NFL Draft Countdown: Kansas City Chiefs

Welcome to the NFL Draft Countdown, where each day until the draft on April 25-26, I will look at an NFL franchise to see what its transactions have been and what its needs are. Today, the focus is on the Kansas City Chiefs.

Kansas City Chiefs

• Draft Position: 3
• 2008 Season Result: 2-14 (4th in AFC West, Missed Playoffs)
• 2008 Head Coach: Herman Edwards
• 2009 Head Coach: Todd Haley (0-0; 0-0)

2009 Player Transactions

Players Lost:

• Will Franklin
• Quinn Gray
• Rocky Boiman
• Adrian Jones
• Jason Babin
• Pat Thomas (BUF)
• Oliver Celestin
• Donnie Edwards
• Michael Merritt
• Patrick Surtain
• Damon Huard (SF)

Players Re-signed/Acquired:

• Zach Thomas
• Rodney Wright
• Mike Goff
• Bobby Engram
• Terrance Copper
• Monty Beisel
• Corey Mays
• Travis Daniels
• Jon McGraw
• Darrell Robertson
• C.J. Jones
• Mike Vrabel
• Matt Cassel

2009 Draft Picks

• 1-3
• 3-3
• 4-2
• 5-3
• 6-2
• 7-3
• 7-47

Analysis & Outlook

The Kansas City Chiefs closed the book on the Herm Edwards era with a complete spring cleaning: new GM, new HC, new coaching staff and a new QB. The Chiefs have made solid moves in improving their team. New HC Todd Haley will look to catapult this offense from middle of the pack to top 10 with new QB Matt Cassel and some new weapons in WRs Bobby Engram and Terrace Copper to go go alongside current offensive starters RB Larry Johnson, TE Tony Gonzalez and WRs Dwayne Bowe and Mark Bradley. New DC Clancy Pendergast has his work cut out for him. The Chiefs ranked 28th against the pass and 30th against the run last season, and must improve. The addition of veteran LBs Zach Thomas, Mike Vrabel and Monty Beisel will help, but the pressing issue will be the pass rush. The Chiefs had only 10 sacks last year! A broader supporting cast will help DT Glenn Dorsey and LB Derrick Johnson but the Chiefs could use some additional talent in this area.

Defensively, the Chiefs will therefore focus on the OLB and/or DE positions. In addition, they will look to add depth in the secondary, particularly at the FS position.

On offense, the priority for the Chiefs in on the O-Line. T, G and C all lack depth and the Chiefs need to protect their investment in Cassel.

In the first round, the Chiefs can go either for the pass rusher or for the T. LBs Aaron Curry and Brian Orakpo are prime candidates to fill that need. For the T position, the Chiefs could look to draft either Eugene Monroe or Jason Smith to play at LT and move Brandon Albert to RT.

The Chiefs gave up their second round pick for Cassel and Vrabel and need to get it right in the middle rounds. My guess is they’ll go with a C/G like Max Unger, Eric Wood or Alex Mack in the third round, a S like Rashad Johnson or Darcel McBath in the fourth round and a LB like Jason Williams or Cody Brown in round 5. They could also potentially take a flyer on a WR late like Sammy Stroughter or Mike Wallace.

The Chiefs have done a lot of groundwork already in improving their team. They need to solidify the O-Line and install a more aggressive defense to advance to a higher plane of playing. It could be a tight race between the Chiefs and the Denver Broncos to chase the San Diego Chargers for the AFC West. That wraps up my look at the Kansas City Chiefs, feel free to leave a comment!