Chiefs John Dorsey handled the difficult 2014 offseason unbelievably well. - Page 5

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.

Simply Red · 12-26-2015, 12:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Direckshun

You're understating his work, but we're largely saying the same thing.

I think this part of your post is nice and offers hope to mankind on CP. Very diplomatic post - you're a kind man and willing to meet folk half way - and I've always like that about you - you seem VERY sweet!

**Buehler445** · 12-26-2015, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

I'm not going to thread swerve.

If anyone wants to address this, feel free to bump up the Herm thread and post there. I stand behind my comment that Herm inherited a sinking Titanic and didn't do bad with personnel considering the situation he inherited. We made more than enough posts in those 2 days for people to read and respond.

But your solution to a bad cap and aging stars is 2-14. Why don't you endorse that with the 2014 season?

milkman · 12-26-2015, 12:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buehler445

But your solution to a bad cap and aging stars is 2-14. Why don't you endorse that with the 2014 season?

To be fair, he endorsed the plan for 2014 without any certainty of how that season turned out.

He would still be backing that plan even if it had turned out 2-14.

I am one of those that he gets a ton of shit from, but he deserves credit when he gets it right.

Direckshun · 12-26-2015, 12:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simply Red

I think this part of your post is nice and offers hope to mankind on CP. Very diplomatic post - you're a kind man and willing to meet folk half way - and I've always like that about you - you seem VERY sweet!

Only two CP members seem to know me that well, luv and DMAC (possibly Flop as well), and I think they'd both say I'm relatively sweet.

KChiefs1 · 12-26-2015, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mlyonsd

Dorsey knows his shit more than any Chief GM that I can think of.

This

**Buehler445** · 12-26-2015, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by milkman

To be fair, he endorsed the plan for 2014 without any certainty of how that season turned out.

He would still be backing that plan even if it had turned out 2-14.

I am one of those that he gets a ton of shit from, but he deserves credit when he gets it right.

But he spent day upon days telling me that draft position is important (it's not. Good teams don't draft high). Why isn't he raging about all the "meaningless wins" 2014 brought along?

I'm just flipping him shit for throwing stones while just getting done telling me Herm didn't wreck the franchise. I didn't pay a damn bit of attention to what zilla in 2014. Our only 2 hired guys quit and I was killing myself with hours. It sucked.

**Buehler445** · 12-26-2015, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Direckshun

Only two CP members seem to know me that well, luv and DMAC (possibly Flop as well), and I think they'd both say I'm relatively sweet.

Sweet? There is an adjective I don't use often describing grown ass men. But if you can get sweet done, kudos.

Direckshun · 12-26-2015, 01:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Sweet? There is an adjective I don't use often describing grown ass men. But if you can get sweet done, kudos.

They would probably describe me as sweet.

chiefzilla1501 · 12-26-2015, 01:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buehler445

But he spent day upon days telling me that draft position is important (it's not. Good teams don't draft high). Why isn't he raging about all the "meaningless wins" 2014 brought along?

I'm just flipping him shit for throwing stones while just getting done telling me Herm didn't wreck the franchise. I didn't pay a damn bit of attention to what zilla in 2014. Our only 2 hired guys quit and I was killing myself with hours. It sucked.

Let's be clear about this.

I have never promoted tanking for draft position. But I did say that when you rebuild, yeah, I'd rather lose 14 games playing young prospects than lose 12 games with band-aid middling veterans. Yes, I view those as meaningless wins. The roster Herm inherited was geriatric and it not only took up the entire cap, it led to a multi-year cap mess.

Herm needed to sledgehammer the roster. If anything, he should have done it sooner. Dorsey was given plenty to build upon (7-8 pro bowlers, reasonable cap space). There was no need to sledgehammer that 2014 roster. Just wait it out for one year, wait for some shit to clean up, then make a move in 2015... which they did, and they did it effectively.

**Buehler445** · 12-26-2015, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Let's be clear about this.

I have never promoted tanking for draft position. But I did say that when you rebuild, yeah, I'd rather lose 14 games playing young prospects than lose 12 games with band-aid middling veterans. Yes, I view those as meaningless wins. The roster Herm inherited was geriatric and it not only took up the entire cap, it led to a multi-year cap mess.

