*** '07 Player Projections By NFL Team ***

[NAn 39]

To prepare FFTodayers for the upcoming ’07 season, starting 5/14 will post threads listing offensive players by NFL team and invite posters to attach projections to each offensive player.

Posting of just commentary on one or mutliple players, instead of projections is welcomed and encouraged as well.

 

Will post 3 team threads per week (2 during 4th of July week) alphabetically by team city, so will have all 32 NFL teams posted before August 1st.

Through beginning of FF season will hopefully have this thread pinned as an ‘Archives’ thread, so will have opportunity to post replies for any previous team at any time.

 

Player Projections By NFL Team: Archives Thread Link

Kansas City Chiefs: Team/Player Statistical History Link

 

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS

 

’06 Statistics

 

|---------- PASSING -----------||----- RUSHING -----|  TOTAL 
		  CMP  ATT   YD	YPA   TD INT  ATT   YD	YPA  TD	 YD   
		  272  450  3243   7.21  18  12  513  2143  4.18  17   5386
NFL rank --->  25   27   22	  9   21   7	4	9	12	7	 15
QB
| Name				 |  G | CMP ATT   PCT YARD  Y/A TD IN | RSH YARD TD |
| Damon Huard		  | 10 | 148 244  60.7 1878  7.7 11  1 |   9	9  0 |
 Brodie Croyle
RB
| Name				 |  G |  RSH  YARD   AVG  TD  |  REC  YARD   AVG  TD |
| Larry Johnson		| 16 |  416  1789   4.3  17  |   41   410  10.0   2 |
WR
| Name				 |  G |  RSH  YARD   AVG  TD  |  REC  YARD   AVG  TD |
| Dante Hall		   | 15 |	3	11   3.7   0  |   26   204   7.8   2 |
| Eddie Kennison	   | 16 |	4	16   4.0   0  |   53   860  16.2   5 |
| Samie Parker		 | 16 |	3	 7   2.3   0  |   41   561  13.7   1 |
TE
| Name				 |  G |  REC  YARD   AVG  TD |
| Tony Gonzalez		| 15 |   73   900  12.3   5 |

 

Notes:

QB DHuard: Will be 8th season, 1st as anticipated opening day starter

RB LJohnson: In ’06 eclipsed 400 carries, 450 touches

WR SParker: 4th season

TE TGonzales: In ’06 led team in recs, rec yds, rec tds

 

Key Questions For '07 Season:

How will DHuard fare as starting QB? Will he be the starter long term?

Will LJohnson increase or decrease in carries/touches? Increase or decrease in production?

Will SParker ‘step up’ in his 4th season?

Will TGonzales continue to be main receiving option?

Will FFMike finally chime in a ‘team projections’ thread?

[cmh6476 767]

What makes you think Croyle can't win the job from day 1? Sounds like it's going to be an open competition to me, and with Croyle getting 75% of the work early on, seems it's his job to lose.

 

I don't think it matters from a fantasy perspective, because neither will amount to sh!t IMO for fantasy value, no matter who wins the job. The offense is going to try and control the clock and let the defense win games for them, I don't see many big weeks from any KC QBs.

 

I do think overall the offense will be improved. Damien MacIntosh is an improvement at LT over the human turnstile, Jordan Black. That addition IMO will improve the offense more than the downgrade at RG. Waters and Weigmann should continue to be solid at their respective positions, and I think John Wellbourne will be fine at RG. I think we can find someone on the roster to step in and play RT at a decent level, making the OL better than what it was a year ago.

 

There is no question LJ will have a lighter workload this year. Michael Bennett is going to have a bigger role, and the rookie we drafted, Kolby Smith, will see some work. They drafted him so that LJ will not have to bear quite the burden he has the last few years.

 

I don't see Eddie Kennison being any better than he has the last few years, but he still should be fairly productive. I want to see what Dwayne Bowe can do, I think he can step in and make an immediate impact. I see Nan you mentioned parker in his 4th year, but I don't see him being much more than a valuable slot receiver. I see him eventually being the 4th option throught he air behind Gonzo, Kennison, and Bowe. Still don't expect any stellar fantasy numbers here.

