Well, I must say it’s been a long time since I’ve been on here. 2013 has been an extremely crazy year for me. Between going through the hell that is finding a new home to live, and being sick for roughly two months of the year, everything finally appears to be settling down.

Come to find out, the sickness I had been experiencing was being caused by medicine I started taking in December of last year for my asthma. The dosage amount I was prescribed was too high, and it was causing me to have random flu-like symptoms every week or so. Now that I’m on a lower dosage of the medicine I’m feeling back to normal, and finally ready to start blogging about our Kansas City sports teams again.

How about your Kansas City Royals, currently sitting at 16-10 and only half a game back of the Detroit Tigers? 

No surprise, but I’m particularly excited about the Royals 1-3 starting pitching of James Shields, Ervin Santana, and Jeremy Guthrie.Even though I do think that eventually the Detroit Tigers will take the AL Central— given the fact that the Royals’ offense will continue to struggle if Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas don’t start showing up at the plate more consistently— this is a team that should be able to give Detroit a run for their money in 2013.

For me, James Shields has been everything we thought we’d be getting when Dayton Moore pulled the trigger on the trade that sent Wil Myers to Tampa Bay for Shields and Wade Davis: an innings-eater, a great locker room presence, and a guy that can give the Royals at least six or seven innings every single time he takes the mound.

The true barometer of the deal is Wade Davis, and at the moment, I’d say the return has been slightly disappointing. Davis might be best-suited for the bullpen where the Rays played him last season, but Kansas City is already stacked in that department, and Moore didn’t swing this trade envisioning Davis coming out of the bullpen. He sees Davis as a starting pitcher, and that’s where the Royals need him to be if they want to make a legit run at the Central.

Davis has shown flashes of being a solid bottom-of-the rotation pitcher (his starts against the Twins and the Braves give me hope that Davis will be able to carve a niche into this rotation), but he’s also shown us that for as good as he can be, he can be equally as bad. 

Of course, we are only five games into Davis’ tenure with the Royals, so there is plenty of time for him to work things out, and as long as James Shields is playing like James Shields, and Wil Myers isn’t yet tearing up Major League pitching and making multiple All-Star games, I’ll still say that this is a trade the Royals can justify making. 

Let’s give Dayton Moore credit where it’s due: both the Santana and Guthrie acquisitions have been paying major dividends so far.

Through five starts in 2013, Santana is sporting a 2.00 ERA and has been Kansas City’s best pitcher in the first month of the season. Many lampooned Moore (and at the time, rightully so) when he made the trade with the Angels to bring the 30 year-old, wildly inconsistent right hander to Kansas City, but thus far, Santana has been a revelation. 

Guthrie, who came to the Royals last summer via a trade with the Colorado Rockies for…. Jonathan Sanchez…. just pitched the first shut out of his career and is now 4-0 on the season. 

When’s the last time you felt this good about the Kansas City Royals?

So, first things first;

I was completely wrong with my last piece I wrote about a week ago. I thought Kansas City Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt dragging then-GM Scott Pioli along while Hunt was interviewing potential head coaching hires would hinder the Chiefs’ ability to bring in a credible candidate. 

Turns out, I was completely off my rocker. Hunt, along with a handful of other Chiefs representatives, including Pioli, flew out to Philadelphia to meet with former Eagles head coach Andy Reid about their head coaching vacancy. 

A couple of days later, Andy Reid was named the next head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.

That initial meeting with Reid in Philadelphia  which many originally thought would probably only last a couple of hours maximum, ended up lasting nine. Hunt had decided that Andy Reid was his number one priority, and by flying out to Philadelphia to meet Reid before Reid could interview for the open head coaching vacancies in Arizona or San Diego,  Hunt insured that the Chiefs got their guy. 

In the process, Hunt and Pioli agreed to a buyout package that would effectively end the Pioli era in Kansas City. 

My hat’s off to Clark Hunt.

Some have questioned whether or not Hunt is dedicated to the idea of making the Kansas City Chiefs a winner. I believe he answered those questions with the firing of Pioli and the hiring of Andy Reid. 

Does Reid have some question marks? Sure he does. His last two seasons in Philadelphia were disappointments, and some Chiefs fans are wondering if Reid, after coaching the Eagles the past 14 seasons, should have maybe taken a year off to take everything in before jumping to another coaching gig. 

The potential of Andy Reid being burnt out was a primary concern for Hunt as well when the Chiefs went to Philadelphia to interview Reid, and Clark made sure to address his concerns to Reid about that very issue during the interview process. 

