Wade Smith Leaves Buffalo Without Contract, Heads To Houston
by Joel Thorman on Mar 6, 2010 12:36 PM CST
in 2010 Kansas City Chiefs Season
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PrintSince the Kansas City Chiefs are obviously not big players in the first weekend of free agency what else are we to do except follow our unrestricted free agents.
Patrick Moran of the Buffalo Sports Daily tells me that Wade Smith has left Buffalo without a contract and will now travel to Houston for a visit with the Texans.
There were some reports floating around yesterday that Smith was set to visit with the Texans but we thought that would be nixed because a deal with the Bills seemed to be approaching.
Moran reports the Bills have had Smith "high on their radar" for several weeks now and even valued him more than Richie Incognito, another name attached to the Bills.
According to Moran, the Bills were looking at potentially bringing in Smith as a starter.
According to the source, the Bills see Smith as a player who would start at right guard if Eric Wood is not fully recovered from the severe broken leg he suffered last year. If he ends up signing and doesn't start he'll be the top reserve at both guard spots and center. At the very least, call him an upgrade over last year's player at the position, Seth McKinney.
If the Bills are having trouble signing Smith, then that may not be a good sign for things to come in Buffalo. Their offensive line is not very good and Smith has connections to head coach Chan Gailey (former Chiefs coordinator) and line coach Joe D'Alessandris (former Chiefs position coach).
There's been no indication that the Chiefs are or are not still players in all of this. Not much, if any, information has flowed out of One Arrowhead Drive so we won't know if they're interested in retaining him unless the ink hits the contract.
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did he end up speaking to the buffalo press without signing the contract?
I wonder if we have an offer on the table or not.
Scott Pioli will find a way to make NT the biggest offseason priority.
KC Will Trade Derrick Johnson
awwww ... poor Wade
maybe he’ll end up back here after all … we shall see
"I shall conquer untruth by truth" - Mahatma Gandhi
Whitlock Rocks!
hi, Mo!
5 minutes!!!
Why dont we have anyone scheduled for a visit?
It seems every other team has someone scheduled to come visit them what about us? Are we really going to just sit this one out and focus on just the draft?
Regardless of who the Chiefs pick at #5 overall, Whitlock will call it the worst pick in the history of the Chiefs. Heres to hoping that #5 pick runs Whitlock out of town.....
I don’t think he’s necessarily a need for us. Might not be worth the picks we give up when we could use those for other holes to fill.
I really want to give Wade Smith a contract.
I was disappointed when I heard Wade may be heading to Buffalo, as I feel he was our best overall O-lineman last season. I hope he doesn’t get a deal done in Houston, and we can retain him. I hope Pioli agreed to allow him to test the market, to get an idea of his value, and will resign him. Good Offensive linemen aren’t players we can afford to lose, expecially when there was quite a bit of progress the last 4 or so games, and I think Smith was a major part of that progress. I hope the situation is the same with Chambers, and he is just testing the waters to determine his value, and will also be retained. I wish we had kept Alleman, especially now that we know the Colts have coveted him. Ths Colts may be the best team in the league at evaluating Offensive Linemen.
Thomas Jones.
I just wonder if Jones will accept a reduced role, as of right now, we all know Charles is the man. I think Jones would be a great addition, and would give us one of the best running attacks in the league, but I wouldn’t overpay him, as he would just compliment Charles, and I don’t think he would accept that role. I may be wrong. I just think we have more pressing needs than overpaying some one to take 10-12 carries a game, to save Jamall. Hell, Battle may be able to fill that role just fine, and RB’s are becomming a dime a dozen in the draft. Let’s fix our front 7 on defense, then focus on other areas.
Take a step back and look at it like this
We have Richardson, Niswanger, Ndukwe, and Brown. Brown played some center in college, he was learning to play RG for us and Played RT in College, Niswanger looks more like a guard than a center but he’s started at C for us for a while, Ndukwe, played guard for Miami and Tackle for us.
Jason Fox looks like a 2nd to 3rd round pick at T, Cirion Black looks like late fourth to early 6th round, either one could play RT for us, there’s a nice guard who’s name escapes me who should go in the fourth or fifth.
Walton and Tenent and some of the other C’s will probably fall a round farther than where they’re slated to go. Look at Steve Justice a few years back, he was supposed to be a 3rd round pick, and he fell to the fifth or 6th round.
If we took Iupati in the second and Black later in the draft or Fox in the third and Walton in the fifth I’d be tickled, and I think we have young players that if put in the correct positions would make up for Smith.
Albert – Richardson LT
Waters – Brown LG
Walton – Niswanger C
NDukwe – Niswanger RG
O’Callaghan – Fox RT
or
Albert – Richardson LT
Iupati – Niswanger LG
Waters – Niswanger C
NDukwe – Brown RG
O’Callaghan – Black RT
We have depth on our O-Line, guys that can move around, maybe Richardson stepping up to play LT, sealed Smith’s fate with us. Smith’s versatility is across the line from LT to RG and all the positions in between, but we do have some young guys that are coming along. What we’re lacking is 2 or 3 starters, and Smith wasn’t a long term answer as a starter. As such we already have his replacement on the roster, with Smith, Alleman and Goff leaving, don’t you think that we’re going to take at least 2 linemen in the draft?
Great observations on the O-line.
I like your observations, mcclanahanman. One thing I don’t think will happen though, is getting Lupati in the 2nd round. It is possible, as alot of teams are hesitant to pay a Guard first round money, but he is a hot item right now, and I see a team like Dallas snagging him in the first. I hope I am wrong, as I think he is hands down the best guard in the draft. I have always thought Richardson had the talent to play, and maybe this is his year. I think O’Callahan is the best RT we have had in 5 years (I know that isn’t saying much), and he can , at least, be part of a rotation or a solid backup. Brown definitely has the size, and I am curious to see how he has progressed, but his injury was a setback. I agree that Niswanger is a guard, not a center. I still think Smith is as valuable as any lineman we have though, and I think he was the best overall lineman we had last season, and his versatility is important, especially if we suffer injuries. He also isn’t that old. Anyway, good post, and I guess we will see what happens.
A) I’d rather see us take Pouncey if he falls to us, let him play center for a year and then slide him over to right guard and take O’Dowd or Wisniewski next year.
B) Trade for a guy like Chris Williams, or Ryan Clady, neither one of them are in a zone blocking scheme but Clady has a year in it, and both were supposed to excel at LT in a zone blocking scheme. That would give us the ability to slide Albert to LG, Waters to center, and take a RG late or trust in Ndukwe to hold down that position next season. Draft Jason Fox at 2b or 3, I’m sure he’d be a step up over O’Callaghan once he got the scheme down. Then take Wisniewski or O’Dowd to play center next season.
I don’t see any urgency over Wade Smith leaving, I just don’t believe we have the talent we need in our starters on the line. We don’t have one guy that can replace him, but we do have 3 that will fill in nicely if we add one or two more starters on the line.
by mcclanahanman on Mar 7, 2010 6:35 PM CST up reply actions
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