 

I think LJ's production fantasy wise is going to be fine, and as an owner I wouldn't be concerned about the diminished workload. I could see that as a benefit.

 

But this team is moving towards football production, and will not be concerned about numbers whatsoever. Good from a football fan's perspective, bad from a fantasy perspective.

 

I'm excited about the defense. We've got two rookies who look to come in and make an immediate impact on the D-Line. Combine that with Tamba Hali and jared Allen once he returns from his 4 game suspension, and we might finally have something here. I long for the days of Neil Smith, Dan Saleameau, Joe Thomas, et al.

 

We finally don't have to put up with Kendrell bell's suckass either, unless we use the 3-4 more this year. We may have the guys to do it though, with Napoleon Harris, Donnie Edwards, Derrick Johnson, and bell.

 

Our 2nd year safeties should be given every opportunity to start from day 1, we really just need a nickel corner to go along with Surtain and Law. We'll obviously be addressing the corner position as well nxt year, those guys are getting old.

 

I'm also excited to see our rookie kicker, Justin medlock. I'm not a big fan of rookie kickers for fantasy, but a year or two down the road this kid could be solid.

 

Any questions?

[Sparkling Wiggles 0]

Any questions?

Lose two Hall of Famers off your offensive line in the past year and the line will be better? That's cute.

 

Also, I believe you were telling us how good the D-line would be with the new rotation last year. This year, it's the rookies that will make the difference.

 

Let's see....lose your two only Hall of Famers, get a new QB, rely on a rookie WR (that's always worked in the past in the NFL).....sounds like a recipe for success.

 

At least you didn't mention Super Bowl or playoffs in your post. I'll give you credit for that.

[cmh6476 767]

Lose two Hall of Famers off your offensive line in the past year and the line will be better? That's cute.

 

Also, I believe you were telling us how good the D-line would be with the new rotation last year. This year, it's the rookies that will make the difference.

 

Let's see....lose your two only Hall of Famers, get a new QB, rely on a rookie WR (that's always worked in the past in the NFL).....sounds like a recipe for success.

 

At least you didn't mention Super Bowl or playoffs in your post. I'll give you credit for that.

 

 

I said the line will be better than last year. We lost one hall of famer from a year ago, still I see having MacIntosh at LT and Wellbourne at RG will be better than having Black at LT and Shields at RG. Black -> Mac completely offsets the dropoff from Shields -> Wellbourne.

 

The D-Line also was better last year, especially at end. I was so glad to see Hicks not on the field as much, now he's not even on the team. The weakness was still at the interior of the line, but let's hop the 2 rookies step up like our recent draft additions (Hali, Allen) have.

 

This team isn't ready for a superbowl run yet, but they are building the foundation of the team for the future. Most of these young guys look to be contributers for many years to come, both sides of the ball (Bowe, Meclock, Hali, Allen, Tyler, McBride, D Johnson, Colquitt, Page, Pollard, and hopefully Croyle)

 

This team may have the talent on defense to make another run at the playoffs. i sincerely think they will be better than last year, and last year's team got to the playoffs. Even if you're not sold on Croyle, it was Huard that got this team as far as it did...

[Sparkling Wiggles 0]

I saw "hope" twice in your last post, alone. Usually, hope means disaster in the NFL.

[cmh6476 767]

I saw "hope" twice in your last post, alone. Usually, hope means disaster in the NFL.

actually once and that was hopefully. The other was misspelled and says hop.

 

But we can "hope" our rookies do well, they have been as of late. Hali, DJ, Pollard, page, Allen. We've been drafting some difference makers on defense lately.

 

The other was with Croyle, and like I said even if he doesn't pan out, we made it to the playoffs last year because of Huard. No reason to believe he can't do it again.

