FanPost

Gearing up for the 2009 pre-season

The saying, "it can't get any worse" certainly rings true with this years' Chiefs, but the question I have this year is, "how much better can it get?"

The thing that stands out the most to me is that this team has a lot more experience and will be in much better shape than they were last year. Offensively, our line has improved with the addition of Goff and coach Muir (especially if Waters stays), LJ has shown a sense of urgency to redeem himself, our QB position is fairly stacked with talent, and both Haley and Gailey are talented at beating other defenses. However, we don't appear to have much depth at TE or WR. On the defensive side, Mike Brown adds a needed level of leadership to the secondary and our linebackers are significantly more experienced and talented than they were in '08. We have inexperienced defensive linemen that must adjust to the 3-4 if there's any hope for success this year. The offensively minded Haley will lean heavily on Pendergast, Gibbs, and Krumrie to make this transition successful. Finally, our special teams coverage should be stronger this year, but we still don't have a "go to" return man and will more than likely have to fight many uphill battles offensively as a result.

The questions I'll be looking to answer during Training Camp:

  1. Is Cassel clearly our best QB?
  2. Is DBowe taking his game to the next level in 2009?
  3. Which WR and/or TE is likely to step up and take some pressure off of Bowe?
  4. Will our O-Line improve significantly this year?
  5. Which RB/WR will emerge as our return man?
  6. Will Hali and McBride succeed as OLBs?
  7. Who emerges as our starting SLB?
  8. Will Mike Brown steal Jarrad Page's starting job?
  9. Will Glenn Dorsey, Tank Tyler, and Derrick Johnson be able to adjust to this new 3-4 scheme?
  10. What kind of player did we really get in Tyson Jackson?

There's no doubt in my mind we have a much much better team this year. But can we pull off the kind of season Miami and Atlanta had last year? It's going to be tough given the difficulty of our schedule. But Atlanta did it with just one receiver, a rookie QB, and one running back. In my opinion, we're in no worse shape than they were last year.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.