting free safety Kendrick Lewis, dynamic kick returner and dime safety Quentin Demps, and would eventually cut Pro Bowl corner Brandon Flowers. Whatever you think of some of the players individually, that is objectively a lot of talent to replace. Once these players left Kansas City, they all went to sign contracts with new teams for a combined $100 million. ($140 million if you count Flowers' new deal this past offseason.) That's right. John Dorsey allowed $100 million in talent to walk out the door, with roughly a tenth of that in cap space with which to replace said players. It was impossible to imagine a world where the Chiefs emerged from this offseason stronger than they were entering it, missing this much talent. So armed virtually no money, Dorsey's free agent signings were meager, but solid, it's crazy to see how much he built the team for 2014 (and 2015!) with so little: Franchise QB Alex Smith was boxed in to a four year extension at a "middle class" pay rate for QBs. Stud safety Husain Abdullah was re-signed. Valuable reserve safeties Kurt Coleman and Daniel Sorensen were brought in, and Kelcie McCray was traded for by throwing impending-bust guard Rishaw Johnson at the Buccaneers. Underrated starting linebacker Josh Mauga was ushered in by DC Bob Sutton. Underrated interior passrusher Vance Walker was inked. Nickel corner Chris Owens was signed, which paid dividends until the last month of the year. Prototypical third down back Joe McKnight was given a chance. OL Jeff Linkenbach and ILB Joe Mays did very little in limited action, but were signed for pennies on the dollar. The one disastrous signing from this entire offseason of bargain bin shopping was guard Mike McGlynn, whom the Chiefs started at left guard for most of 2014, providing nightmares to any Chiefs fans who love to watch offensive line play. Several of these players are still helping the Chiefs today in Abdullah, Sorensen, and Mauga. Now, it is worth mentioning that the Chiefs' limited cap space arguably did cause them to lose out on free agent WRs Emmanuel Sanders and DeSean Jackson. But by otherwise refusing to make any ridiculously-structured, ultra-back-loaded contracts that would have saddled the Chiefs' cap in future years, the cap came mostly clean in 2015, allowing the Chiefs to pay studs OLB Justin Houston, WR Jeremy Maclin, and DE Allen Bailey bundles of cash in the coming year and still have close to $30 million in clean cap space in 2015. However, it should be mentioned that John Dorsey was just getting started. Check out this draft class from 2014, even without a 2nd rounder due to Alex Smith: Promising pass rusher Dee Ford in the first round. Promising corner Phillip Gaines in the third round. Electric playmaker De'Anthony Thomas in the fourth. Starting linemen Zach Fulton and Laurent Duvarney-Tardif in the sixth round. WR Albert Wilson and RB Charcandrick West signed as undrafted free agents, which is a stupidly ridiculous haul. All of these players are contributing to the Chiefs now, significantly so, though Gaines and Thomas are battling injury. It's worth summarizing for emphasis: With little cap space, $100 million in departing free agents, and no second round pick, John Dorsey made the Chiefs a better team in 2014. Almost every team needs those splashy free agency signings to help put it over the top. But those quiet offseasons, where teams confidently stuck to the plan and didn't make any egregious errors out of impatience or impertinence, are just as important, and Dorsey aced it.
Posts: 59,693

12-25-2015, 12:13 PM	#20
Tribal Warfare Man of Culture Join Date: Aug 2000 Location: Far Beyond Comprehension Casino cash: $-3037187	How many laughed when you read that Alex is a Franchise QB. __________________
Posts: 43,455

12-25-2015, 12:56 PM	#21
chiefzilla1501 In Search of a Life Join Date: Aug 2008 Casino cash: $-1805503	This is too polite. Just call people out for being stupid. Cp wanted jairus Byrd and DeSean jackson Most bitched about not bringing back Albert and schwartz Cp criticized the hell out of anyone who praised the last offseason for being conservative Cp marginalized the value of comp picks Cp all demanded a restructure of hali And to boot, in their tantrum, most of the forum claimed last year's team would be lucky to win 4 games Dorsey has made some missteps. But they aren't close to the missteps of the dumbass armchair qbs, most of whom call people out the loudest but then squeak a mouse fart when it comes to owning up to mistakes. Dorsey was right to go light last offseason. We significantly cleaned up our cap situation. We earned a ton of comp picks. And we improved a lot of positions on the cheap that we could have spent a shitload of money on. And not panicking on dumbass restructures like Hali gave us leverage to negotiate an ultra friendly contract this year. Period.
Posts: 51,679

12-25-2015, 01:50 PM	#22
Halfcan In Search of a Life Join Date: Aug 2005 Casino cash: $7327995	"run stopping extraordinaire Tyson Jackson" This part made me laugh out loud.
Posts: 43,200

12-25-2015, 04:26 PM	#29
jjchieffan Supporter Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Highlandville, MO Casino cash: $-147752	I agree. Dorsey is doing a great job. I know that we all want wins in January and I fully believe that we will get there. If not this year, then soon. Right now, it's good to see this team winning consistently again With one more win, Andy will pass Schottenheimer for most wins by a Chiefs coach in his first three seasons. That from a team that won only 2 games the season before he started. It wasn't like when Vermeil came in and took over a team loaded with talent and with a winning record the year before. He took a team picking first in the draft and built a winner overnight. Do you realize that the Buffalo Bills have missed the playoffs for 16 years in a row now?? That's not even one postseason appearance this century! We could be in that boat. But we're not. Kudos John Dorsey. Kudos. __________________ Genesis 1:1 In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. Following the historical accounts and the genealogy from that point on, the age of the Earth is approximately 6000-7000 years old. The Big Bullshit Theory is a lie. It and the evolution theory go against real science. Satan has used our public school system to brainwash everyone into believing these lies. Be not decieved.
Posts: 13,353

12-25-2015, 04:27 PM	#30
RINGLEADER In Search of a Life Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Confusion, USA Casino cash: $8070503	I tripped at: "run stopping extraordinaire Tyson Jackson" I mean dude was OK his last season here but the Falcons went on to have a mediocre to poor D-Line the year he arrived there on a huge Pioli-soaked contract. Since his arrival he has 22 and 27 combined solo and assisted tackles, 0 sacks, and 2 plays stuffed.
Posts: 48,491