[Dan 59]

I like Kansas City . . . next year. I think they are a year away, and frankly, a coach away. Sorry, cmh, I think Herm Edwards stagnates a team. Kansas City has some nice pieces, and if I'm wrong, which is very possible, then they will have a measure of success.

 

I don't care which QB makes it out of training camp. He is a late-round sleeper at best. Croyle has some fantasy value, as he may not be bad. But he has a limited number of targets, with the aging Tony Gonzalez as his best.

 

Larry Johnson is a beast, but they have run him so much that one has to wonder if the wheels will fall off. The line may be better than last year, but it's not dominant, which means Johnson's work is harder. That's all fluff, though, for this guy's talent. The big concern is that the offense is so vanilla that it becomes ineffective, similar to what the Jets' offense did. That suggests that Johnson may be taken out of games by better defenses.

 

I love Dwayne Bowe. I think he's for real, but I wouldn't touch him unless it's a dynasty league. Then he has some real value. The other KC receivers can be had late in the draft, and that's where they should remain. Eddie Kennison is still a decent bye-week fill-in, but shouldn't be relied on for more than that.

 

Tony Gonzalez will drafted too often on name recognition and taken well before his actual value. There are too many other good young tight ends out there to choose from.

 

The defense is a solid value, as they have been improving. If you have a performance defense league, then Kansas City is a nice bargain, as owners will look for the more proven commodities. Unfortunately, I don't think they will fall too deep, because people are starting to talk. By draft time, they'll rise to the 12-14 range. That's probably about right.

[cmh6476 767]

Dan, I think the offense was more vanilla last year when green was playing. No one was protecting Green's blind-side, and he was just uncomfortable in the pocket. I think it was evident the passing game was better when Croyle was in there, and teams couldn't focus on just stopping LJ. They still tried, it just didn't work as well.

 

We now have better protection on our QB's blind side (the most important line position in the passing game) and a QB IMO that is going to be more comfortable in the pocket, no matter if it is Huard or Croyle.

 

The thing with LJ in the KC area, is that he's for sure going to go with either the 1st or 2nd pick. With live drafts in the KC vicinity, there are few exceptions to this rule. But I'm noticing a lot of people are down on him, and he's really slipping in some rankings. I don't see how you could take many other RBS over him, besides LT and then maybe Stephen Jackson or Frank Gore. The potential is there for this guy to dominate once again, and I don't see how you can let that potential fall farther than 3 or 4 picks.

 

The other thing about the D, since you brought it up, is that we'll have much younger and fresher legs returning kicks, no matter who wins the job. Teams learned how to slow down Dante hall, and last year he was pretty much worthless as a KR. I like teams that have younger guys returning kicks, cause they seem to be faster and more elusive, and teams don't always know how to play them it seems.

[Dan 59]

cmh - Really hope you're right about the offense. Just not sold on your coach. The pieces, I think, are fine. But I want it to be shown to me first before I believe in him. He's a lot of reputation without a lot of production. Not sure I get that.

 

Johnson I currently have ranked 3rd, and that #4 hedges with him. I'm not overly comfortable if I'm the one taking him, if only because of the huge workload he's had . . . combined with that coaching thing.

 

Croyle may take some pressure off, but he won't until he proves he's worth it.

 

The defense and special teams, I hear what you're saying. It's the reason that I'm rather intrigued by them. But they are in a tough division, and they are not so good that I'm willing to vault them up my board despite 4 games against San Diego and Denver.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

[cmh6476 767]

 

 

The defense and special teams, I hear what you're saying. It's the reason that I'm rather intrigued by them. But they are in a tough division, and they are not so good that I'm willing to vault them up my board despite 4 games against San Diego and Denver.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

 

another thing that might be worth mentioning though, is that they do have 6 games against very young QBs. Cutler, Rivers, and Russell are still going through the learning curve. Cutler and Rivers obviously have a full year under their belt now, but at times last year they still showed they wer unexperienced QBs. If KC is able to put pressure on them, I could see some turnovers coming, and they're still getting their timing down as when they need to get rid of the ball.

