One of our weakest areas on the team last year becomes an immediate strength with the signing of one player…it’s not just a minor upgrade at LT, it’s a major upgrade at RT and possibly RG and C. That’s huge.

A disagreement on one of Texas Chiefs’ finer points.

Curry is a non-pass rushing LB because you say he is.

I call Aaron Curry a non-pass-rushing LB because he’s never shown himself to be a pass-rusher in college. He had 9 sacks in his entire college career…never more than 3 in any one season.

You appear to be arguing that the reason for this is that Curry simply wasn’t utilized as a pass-rusher…which may be true. You also seem to be coming from the perspective that pass-rushing is a skill that he can pick up…this may also be true. But I’m coming from the perspective that a players’ numbers tell a lot of the story about who he is and that the biggest mistake teams usually make in player acquisitions (either via free agency or the draft) revolves around picking up someone to fill a role that they’ve never shown an aptitude for. The Chiefs signed Kendrell Bell because he was a very talented linebacker in a 3-4 and assumed that he could make a transition to a 4-3. He didn’t. The Raiders signed Larry Brown with the idea that an opportune interception in the Super Bowl meant he was capable of handling a starting cornerback job (despite him being a nickel back for most of his career). It didn’t. The Redskins drafted Desmond Howard with a top five pick based on his spectacular returns in college and ignored his mediocre receiving stats, assuming that he’d figure out how to be a great receiver in the pros. He never did.

There’s a time and a place to gamble on players who you think could develop the skills you need from them…and that place is the second day of the NFL draft. You don’t burn a top 3 pick on a guy who’s never shown himself to be a great pass rusher because you think he might become a good pass rusher. You draft a guy that high because the skills he’s demonstrated fit your team’s needs and because a player with those skills aren’t available except in the top few picks. And while Aaron Curry may be the best of the linebackers in the draft, linebackers who don’t rush the passer simply aren’t that scarce outside of the top ten picks (whereas elite left tackle prospects are extremely rare outside of the top ten). Simply put, the Chiefs can find a capable ILB or OLB later in the draft who could be a starter in a year or two. They are extremely unlikely to find a LT later in the draft who is ever going to be good enough to start for a good team…and if the Chiefs improve they may never get a shot at drafting a tackle of that quality ever again. Whereas there are plenty of linebacker prospects good enough to start all through the first and second round of the draft every season. Scarcity and need make either Eugene Monroe or Jason Smith the BPA for the Chiefs this season, instead of Aaron Curry.

you can get solid linebackers in the third through fifth round hell look at the Eagles. It only makes sense to get a top tier OT than a B grade LB as opposed to a top tier LB and an D grade tackle.

Because of our veteran pick ups we have the luxury of developing late round guys for two years under some of the smartest LB’s in the league in Vrabel and Thomas.

Our O line is in dismay, I’m sure if better O line options were out there we would sign a vet then go pass rusher in the first but there weren’t and that’s how thin the market is for a tackle. Take a tackle early pick up linebackers late get the most out of your draft

I will admit to a bias towards offensive line, however, for one major reason. It helps to keep the QB healthy and successful.

If you have a franchise QB (which the Chiefs seem to think Cassel is) that represents a major investment. Those guys simply don’t come around that often (they’re even rarer than LTs) and developing a QB usually takes time (at least a year or two). If a defense is bad, that defense can always be rebuilt fairly quickly (meaning within a couple of seasons) and your team can still be successful. But if a team loses their franchise QB, that can cripple a team for much longer…because it usually damages the entire offense in the short-term and because those guys are extremely difficult to replace in both the short and long-term (New England was exceptionally fortunate last year that Cassel was able to step up when they lost Brady). As we saw with the Chiefs and the Bears, teams can go an entire generation and never find a guy capable of being a franchise QB. So it behooves a team to insure that when they think they’ve found that franchise QB, they take great pains to protect him.

Best example of what happens to a team that doesn’t do this is probably Tim Couch. The Browns drafted him first overall, then didn’t draft an offensive lineman with a first day pick for five years…when Couch’s career was basically over because of injuries.