FanPost

Churning the bottom of the Chiefs roster (ramblings)

Jeff Hanisch-US PRESSWIRE

From the FanPosts -Joel

With the Kansas City Chiefs regime change, we can certainly expect a fair amount of turnover on the roster. Much of that turnover will come in the bottom third, however.

Andy Reid, to his credit, seems very open to building on the current base, rather than tearing it all down and rebuilding. Two MAJOR decisions support this theory so far:

1) He stuck with the 3-4 defense. This allows the Chiefs to work on contracts for Dorsey/Jackson, and hopefully not set the rest of the defense back in their development. IF they can re-sign SOME of the DEs currently on the roster: Dorsey (FA), Jackson (restructure), Ropati (FA), Smith (FA)... they won't have to totally rebuild the defensive front 7... just add an ILB and some depth, and move forward. Coach Sutton will have a good base to build a more aggressive defense.

2) He stuck with ZB scheme for the OL. Contrary to "popular" belief, the Offensive Line is a real strength of this team, in my opinion. Albert-Allen-Hudson-Asamoah-Winston is a VERY solid front 5, with Stephenson looking like (at worst) a good swing tackle. Coach Heck will have plenty to work with, and he's a known Zone Blocking guy.

Of course, they have some big decisions coming up with guys like Albert, Dorsey, Bowe, Colquitt and others about to hit free agency, but the early moves by this staff have led me to believe they will try and retain the front line talent on this roster.

Everyone knows KC needs to build better depth. In my estimation, they need to find/develop 2 Safeties, 1-2 CBs, 1 C/G, 1 TE, 1 OLB, 1-2 ILB, and at least 2 QBs.

Some of that depth could come from guys already on the roster. Some candidates I think COULD stick:

  • Tysyn Hartman: shouldn't be a starter, but as a 3rd/4th Safety, could make it.
  • DeQuan Menzie: we don't know what he can do yet, but he projected as a solid CB/S and ST player
  • Cyrus Gray: didn't see much action, but I think he'll be a great fit in Reid's offense
  • Jalil Brown: also shouldn't be a starter, but filled in pretty well as a 3rd/4th CB and ST player

I had been concerned that the Chiefs hadn't started signing players to "Futures Contracts", like most other teams in the league have.

But, if you look at the PS from this year... most have either been called up to the roster (meaning they are now under contract) or have signed elsewhere.

By my count, these guys were on the Practice Squad this year at some point, and are still on the roster:

KCChiefs.com lists the following in the PS (some I forgot existed):

Practice Squad

# Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Age Exp. College
48 Cosby, DeMarco TE 6-3 240 24 1 Central Missouri
26 Gumbs, Jose S 5-10 210 R Monmouth
70 Mims, David OL 6-8 335 24 1 Virginia Union
55 Sturdivant, Quan LB 6-1 241 24 1 North Carolina
14 Szymanski, Matt K 6-1 196 24 R SMU
68 Waldron, Dustin T 6-5 310 R Portland State

Practice Squad/Injured

# Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Age Exp. College
77 Patterson, Luke OL 6-4 295 25 1 Texas A&M

There are also these guys on IR that we may forget about... several of which could be major contributors on the 2013 team...

Reserve/Injured

# Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Age Exp. College
97 Bailey, Allen DE 6-3 285 23 2 Miami (Fla.)
80 Boss, Kevin TE 6-6 255 29 6 Western Oregon
82 Bowe, Dwayne WR 6-2 221 28 6 LSU
10 Copper, Terrance WR 6-0 207 30 9 East Carolina
72 Dorsey, Glenn DE 6-1 297 27 5 LSU
61 Hudson, Rodney C 6-2 299 23 2 Florida State
41 McCarthy, Kyle DB 6-1 205 26 3 Notre Dame
49D Menzie, DeQuan CB 6-0 198 23 R Alabama
85 O'Connell, Jake TE 6-3 250 27 4 Miami (Ohio)
83 Rucker, Martin TE 6-5 251 27 4 Missouri
4 Tanney, Alex QB 6-4 220 25 R Monmouth College

Since his hire, Dorsey has signed 2 guys to Futures Contracts:

Neither guy should be expected to make the roster, but you never know...GM John Dorsey and Reid have only just begun to start churning the bottom 1/3 of this roster.

Special teams coach Dave Toub will have some say in who they bring in, as he'll want guys he can build stellar a special teams unit with. I could see Toub working with: Jalil Brown, DeQuan Menzie, TysynHartman, Cyrus Gray.

It'll be interesting if he agrees that Terrance Copper, Andy Studebaker and Cory Greenwood are stellar ST players and should be kept around...

I believe you can build around these 37 players...

Charles, Bowe, Dex, Breaston, Wylie, Baldwin, Moeaki, Boss (if healthy), Albert, Winston, Stephenson, Asamoah, Allen, Hudson, Poe, Powe, Jackson, Bailey, Hali, Houston, DJ, Berry, Lewis, Flowers, Arenas, Succop, Colquitt, Gafford, Brown, Menzie, Hartman, Gray, Draughn, DiMarco, Copper, Studebaker and Greenwood

Add in the 9 (or so) draft picks this year... and you're at 46 solid

The other 7 (or so) spots are where they can really make some improvements.

To use an analogy, I was taught early on in business that you can upgrade your professional appearance by buying 1 new item of clothing, once a month, that's better than anything else you own... and at the same time, get rid of the worst thing you own. It's much less painful than throwing out your whole closet and buying an entirely new wardrobe all at once.

That's what I think Dorsey/Reid will do with this roster... try to bring in some players to start right away (with their first 4 picks, and one or two FAs), and moving the prior players down a notch, and bumping the bottom of the roster off...

I still think the "needs" are QB1, QB2, CB2, S, SILB, C/G depth... assuming they can take care of business with the in-house FAs.

I'm just feeling more confident that we're NOT looking at a total, top-to-bottom rebuild... and I have confidence that Dorsey and Reid will make good decisions about who to bring in, and who to let walk.

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.