[Dan 59]

another thing that might be worth mentioning though, is that they do have 6 games against very young QBs. Cutler, Rivers, and Russell are still going through the learning curve. Cutler and Rivers obviously have a full year under their belt now, but at times last year they still showed they wer unexperienced QBs. If KC is able to put pressure on them, I could see some turnovers coming, and they're still getting their timing down as when they need to get rid of the ball.

 

I buy this, especially if you're in a league that doesn't lean on yards against, and points against too heavily. Kansas City traditionally has been really tough on young QBs.

 

Good call.

[Sparkling Wiggles 0]

another thing that might be worth mentioning though, is that they do have 6 games against very young QBs. Cutler, Rivers, and Russell are still going through the learning curve. Cutler and Rivers obviously have a full year under their belt now, but at times last year they still showed they wer unexperienced QBs. If KC is able to put pressure on them, I could see some turnovers coming, and they're still getting their timing down as when they need to get rid of the ball.

Jeebus. You say that Cutler and Rivers are still going through the learning curve and you could see some turnovers coming, but nowhere did I see you say that about Croyle.

 

Ask 32 GMs to rank the three QBs for this year or for the long term and Croyle will be ranked third by EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM.

[cmh6476 767]

Jeebus. You say that Cutler and Rivers are still going through the learning curve and you could see some turnovers coming, but nowhere did I see you say that about Croyle.

 

Ask 32 GMs to rank the three QBs for this year or for the long term and Croyle will be ranked third by EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM.

I would say the same of Croyle, but we wern't talking about Croyle, we were talking about KC's D and the matchups they'd be facing. I think it's safe to assume the other AFCW defenses would benefit bcause of the same circumstances. But with the Chiefs, it's also possible that Huard takes most of the snaps this year. You can't say that with the other 3 in the division.

[Sparkling Wiggles 0]

I would say the same of Croyle, but we wern't talking about Croyle, we were talking about KC's D and the matchups they'd be facing. I think it's safe to assume the other AFCW defenses would benefit bcause of the same circumstances. But with the Chiefs, it's also possible that Huard takes most of the snaps this year. You can't say that with the other 3 in the division.

The other three teams in the division don't want Huard OR Croyle.

[cmh6476 767]

The other three teams in the division don't want Huard OR Croyle.

jay cutler didn't lead his team to the playoffs last year

[Sparkling Wiggles 0]

jay cutler didn't lead his team to the playoffs last year

You already said you agree with the GMs. Don't backtrack, toofy.

[Dan 59]

You already said you agree with the GMs. Don't backtrack, toofy.

 

I thought he was just referencing the KC defense. Don't know what Croyle has to do with any of that.

[cmh6476 767]

I thought he was just referencing the KC defense. Don't know what Croyle has to do with any of that.

 

 

i was

 

 

if this was a thread about the chargers, i'd probably say the same for their defense (going against younger QBs in most divisional games)

 

[Foghorn Leghorn 0]

I must admit I thought you had a typo in your stats NAn, so I doublechecked and sure enough they were correct:

 

Damon Huard - 244 pass attempts, 11 TDs, 1 Int.

 

Is it a foregone conclusion that they're going with Croyle this year?

[WKTSWAY 0]

I must admit I thought you had a typo in your stats NAn, so I doublechecked and sure enough they were correct:

 

Damon Huard - 244 pass attempts, 11 TDs, 1 Int.

 

Is it a foregone conclusion that they're going with Croyle this year?

 

I thought Huard did great last year while Green was injured. I was surprised they went back to Green when he came back. He was a great bye week fill in last year for me in my dynasty...he was pretty consistent every week.

[onejayhawk 3]

More on Croyle.

 

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chiefs/story/157292.html

 

QB Croyle has the look of a starter

All signs point to the Chiefs’ second-year player taking the reins from Trent Green.

 

Croyle may have in fact raised himself in the eyes of the Chiefs and coach Herm Edwards with some sharp throws and intelligent decision-making. If he continues to play well in camp and the preseason, the job is probably his no matter how well the other candidate, veteran Damon Huard, fares. Even Huard acknowledged it.