“We went into the interview with that as one of the big questions,” Hunt explained. “He came into the interview with much more energy than I anticipated. He’s a pretty quiet coach on the sideline. You don’t see a lot of outbursts. But if you get him on on one, he has a lot of energy and is very engaging. 

“He’s a football coach. That’s what he does. He’s ready to go. I’ll tell you what: The pace we’ve been working at the past couple of days as we shift gears now into trying to build the staff and getting the GM search started, he has a whole lot more energy than I do.” 

All signs point to Reid being ready to get down to work. Before Reid accepted the head coaching gig with Kansas City, he watched all 16 of the Chiefs’ regular season games to get a feel for what type of roster he would be dealing with. He did this before he even took the job. 

That doesn’t sound like the kind of thing someone who was burnt out from coaching would take the time to do. 

Of course, no one knows if the Reid hire will pan out, but it does seem to be a move that makes sense on a number of levels.

Four years ago everyone in Kansas City, including myself, were hailing the hiring of Scott Pioli as this football team’s savior. 

It turned out to be a complete and utter disaster. 

With the hiring of Reid, considered to be the best available head coach on the market, Clark proved that he was more than willing to right the ship.

Clark Hunt proved that he cares about this team, that he cares about winning. 

I had faith in Clark Hunt before the Andy Reid hire that Clark would give Kansas City Chiefs fans the fresh start that they deserved after four years of secrecy and losing under Scott Pioli.

That faith was repaid with a new era of Chiefs football. 

We all know what’s going on here. Kansas City Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt wants GM Scott Pioli gone, but unfortunately, Pioli signed a contract extension with the Chiefs this past off-season and thus, Hunt would have to pay a rather hefty buyout if he were to fire Pioli. 

So instead, Hunt has kept Pioli on board, but has stripped Pioli of the majority of his GM powers. Hunt is doing this in the hopes of forcing Pioli’s hand so that Pioli will walk away, meaning that the Chiefs wouldn’t have to pay said buyout.  

I understand the logic, but by Hunt keeping Pioli on board at all, even if it’s just temporary, it makes the Chiefs front office look extremely dysfunctional, and that dysfunction has to be a major turn-off to any potential head coaching candidates.  

Hunt recently said that he would be conducting the search for Kansas City’s next head coach himself- not Pioli. Hunt also said that the next head coach of the Chiefs would report to Hunt himself, not to the GM. 

Basically, Clark is telling Pioli, “You’ve been neutered. You have no power, but if you want to hang around and be a figure head, be my guest.” He’s hoping that Pioli’s pride causes him to pack his bags and move on. 

But if Clark was playing this whole situation the right way, he would simply cut Pioli loose right now. Clark: admit you made a mistake by handing Pioli an extension, bite the bullet, pay the buyout, and move on without the Scott Pioli era hanging over this organization’s collective heads any longer. 

Media outlets have been reporting that Clark Hunt will be interviewing former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid today. Imagine how that interview process will go. 

Clark has to explain to Reid that Pioli is the GM.. at least for now..but only if Reid thinks the two can play nice together, and that ultimately, it would be Reid’s decision on whether or not Pioli is retained. 

It just seems like a completely backwards process. The employee hiring the employer. 

If I’m Andy Reid, I’m having serious reservations about how the Chiefs’ front office works, and why Hunt wouldn’t simply let Pioli go, instead of putting Reid, or any other potential head coaching hire, in the awkward situation of deciding Pioli’s fate. 

I understand that a buyout would be a considerable amount of cash for Hunt to pay Pioli if Hunt gives him his walking papers. But if Hunt really cares about this Chiefs franchise, he should realize that it needs a fresh start more than anything, and that keeping Pioli around is an albatross to this entire organization. Not only that, but it hinders the Chiefs’ ability to bring in the next next head coach of the franchise. 

Clark: cut your losses and move on. 

Jason Cole of Yahoo Sports tweeted today that a league source has told him that Kansas City Chiefs GM Scott Pioli will survive as Chiefs’ GM for at least another season. 

Also, according to Cole’s source, head coach Romeo Crennel would be shown the door as well. 

I’m not sure of the validity of Cole’s source, but someone explain the logic to me of of giving Crennel the boot, but giving Pioli what is essentially a “get out of jail free” card?

I’m glad Crennel is getting shown the door. He’s a very good defensive coordinator, but a horrible head coach in way over his head.

