Chiefs Off-season Roundup, March 17, 2007: Defense a Priority, Huard chosen over Green

Today is St. Patrick's Day, 41 days since the Superbowl and 42 days until the 2007 NFL Draft. We're in the middle of that long, dry spell between the two events and yet the never ending football season surges on. So at this halfway point to the draft, what has the Kansas City Chiefs organization done to improve the team?

Free Agency So Far

Offense

Carl Peterson decided to make a very fan-favorite move when he awarded QB Damon Huard with a 3-year contract in which he is set to make $7.2 million in 2007. Incidentally, that is also what incumbent Trent Green is expected to make in his contract for 2007. So, the team has asked him to re-structure, and he then asked for permission to seek a trade. Peterson granted this request and very little substantial news has surfaced since that point. The Miami Dolphins are rumored to be interested, but that would call into question their confidence in Daunte Culpepper's ability to recover from his injuries and return to the form he previously showed as the outstanding QB of the Minnesota Vikings. In any case, Green will likely be desired by some team without an established veteran QB and won't be back with the Chiefs in 2007.

The other big move on offense was the five-year extension of TE Tony Gonzalez, another fan-favorite move. Gonzalez has spent his entire career in Kansas City as a staple of the offense as coaches and starting QBs came and went. Now they have all but ensured he will end his career with the Chiefs and the Kansas City fans.

The Chiefs acquired Damion McIntosh to take over the all-important starting left tackle spot. He is an upgrade over Jordan Black, who is now with the Houston Texans.

Defense

The defensive front-seven has experienced the most moving and shaking this offseason. The first big event was that the contract negotiations for restricted free-agent DE Jared Allen broke down, causing him to request a trade from the team. Peterson is refusing the trade request and using Allen's off-field issues (claiming he is something of a "risk") as leverage.

The team re-signed DT Ron Edwards, who they had acquired from the Buffalo Bills a year prior. They then went out and got DT Alfonso Boone from the Chicago Bears. He will be expected to help improve the run defense. With few tackles available, interest in Boone had grown recently.

At linebacker, the Chiefs acquired two players who will almost certainly take over starting spots. Napoleon Harris comes down from Minnesota, and will likely replace Kawika Mitchell at the middle linebacker spot. Former Chief and yet another fan-favorite Donnie Edwards returns from the San Diego Chargers. It is unclear how he fell out of favor with the Chargers, but it is rumored several teams became interested in him at that point.

Special Teams

In a somewhat much-less heralded move, the Chiefs obtained LS Jean-Philippe Darche from the Seattle Seahawks. Darche will replace free-agent LS Kendall Gammon.

Onward and Forward: Remaining Free-Agency and the Draft

Offense

Lost in all of the debate about Trent Green and Damon Huard is the fact that Herm Edwards really likes Brodie Croyle, the Chiefs' 3rd-round pick in 2006, and probably wants him to start as soon as possible. So either Huard or Green will likely be playing mentor to Croyle. However, the Chiefs must make a strong point to get value for Green, wherever he goes. They haven't helped their side of any negotiations in the fact that everybody knows they simply cannot keep both QBs. To make that matter worse, teams are seemingly valuing draft picks higher in trades this offseason. The team might have to stomach not getting a first-day pick for Green, but considering the decision they've made moving forward and that there are teams needing a veteran QB, they'll have to try to milk it for what Green is worth.

The Gonzalez extension sure made a lot of fans happy, but it didn't make economic sense. Sure Tony is holding off father-time to an impressive extent, but that only increases the chances that age is going to catch up with him soon. This was a sentimental off-season move that is perhaps taking up a little bit too much cap space.

The offensive line simply isn't what it used to be. Willie Roaf suddenly retired last year and the two left tackle spots haven't been as solid as in the past. The middle of the line remained solid last year, though. Damion McIntosh should be able to hold the position down, at least for a while. Yet again, Will Shields is pondering retirement. In that event the only solid offensive line players remaining would be left guard Brian Waters and center Casey Wiegmann. They drafted guard Tre Stallings last year, so the team may expect him to move over to right guard and start earlier than anticipated if Shields retires. In the past the team has had various journeymen trying to fill the right-tackle spot. Kevin Sampson has looked promising at the position at various points but tends to not be able to stay healthy. Last year they signed Kyle Turley and placed him there. Nothing has been overwhelmingly successful there lately. If Sampson and Stallings cannot step into those spots when needed, improve quickly and stay healthy, the Chiefs may have to might right guard and tackle draft priorities.

I think at this point it goes without saying that WR is very much still a position of need for the Chiefs.

Defense

There have been no indications that Jared Allen would sit out 2007 over the contract disagreements, but it will be interesting to see if the organization works out a long-term deal for him and gets him back for 2008 and beyond. Keeping him and Tamba Hali at the two starting defensive end spots long-term would be a good priority for the team to make.

What else remains unclear is how long-term of solutions the Chiefs consider their newly signed and re-signed DTs to be. They've clearly given up on Ryan Sims, largely considered a draft bust. It would be interesting if the Chiefs took any DTs on day one in the draft.

With the moves at linebacker the Chiefs stand to have the best depth there that they've had in years. Kendrell Bell has been disappointing and may be let go. Aside from him though, Kawika Mitchell has started to come into his own at MLB, and if he can't find a good offer on the market he may be back to provide good depth behind Harris. Derrick Johnson has not disappointed at the other outside LB spot, and Rich Scanlon (who was honored as NFL Europe's defensive player of the year when he went over there) and Keyaron Fox have also been steadily improving as backups.

Aside from WR, the only other area the Chiefs have been relatively quiet in is the defensive secondary. Ty Law and Patrick Surtain were big free agent acquisitions the previous two off-seasons. At some point though, the younger corners will need to step into those roles and prove themselves. The two rookie safeties, Bernard Pollard and Jarad Page have both looked promising in those positions. Those are two positions that might very well be set for the young up-and-comers at this point.

Conclusion

With the Chiefs bolstering the front-seven of their defense through free-agency, it is starting to become clear that they are setting up to take whichever star WR drops to their draft position in the first round, come April 28. What remains to be seen however, is how happy they are with the defensive secondary, particularly the cornerback position. Ty Law was out of place many times in the season and opposing quarterbacks seemed to not shy away from him, sometimes even preying on his tendency to gamble for picks. Patrick Surtain is significantly better in coverage. The bottom line, however, is that both of them are getting old and it's not clear if any of the younger corners on the team could step into either position. With Asante Samuel and Nate Clements off of the market, will the Chiefs go for another young corner on day 1 of the draft? Can they expect the young Marcus Maxey, who they took in the 5th round of the 2006 draft, to blossom this year?

Whether or not the money is working out right, the Chiefs are doing much more to improve the team, particularly the defense, than they have in recent years. The draft is not even here yet and the fans have several new players to be excited about. One issue that will be interesting is how Herm Edwards resolves the fact that he states he wants the team to get younger while signing all of the veteran depth. Does this say something about just how long-term he expects each of the signings to be?