...

From last year's practices, they knew Croyle was capable of making all of the necessary throws. They knew from watching him in college at Alabama that he had the commanding huddle presence every team looks for in a quarterback.

...

"You can tell he was around Trent Green," safety Bernard Pollard said.

 

"A lot of the things Trent did and the way he carried himself, you can see that in Brodie. The way he looks off from a receiver. He'll look at one receiver and then come back to his left and you thought he was going right with the ball and he went the other way."

 

The guy seems to be a fast learner, and everyone knows he can throw. The team thinks he is ready to test drive the car at full speed. We will see.

 

J

 

I must admit I thought you had a typo in your stats NAn, so I doublechecked and sure enough they were correct:

 

Damon Huard - 244 pass attempts, 11 TDs, 1 Int.

 

Is it a foregone conclusion that they're going with Croyle this year?

No. Its just the smart money bet.

 

Its obvious, from the quote above, that Croyle learns by imitation. Let's hope that is something he imitates.

 

J

[cmh6476 767]

Q&A with HERM EDWARDS - 6/20

 

 

HERM EDWARDS: “Well, that’s it for us until we go back to River Falls. I think we got a lot accomplished this off-season for the most part. No serious injuries and that’s kind of always important. We should have a healthy football team reporting to River Falls.”

 

Q: Everything that’s gone on the last five months, are you satisfied with where you are?

 

EDWARDS: “I think we’ve upgraded our roster with some youth. Now, it’s a matter of competition at camp. That’s been established and now we’ve got to carry it to training camp and figure how physical a football team we need to be. That’s the next step for us: find out the physical players and find out the guys who want to play physical.”

 

Q: If I told you five months ago that this is where you were going to be at this point would you have been satisfied?

 

EDWARDS: “There’s always something else you wish would have happened. But as in life, you’re not going to get everything you want. That’s OK. We’ve got enough good players here and enough good veteran leadership here. Now we’ve got to jell now and have to come together pretty quick. We’re 37 days out and then we start and before you know it we’ll be going down to Houston for the opening game.”

 

Q: You’ve lost a lot of guys who have been around here for a long time: Trent Green, Will Shields…I know you wanted to get younger but is there such a thing of too much too soon?

 

EDWARDS: “No, we’re headed in the right direction. Whenever you start building something you’ve got to start somewhere and you know when you start there are going to be growing pains. We’ll have some growing pains and the young guys will play a lot of football for us. That’s the good thing about it: guys are going to get better and we’re going to get better as a team.”

 

Q: Other than deciding on a starting quarterback what’s next on your list?

 

EDWARDS: “Just keep making progress and find out how fast these young guys are going to be able to help us, especially in the rotation part of it. Some of these guys will end up being starters for us. So, I just think how we go about training camp, and how these guys play in the pre-season will be a big deal for us.”

 

Q: What about at cornerback? Are you guys OK there?

 

EDWARDS: “Yeah, we’re still looking obviously. If there is a guy that shakes loose, or something like that, we could probably bring a guy in. You’re always trying to upgrade your roster even during the pre-season, like we did last year. That could still happen.”

 

Q: Are you satisfied with your offensive line?

 

EDWARDS: “Yes, it’s a veteran crew but you’re always looking for guys. If there is a guy who comes available who you think can help you, you take a shot at the guy.”

 

Q: You OK with the depth there?

 

EDWARDS: “Yeah, young guys. You wish you had a veteran guy or two but, you know what? Young guys are going to have to learn how to play. Will Svitek is a guy who has a future but we need to see how he’s going to react during games.”

 

Q: What about your return game? You’ve got some candidates but do you have some concerns?

 

EDWARDS: “The kid we’ve got from South Florida, Ean Randolph, is a guy that we like. I think he can be a good punt returner. Now, he hasn’t done it on this level yet. We’ve got kickoff return guys. I don’t worry about that too much. I think you put Jeff Webb back there with some other candidates we’ll be fine.