But Pioli has to go, too. There’s no two ways about it. His fingerprints are all over every single move the Kansas City Chiefs front office has made over the past four years, as they should be. He is the Chiefs General Manager.

Unfortunately for Scott Pioli, he has done a terrible job. 

Pioli hired Todd Haley. Pioli hired Crennel. That makes him 0-2 with his head coaching hires. Is Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt really going to let Pioli take a swing at head coaching hire number three?* Does Hunt really trust Pioli to not screw up the first overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft given his track record in KC? 

*Kirk Ferentz anyone? No? Didn’t think so. 

How Hunt could justify keeping Pioli on after a dysfunctional season like the one that Kansas City has endured in 2012 is beyond me. How Hunt could justify giving Pioli another year given Pioli’s 23-41 record since he came to Kansas City is also beyond me. 

Four years into Pioli’s master plan of finding the “right 53,” are we really any closer to achieving that goal? 

The most comical part of this whole situation? The cornerstones of this Kansas City Chiefs team are Jamaal Charles, Derrick Johnson, Tamba Hali, Brandon Flowers, Eric Berry, Dustin Colquitt, Dwayne Bowe, and Justin Houston. 

Only two of those players are players that Pioli drafted in to this organization (Houston and Berry), and really only Houston can be seen as a pick that actually took any balls or know-how for Pioli to pull the trigger on. Berry was a no-brainer in 2010 when the Chiefs selected him 5th overall. 

All of those other players listed above? All players that former Chiefs GM Carl Peterson, and former head coach Herm Edwards brought to Kansas City. 

That should tell you everything you need to know about Pioli’s four-year reign. 

Eric Berry, Justin Houston, Tyson Jackson, and Matt Cassel. That is Pioli’s legacy after four years of putting together the “right 53.” 

Four years. 

Luckily for Chiefs fans, Clark Hunt is a business man. A smart businessman. A businessman that realizes that the quickest way to lose ticket sales, and all the other millions of dollars to be had in revenue that a packed Arrowhead Stadium would bring would be to keep Scott Pioli as general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs. 

With Pioli at the helm in 2013, Chiefs fans will have zero faith in this organization. 

I understand that personally this decision may be a hard one for Hunt to make. He has a close relationship with Pioli. But at the end of the day being an owner in the NFL is about two things: making money, and winning, and if he keeps Pioli on for another season, Hunt knows he’ll be missing out on a considerable amount of both of those things in the foreseeable future. 

I still have faith in Clark Hunt. 

The Missouri Tiger’s 97-94 overtime loss to the UCLA Bruins on Friday night confirmed what I have been thinking about this year’s Frank Haith team since late November.

The transfer of senior guard Michael Dixon is a debilitating loss that probably changes the team’s fortunes from that of a potential Final Four squad, to merely (in my opinion) a Sweet Sixteen team in this season’s NCAA Tournament. 

Don’t get me wrong: it was the right thing to happen. Dixon was carrying way too much baggage, and whatever good he could have potentially done for Missouri this year was easily outweighed by his off-the-court transgressions over the last few years. 

Having said that, the departure of Dixon leaves the Tigers without any reliable back-up point guard to give Phil Pressey a minute’s rest. Ultimately, I think that will be the down fall of this year’s team. 

Pressey has been fantastic in so many ways for the Tigers, who currently stand at 10-2 heading into next Saturday’s match-up against Bucknell. But for as great as he’s been, there’s way too much pressure on the junior point guard’s shoulders to carry this team. 

For as many transfers that Haith brought in to make up for the most successful senior basketball class in Missouri’s history, this Tigers team doesn’t have one reliable ball handler not named Phil Pressey. 

It’s extremely difficult for a team to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament when they have zero dependable depth at the most important position on the court. 

Possible? Yes. Likely? Don’t count on it.

Dixon was supposed to be that guy. His departure has shown us just how valuable of a combo-guard he really was for this team. 

Even when Pressey is breaking school all-time records, sometimes it’s still not enough. Even when Pressey is playing at an All-American level, the rest of this year’s Tiger team, barring senior forward Laurence Bowers, is still too inconsistent. 

Hell, even when Pressey is playing All-World, like he was for much of the game on Friday, it still wasn’t enough. 

Pressey put on a show against UCLA on Friday night, scoring 19 points and dishing out 19 assists, but during crunch time at the end of regulation and during overtime, Pressey faltered. 

No one in their right mind can blame him. 

