You want to make an omelet? You gotta break a few eggs. You want to rebuild a football team, you gotta get rid of a few good players. The question is, which eggs were the ones that when we break them, poison us and leave us face-down in our huevos rancheros waiting for the kids to come in an find us while Imagination Movers blares on the TV and the dog eats the toast?
The Chiefs have ditched their fair share of guys, many of whom are going to wind up on other teams if they haven't already. But as we've seen over the years, sometimes the guys we give away are the ones that come back to hurt us the most.
The one that always stands out the most to me is Rich Gannon (ptew!). After tempting us all with his promise, the Chiefs' coaching staff foolishly let him walk, resulting in him torturing the Chiefs over several years with the Oakland Raiders of all people. That one just stings.
So the question is, of the players the Chiefs have jettisoned, who are you most afraid of running into down the line?
Candidates after the jump.
1. Bernard Pollard: Pollard was a divisive figure with the Chiefs. Many believed he was a strong part of our future alongside Jared Page as the safety tandem of the future. But Pollard was too bad at everything that wasn't "run in a straight line and hit the guy who's in front of you if anyone's there" (copyright, Corey Mays 2009), and so he was set free. Now with the Texans, the thought of Pollard delivering one of those brutal hits is painful. But the thought of getting to pass against his soft zone coverage is giddying.
2. Tyler Thigpen: Hell hath no fury like a quarterback scorned. No quarterback since Elvis Grbac has sustained the beatdown Thigpen received from fans. When he was leading the team back from the depths of nothing last season (people forget we were on pace to have the worst offense in the history of the NFL before Thigpen showed up), people claimed he could never be an NFL starting QB, and relentlessly waited for him to start playing like crap. When that didn't work, they attributed all of his success to the Arrowspread, not to mention that each team had tape on the Arrowspread and Thigpen made it work. Getting burned by Thigpen the next time we play Jax Miami would be bad news bears.
3. Monty Beisel: I was going to write up a review of him, but while trying to, I watched the words sail out of my brain and land on the carpet, splat. Then they rolled out the door. I didn't try and stop them, I just watched them roll harmlessly out of my office.
4. Barry Richardson: Oh, Berry Richardson will have his revenge. He'll bring his revenge in front of him as he stands between us, and then allow his revenge to whoosh by him and destroy us. That is Barry Richrdson's way, you see.