 

“But the punt return we’re looking at. We signed a free agent [Randolph] who we liked what he could do in college and we’re hopeful he can do it on this level.”

 

Q: Randolph is first in line?

 

EDWARDS: “Absolutely, absolutely.”

 

Q: You talked yesterday about warning guys what can happen off the field during this period of time off? What can a month off do to a player on the field? Can they look night and day different?

 

EDWARDS: “I think these guys are going to get tested when they come in. They know when they come in Thursday [to start camp] for Friday to go to work they’re going to get tested. I don’t have a problem with these guys not being in shape. They’ll be in shape.”

 

Q: One of those young offensive linemen, from Mexico, Ramiro Pruneda, looks like he has a good upside and it’s more than a case of giving a guy a chance.

 

EDWARDS: “He has an upside but he’s got a ways to go. You’re not going to put too much pressure on this guy. You’re talking about a guy who really hasn’t played football at this level. What you don’t want to do is put guys in position where they’re going to fail and lose their confidence. So, we’re going to bring him along slow. We knew that when we signed him. Next year you’ve got to evaluate not this year.”

 

Q: Kind of unprecedented doing this with a non-kicker?

 

EDWARDS: “Yeah, and there are some athletes over there. There are a couple of linebackers that have played in the World League from there. The problem with those guys is they don’t have a lot of instincts because they didn’t play football at a young age. When you’re in America you play certain sports and grow instincts for them. He doesn’t have those instincts. They have to grow as he grows. He’s behind that way. Now, athletically he’s very talented.”

 

Q: So you could stick him in at the end of a pre-season game and not get somebody killed?

 

EDWARDS: “We’d like to, yeah. That’s kind of our goal. We’re hoping he can do that.”

 

Q: You’re not sure that he’s there yet?

 

EDWARDS: “Not yet, not yet. You don’t want to just put him in there.”

 

Q: In building a physical football team in camp, where do you stand on coaches who like to have guys pound on each other and guys who don’t like contact at all?

 

EDWARDS: “I’m one of those guys who believes in fast tempo, but I think I’m smart enough and been around good enough coaching that you know what to do to get guys into a physical mindset. We’ve been pretty good doing that and we did it in New York that way. So, I’ve got some experience now in training camp and now how to handle them.

 

“The problem with these guys is there are 42 of them who are first year players or rookies and they’re going to go full-speed all the time. Sometime I don’t want them to go full speed. You have to control your violence. I always tell them it’s about being competitive but not combative. You never want to get combative against each other.”

 

Q: How has Boomer Grigsby responded to his move from linebacker to fullback?

 

EDWARDS: “For a guy that was asked to move to fullback in the spring I think he’s doing a great job of picking up offensively what we’re asking him to do and then, he’s caught the ball a lot better than we anticipated. What he’ll have to do now is develop the ability to block. That’s hard. He is physical enough to do that. He’s 250. The guy has transformed his body.

 

“I’m pulling for the guy because you like guys who are willing to do something for the team. He did that and you talk about playing a tough position…well, the fullback position is a lot of movement, shifts and motions and you have to learn that. He’s done a great job of that.”

 

Q: When you talked to him about moving was it a tough sell?

 

EDWARDS: “Nah, he understood. I said this is the best thing for you. If you’re going to have a chance to really help this football team and make this football team you need to go on that side of the ball. He agreed.”

 

Q: He’s not afraid of contact?

 

EDWARDS: “It’s techniques and fundamentals. It’s no different than at any position. He hadn’t done that in a long time. He may have been a fullback in high school. He’s going to have to get his mind refocused. The toughest part won’t be an issue for him at all.”

 

Q: It’s a dirty job and a lot of guys don’t want to do it.

 

EDWARDS: “There is a willingness and he has that mentality. He’s the hammer guy and the fullback generally starts off at 5-11 and end his career at 5-9.”

 

Q: After you lost your fullback last year you had to use Kris Wilson.