Herm needed to sledgehammer the roster. If anything, he should have done it sooner. Dorsey was given plenty to build upon (7-8 pro bowlers, reasonable cap space). There was no need to sledgehammer that 2014 roster. Just wait it out for one year, wait for some shit to clean up, then make a move in 2015... which they did, and they did it effectively.

You obviously never took the time to read my assertions. I asserted that if Herm were worth half a **** at personnel he'd have found some depth for not a lot of money like Dorsey had. You turned that into high priced free agents for "meaningless wins." And you touted how Pioli was given the third overall pick as if it was something other than the team being a goddamned hot garbage ****ing cluster**** disaster.

This whole thread is about there was no cap space. The guys on the defense were old, save Poe Houston and Berry, who was not nearly as effective at the time as he is this season. The defense had just collapsed the whole season - capped off with the incredible playoff loss.

The offense was extremely limited. Smith was ineffective against better defenses and was over 30 (IIRC). And about 80% of the production came from 1 RB that was almost 30. The WR corps had ****all besides and old slow Bowe.

On the whole, most of the playmakers were old save a few young guys along with using a good chunk of the cap to get back to competitive. To top it all off we had just floundered on yet another playoff run.

The situation is not all that different from what Vermiel left. The cap in terms of being ****ed for the next year wasn't as bad, but Dorsey sold out to get the team not a total shit****, much like Vermiel sold out to win in the playoffs. And the offense wasn't as good as Vermeils and the defense wasn't as bad, but the defense couldn't hold a 28 point lead against a crap team. And all the offensive production came from a RB that is over the hill in RB standards.

Why no sledgehammer? Why is it perfectly acceptable for Herm to butt**** the franchise? Yet you aren't screaming for Dorsey to dump everybody worth a **** so we can "get young (shitty) guys snaps?

Why?

Saccopoo · 12-26-2015, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buehler445

Sweet? There is an adjective I don't use often describing grown ass men. But if you can get sweet done, kudos.

I think Direckshun is sweet. He's a sweet man. You hear that term when it's appropriate and I believe that it's appropriate here.

Perhaps we should start a poll?

Pasta Little Brioni · 12-26-2015, 10:57 AM

He's Voyager

NJChiefsFan · 12-26-2015, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Direckshun

I stick my neck out probably farther than anybody on this board, and I learned years ago to just roll with it. In the last three years, I supported taking Geno Smith #1 overall and Cameron Erving last year.

It's a hobby, and I never claimed to be a pro, just an enthusiastic amateur who enjoys predicting and watching what the pros do.

And for the record, despite my preferences, I ****ing nailed what the Chiefs were going to do in 2015's draft.

It's very clear who on here posts opinions because they NEED to be smarter than everyone else about the Chiefs. Their posts are all saturated with that agenda.

Being confident or even arrogant about a particular opinion is different. I don't see how people can see you as one trying to look down on others.

**Rausch** · 12-26-2015, 12:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cochise

Cp would fire everyone every year, but time has shown that Dorsey is doing a pretty good job.

This offseason had a lot to do with that.

This year, instead of "projects" or "depth" we drafted two players who came in and started day 1.

Our 1st and 2nd round picks came in, played well, and erased big holes on this team.

THAT is getting value out of your draft. Just think how many games Peters has won for us. And Morse has been our most healthy lineman all year. Not only that but the rookie even played elsewhere on the line.

ThaVirus · 12-26-2015, 01:27 PM

Unfortunately I'd say Reid has been our lost healthy lineman all year. Or Stephenson.

Funny how that works..

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

12-26-2015, 10:57 AM	#72
Pasta Little Brioni Consuming CP souls Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: U.S.A. Casino cash: $128880	He's Voyager __________________ **Official TFWdemB Trivia Commisioner**
Posts: 73,024

12-26-2015, 01:27 PM	#75
ThaVirus Searching.. Join Date: Sep 2007 Casino cash: $-1867631	Unfortunately I'd say Reid has been our lost healthy lineman all year. Or Stephenson. Funny how that works..
Posts: 47,054