That we’ll be enjoying the presence of B.J. Sams on our roster this year as well.

Give the Chiefs a choice on special teams, they always seem to pick the worst possible option. What I wouldn’t give to have “Hard Knocks” covering the Chiefs this year so we can hear the rationale behind their decisions.

I’m going to pass on discussing Croyle for now, mainly because I’ve probably beaten this topic to death, my feelings are well known and the regular season is almost upon us so we’ll know for sure in a few weeks so there’s no point in rehashing the hypotheticals.

I’ll say this regarding the larger point of Carl Peterson and QBs, though…the man’s been in charge for 19 years and in all that time he has not found one quarterback in the draft who has proven himself capable of being an NFL starter. Not one. With this many opportunities, he should have stumbled on one by accident. And yet here we are, two decades into his tenure, still wondering if his latest QB of the future is going to be capable of doing anything except taking up space. After 19 years and four or five QBs of the future (Stenstrom, Elkins, Blundin, and Matthews just off the top of my head) I think it’s completely fair to say that Carl Peterson is a rotten judge of QB talent even if Croyle doesn’t turn out to be one of the worst QBs in the NFL this year.

It’s about being risk-averse. If Carl goes with a rookie and the rookie screws up and does terribly then he’s got nobody to blame because he went with a rookie and rookies are unpredictable. So he’ll take the blame for making a bad choice. If he goes with the vet, though, he can point the finger at Novak and say that Novak was a veteran who should have known what was expected of him, so it’s Novak’s fault for letting the team down (while trying to ignore the fact that all Novak’s experience has shown is that he’s not very good at hitting field goals). Settling for mediocrity rather than risking failure is just what Carl Peterson does. And it’s why they should fire him and the special teams coach if Novak is terrible this year.

That I certainly won’t argue with. His focus on charity work has been admirable, he’s been an excellent salesman for the team, and I’m sure he’s never given less than his full effort to try and help us win…and I think most fans are greatful for his work on those fronts. Unfortunately, the most important job on which he needs to be judged is as general manager, as a GM he leaves a lot to be desired, he often seems to be in a state of denial about this and it hurts the team. This is why I think he probably should have been asked to step down some time ago…not because he doesn’t care or because he’s a bad guy (actually, I doubt he is a bad guy) but because he’s simply not the one who can get the team over the hump.

Always a chance. You never know with kickers. Maybe if Novak completely blows it we’ll still have a shot at Barth. But I imagine he’s going to attract some interest.

Like I’ve said before, kickers are about the most replaceable thing on the roster and it’s not like it’ll be impossible to find a competent one if Novak sucks and we can’t get Barth back. John Carney was okay for us last year and I doubt he’s got a job yet. Maybe Morten Andersen wants to have another go with the Chiefs.

He was kicking for Atlanta last season so he may very well be open to another job opportunity.

that they’d let him use his walker to get out on the field

If his career field goal percentage wasn’t 65% (50% the last year he played).