It’s completely unfair for fans to point the finger at a player who was unable to continue that type of All-World play we saw for most of the game at Pauley Pavilion. 

Pressey is human, after-all, and if your point guard is giving you those types of numbers, you’d be hard pressed to put the blame on his shoulders if the team loses.

Someone else will have to step up as a legitimate back up to Pressey if this team is going to reach the next level. If not, it’s only a matter of time before Pressey wears down. 

Unfortunately, there’s no one on the roster that fits that bill. Negus Webster-Chan appears to be the closest thing Missouri has to fill Dixon’s shoes at the point, but as of yet, he appears overwhelmed with those responsibilities. 

If Pressey misses any extended amount of time this season, the Tigers are toast. Sure, they might be able to win a fair share of games without Pressey, given just how horrible the SEC is this season. But come tournament time, Missouri won’t stand a chance once they start facing the tougher competition that awaits in the tourney. 

Last year’s issue was a lack of size that eventually cost them against Norfolk State in last year’s tournament. This year’s squad faces a completely different challenge.

Who will step up to replace Michael Dixon? 

The NFL announced the rosters for the Pro Bowl yesterday, and one of the most surprising aspects was the fact that five players from the currently 2-13 Kansas City Chiefs were included.

Linebackers Derrick Johnson, and Tamba Hali, punter Dustin Colquitt, safety Eric Berry, and running back Jamaal Charles were all named to the AFC Pro Bowl roster.

I was shocked just as much as the next guy when I saw that Kansas City had five Pro-Bowlers in a year that has been one of the most depressing I can remember in regards to our beloved Chiefs. 

I was actually afraid that a player like Jamaal Charles, who has had a wonderful rushing year despite the Chiefs’ offensive ineptness, would be all but forgotten in regards to individual achievement. 

Luckily, Jamaal made the Pro Bowl, a well deserved honor for a running back that has somehow managed to rush for almost 1,500 yards* even with horrible quarterback play, and essentially no other offensive game breakers to take opposing defenses’ attention away from keying in on him. 

*Oh, and then there is this. 

So, congratulations to Jamaal. He was a no-brainer selection. 

For the rest of the Chiefs Pro Bowl selections, I was a bit more skeptical, so I decided to dive into the numbers and see what I could learn. 

Tamba Hali, OLB

I’ll admit that my initial reaction when I saw that Tamba had been named to the Pro Bowl was that he was undeserving of such an honor in 2012. I knew his sack totals were down from previous seasons, so I was more than ready to take a look at the numbers to validate my opinion. 

Hali currently has 49 total tackles (41 solo, 8 assisted) which places him somewhere outside of the top 10 for outside linebackers this season. To be fair, tackle totals have never been a big part of Tamba’s game. His career best for total tackles was last season, when he collected 66. 

Denver’s Wesley Woodyard leads all AFC OLB’s with 3 interceptions this season, and that’s three more than Tamba had in 2012, although in his career, Tamba has only made one interception, so that goose egg is not out of the norm either. 

Denver’s Von Miller has forced the most fumbles for an AFC outside linebacker this season with 6. Tamba has 1 forced fumble in 2012, which places him outside of the top 10 in that category as well. 

Now to the statistic that makes or breaks a player’s Pro Bowl aspirations: sacks.

As everything currently stands as of today, Tamba has 9 sacks this season, which puts him behind Denver’s Von Miller (17.5), San Diego’s Shaun Phillips (9.5), and oddly enough, his own teammate, Justin Houston (10). 

Hali’s numbers are down slightly from what he averages on a year-to-year basis, but ultimately what matters for outside linebackers are the sack numbers, and Tamba is in good standing there, with his 9 sacks being good enough for fourth best for OLBs in the AFC. 

The ironic tidbit in regards to whether or not Tamba is worthy of a Pro Bowl selection this season is that his teammate, Justin Houston, has better overall numbers this season and he is the player that probably has the best case for being snubbed by the voters. 

Unfortunately, what Justin Houston doesn’t have is name recognition. At least not yet. 

So, despite having slightly less productive numbers in 2012, I can live with the Tamba Hali Pro Bowl selection. 

My selection: Justin Houston, OLB, Kansas City Chiefs 

Derrick Johnson, ILB

Johnson was named, alongside New England’s Jerod Mayo, to the AFC Pro Bowl roster.

