FanPost

FAs are always a gamble


The word "fan" is actually short for fanatic. Fans follow their teams with a fanatical obsession. We want instant improvement, all the time, period. Fanatics have a hard time accepting the reality of the time space continuum. Simply put, "We don't like to wait". Thank god the fans don't run the teams because we would make every decision in the moment instead of using a longer range ideal to "build" something that will last. Coaches and GMs know this. They are the sages we have to depend on to make the right long term decisions for us. The problem is that as fanatics, we don't care about tomorrow right now dammit, we want action! After the jump there will be a few examples of those "action" moves that didn't work out so well. Us fanatics would be well served to remember those and use them to temper our fanatical desires.

I know that there are some of you out there that covet Thomas Jones. Many arguements have been constructed to point to the fact that he has been a productive back for the last three years or so of his career. If you read between the lines of these arguements though, you will almost certainly find out that these arguements have been made "inspite of" the fact of TJs age. Every back thinks that they have "more to give to the league" as LT put it recently. The truth is that very few of them will be able to perform to the level that the pay would dictate.

For example, anybody remember when Emmit Smith, after spending a brilliant 12 year career with the Cowboys, signed a two year eight million dollar contract with the Cards? Emmit went on to score 11 TDs and run for just under 1200 yards over two seasons. Do you think that Jerry and his coaching staff had some idea of where Emmit was in the overall scheme of things that maybe no other teams did? Letting Emmit go at the time was a very unpopular decision with Dallas fanatics, but in retrospect it may have been and probably was the perfect call. There is a reason that football pundits talk about RBs slowing down when it comes to 30 years of age and 2700-2800 carries. It is because they do. If this is what TJ has to offer the Chiefs, is it worth between 6 and 10 million? Kolby Smith is sitting right there on our bench and if it is a 3rd down spot you are trying to fill, he does it just as well and won't cost more than a few hundred grand.

Then there are the fanatics that are upset because we were not willing to shell out 8 million a year for Mr. Boldin. Kinda set me to thinking about Javon Walker. After his trade to Denver he had one good season and got released in '08. Now I know we are dealing with Al Davis here, but the Raiders were willing to go to the mat for a six year 55 million dollar deal. So far, Javon has played 7 games for the raiders and made 15 catches. One was a TD. ONE. The biggest headlines he has made were for getting knocked in the head outside a club in which he used some of that money to pour champagne over his posse. Boldin shares the injury history that Javon has. I wonder if he will share the lack of work ethic now that he got his after two plus years of complaining. Paydays do not necessarily equate to pro bowl play from an FA. It also seems that the squeakier they are, the less likely they are to go back to proper performance once they get oiled.

It is hard being a fanatic. We have to stay up late on the day FA starts just to make sure that others don't get the skinny before we do. We have to hang on every twitter, and facebook page, looking for information from insiders that could take us from a state of agitation to euphoria in an instant. We nearly wear out our mice(is that the plural of mouse?)clicking on different websites looking for that desired signing, only to conclude after 48 hours that nothing is going to happen and now we are pissed(and tired!)that the ignorant new GM and HC that we spent so much time defending on message boards are too goddamed stupid to know who to pull the trigger on for a new chiefs helmet. I say unto you, the fanatics who keep the tapestry that holds the Chiefs place in the universe alive, take a moment, clear your head and believe. This journey we are on is long and fraught with adversity but it will take us where we want to go. Don't sweat the little stuff like free agency. At best it was a coin toss. At worst, it could derail the train.

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.