 

EDWARDS: ”[Wilson] really stepped up. He really did. You talk about a guy that had to play a new position and now we’ve found a niche for the guy where we can get some match-up problems for [opponents] coming out of the backfield. It’s tough covering that guy with a linebacker.”

[NAn 39]

So I added Croyle to the stat list in initial post for anyone who cares.

 

Admittedly I had heard the name, but after what Huard did last season in relief and with release of Green, thought Huard was a foregone conclusion.

 

Yet another reason I come here though...for the info I wouldn't get otherwise.

[Sparkling Wiggles 0]

So I added Croyle to the stat list in initial post for anyone who cares.

Jeebus. The guy creating the threads on prognos doesn't know who Brody Croyle is and cmh is the most knowledgable Chiefs poster on the board.

 

Someone kill me now. "I had heard the name...." That's like a writer going to the annual porno of the year awards and saying he heard the name Jenna.......

 

I hate footballguys, but for fock's sake.................

[NAn 39]

LOL, I had a couple other faux pas in some of the earlier threads.

 

I don't pretend to know it all...in fact b/c of personal things I haven't been on top of ff as in years past...so I'm doing this as much for myself as everyone else.

 

No pts for trying to be 'part of the solution' wiggles?

 

<I'll add that I'm not a writer for FFToday...just took this upon myself for benefit of myself/bored>

[Sparkling Wiggles 0]

Just giving you a hard time, NAn. This bored is definitely better with you starting these topics.

[NAn 39]

Just giving you a hard time, NAn. This bored is definitely better with you starting these topics.

 

[cmh6476 767]

i dont claim to be the most knowledgeable chiefs fan on the board, just the most vocal

[onejayhawk 3]

i dont claim to be the most knowledgeable chiefs fan on the board, just the most vocal

That's OK. Its good to let other people do it.

 

What I would like to get in some more discussion on the lines. I have posted this elsewhere, but then I own the copyright.

 

Both lines have had problems the last couple of years. For the defense, this is not new. High draft picks Sims and Savaii turned out to be near busts. Eric Hicks played out the end of an occasionally decent career. Until recently, nothing better than a solid journeyman played the defensive line in KC. That changes with the development of Jared Allen two years ago. When playing, he can dominate with his passrush. Last season he was complimented by a rush on the other end, Tamba Hali. The knock is that Allen will not be available at the start of the season. Enter rookie Turk McBride. He is supposed to be able to play both DT and DE. He may have to fill in for Allen while he serves the suspension. In his history with Tennessee, McBride only started 13 games, his senior season.

 

That's the GOOD news. The bad news is between the ends. Ron Edwards, the photo next to the word "journeyman", is the only "proven" player. McBride and fellow rookie "Tank" Tyler are the main hope. Low round picks Jimmy Wilkerson and Alphonso Boone round out the depth chart, though Boone played on a much better defense in Chicago. There is size with no push, and rush with no size. In a good rotation, things might work. Color me skeptical.

 

The other side of the ball is almost the photo negative. As bad as the defensive line has been, this is an improvement. The offesive line had been among the elite in the NFL. No longer, though there is cause for optimism. Gone last season was future HoF LT Willie Roaf. He had been hurt the year before, and the quality of the line play dropped noticably with him out. 2006 was more of the same, though it picked up toward the end. Now Will Shields, another likely HoF player, and with Larry Allen, probalbly the best OG in the last 20 years. However, this was anticipated. Jonathon Welborne who did not fair well at Tackle, moves to Shields RG position, which better suits his abilities. Newcomers Chris Terry and DAmian McIntosh take over at RT and LT. The stabilty, and it has been very stable, comes from Casey Wiegmann C and Pro Bowler Brian Waters. Both are well above league average. Suffice to say that it has been two years of transition, and the reshaping continues. At least this year the changes don't come at the last minute and on top of installing a whole new offense. There is talent, but the proof is yet to be seen.

 

J

[onejayhawk 3]

Jared Allen was suspended only two games. Since he led the league in FP for a DL last season, this has an impact. I am undecided how to handle it.

 

J