Let’s take a look at one of the statistics that matters the most when you’re talking about inside/middle linebacker play: tackles. Johnson made 119 (104 solo, 15 assisted) tackles in 2012. The 119 total tackles is good enough for fourth best among AFC inside linebackers for the season. Mayo leads all ILB/MLB with 142 (85 solo, 57 assist) total tackles. Mayo is followed by the Indianapolis Colts’ Jerrell Freeman (135 T,83 S, 52 A), Jacksonville’s Paul Posluszny (129 T,100 S, 29 A), and Miami’s Karlos Dansby (121 T, 95 S, 26 A) 

Johnson has 2 sacks this season, which is a decent number for an ILB/MLB. Derrick’s career high for sacks was in 2006, when he finished that season 4.5. Johnson has only recorded more than 2 sacks in season twice. One in 2006, and in 2007 when he recorded 4. 

Baltimore’s Dannell Ellerbe leads the AFC with 4.5 sacks in 2012. It’s also interesting to note that Ellerbe has 86 (65 S, 21 A) tackles this year. 

Paul Posluszny (JAC), Bryan Scott (BUF), and Lawrence Timmons (PIT) lead all AFC ILB/MLB with 3 interceptions in 2012. Derrick Johnson has recorded zero interceptions this season.

New England’s Brandon Spikes has recorded the most forced fumbles this season with 5 total. Johnson’s numbers are good here, as he’s forced 3 total in 2012, good enough for second among ILB/MLBs.  

Looking at the numbers, Johnson definitely has to be considered a legitimate Pro Bowl caliber inside linebacker in the AFC for 2012, although a few other linebackers could easily have slid into Johnson’s Pro Bowl slot. 

My selection: Paul Posluszny, MLB, Jacksonville 

Dustin Colquitt, P

At first glance, Dustin Colquitt seemed like a shoo-in. Colquitt has been one of the better punters in the NFL for a while now, and he is also on a team with one of the worst offenses in the NFL, so he’s had plenty of opportunities. 

A closer look at the numbers shows that there were probably a couple of other candidates that could be representing the AFC this year, although Colquitt is right in the thick of things. 

Dustin has punted  75 times for the Chiefs in 2012. That’s 12 less than Clevland’s Reggie Hodges, and 11 less than Houston’s Donnie Jones, and Jacksonville’s Bryan Anger.

Colquitt’s average per punt currently stands at 46.9 yards per punt. That gives him the ninth best average in the AFC. Miami’s Brandon Fields leads the AFC in yards per punt at 50. 

In regards to net average per punt, Colquitt stands at 40.3, which also leaves him with the ninth best average in the AFC. Anger currently holds the best net average with 42.4. 

Colquitt has punted for 3.019 total yards in 2012, which leaves him with eight in that category. The punter with the most total yards in 2012? Bryan Anger. 

Colquitt does have 42 punts that have landed inside of the opposition’s 20 yard line this season, which is a Chiefs all-time record for a punter, and 12 better than the second best in that category, which is Anger. 

Colquitt is definitely worthy. The punts inside the 20 is a staggering statistic. 

My selection: Colquitt or Bryan Anger

Eric Berry, SS

This is really where things got fishy for me. I already knew, before even taking a look at the numbers, that Berry has not had a Pro Bowl-worthy season for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2012.

Does some of that have to do with the ACL tear he suffered last season? I’m sure it does. Berry hasn’t been the same player we all watched his rookie year in 2010, a year in which he was also named to the AFC Pro Bowl roster. 

Let’s take a look at the numbers to see just how undeserving Berry really is this season. 

First, let’s look at the tackle numbers. Berry has made 80 (68 solo, 12 assisted) tackles in 2012. Seven other strong safeties in the AFC have better tackle numbers this year, with Baltimore’s Bernard Pollard leading the way with 98 (71 S, 27 A) total tackles. 

Berry has 1 interception this season. New England’s Tavon Wilson leads all AFC strong safeties with 4. Five other strong safeties have recorded more INTs than Berry this season, although to his credit, he has more tackles than all of them other than Miami’s Chris Clemons, who has 2 INTs as well as 94 total tackles. 

Baltimore’s Pollard leads all AFC strong safeties with 2 sacks in 2012. Berry has recorded zero sacks this year. 

The Houston Texan’s Glover Quinn leads all AFC strong safeties with 16 passes defended this season. Berry actually has a solid 11 passes defended in 2012, good enough for second on this list. 

Cleveland Browns strong safety TJ Ward leads all all AFC strong safeties with 3 forced fumbles in 2012. Berry has zero forced fumbles this season. 

In conclusion, across the board Berry has failed to match the statistics of his rookie season (92 total tackles, 2 sacks, 4 INTs, 1 FF, 9 pass defended), let alone warrant a Pro Bowl selection in 2012. 

My selection: Bernard Pollard, strong safety, Baltimore

The Kansas City Chiefs threw me for bit of a scare on Sunday. 

I wrote a piece about a week ago where I explained that with Dwayne Bowe being placed on IR for the season, the only way the Chiefs had a legitimate chance of winning another game this season was if Jamaal Charles put the whole team on his back. 

With Bowe out, that left Charles as the only true offensive threat for Kansas City, and it would take another performance from Jamaal like we saw against the Denver Broncos a couple of years ago for Kansas City to put another W in the win column. 

Jamaal almost pulled it off yesterday at Arrowhead Stadium, as he rushed for 226 yards and single-handedly kept Kansas City in the game against the Indianapolis Colts. 

Fortunately for Chiefs fans, Kansas City’s defense fell short at just the right time, allowing the Colts to score late on a 7 yard pass from Andrew Luck to Reggie Wayne that would seal the 20-13 victory for Indianapolis. 

I say fortunately because I am completely convinced that the best thing for this Chiefs franchise is to have the overall number one pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. A Chiefs win, combined with the Jacksonville Jaguar’s 23-16 loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday would have put the Jags in the driver’s seat in regards to owning that number one pick with only one game remaining in the regular season.

I understand what a number of Chiefs fans have been saying. There’s no clear-cut number one prospect in this year’s NFL Draft, and that there’s no quarterback prospect worthy of number one overall consideration. 

True, there are no prospects as highly regarded in 2013 as Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III were last year. But I am also of the belief that at least one of the quarterback prospects out there, whether we are talking about Geno Smith, Matt Barkley, Mike Glennon, etc, is going to fly up teams’ draft boards once these players’ games start getting dissected and after the combine results are in.

There have been some rather interesting theories on the internet lately about what Kansas City should do in regards to the off-season.

One of the more perplexing theories revolves around the Chiefs trading for Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, Michael Vick, and then using their first round pick on another position. 

For me, there are a few of problems with that theory.

1. Michael Vick is on the wrong side of 30. Vick is a player who’s game is predicated on his speed and his ability to elude defenses’ pass rush, and to make plays with his feet. Unfortunately  Michael Vick is also 32 years old, and unless he has figured out a way to stop the aging process (I’m guaranteeing that he hasn’t), his physical abilities are already in decline. Vick depends way too much on his physical gifts to become a player who ages gracefully. 

2. Michael Vick is a turnover machine. Ten fumbles, and 9 interceptions in 9 games played in 2012 before being benched by Eagles’ head coach Andy Reid. That’s not much better than Matt Cassel’s twelve interceptions and nine fumbles in the nine games that Cassel played in for the Chiefs this season that had Chiefs fans up in arms. 

3. Michael Vick rarely stays healthy. He’s played a full 16 game season once in his 11 year career. 

4. As Chiefs fans, aren’t we tired of trading for quarterbacks that are merely temporary solutions?  Trent Green had a few nice years (unfortunately, Dick Vermeil didn’t believe in defense), and Montana was good when he played in Kansas City for those two seasons from ‘93-‘94, but by the time the Chiefs traded for him, he was 36 years old and a shell of his former self. 

At what point in time are the Chiefs actually going to bite the bullet and take a chance on drafting their own franchise quarterback, instead of trading for other team’s leftovers? The last time Kansas City drafted a quarterback in the first round was in 1983. 

When the 1983 NFL Draft took place, I was still a couple of months away from being born. I will be 30 next year. 

There’s something wrong with that picture.

If the Chiefs hold the number one overall pick, they have no excuses. Every player on the board is available. Their options are limitless. And they can’t use the excuse that they don’t want to pay a rookie quarterback the type of money the number one pick entails. With the new rookie wage scale, the days of the bloated rookie contracts are over. 

Cam Newton, the number one overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft signed a four year, $22 million dollar deal with the Carolina Panthers. Compare that to St. Louis quarterback, Sam Bradford, who signed a six-year, $76 million dollar deal in 2010, before the rookie pay scale was put into effect. 

In all likelihood, there is at least one franchise quarterback among the 2013 QB prospects. It’s just a matter of the Kansas City’s front office doing their due-diligence and figuring out just who that player is.