A Letter to the New General Manager of the Kansas City Chiefs

Dear Chiefs General Manager,

I would like to humbly welcome you to your new job. Thank you for taking on the challenge of rebuilding a storied franchise. I know you will give your full devotion to this noble cause. As long as you wear the Chiefs emblem proudly you will have our 100% support.

I’d like to begin by asking you to understand that there are many genuine and thoughtful Chiefs fans who’ve been extraordinarily disheartened by the way things have been going with our team. While the devastating losses are difficult, we can endure them as long as there is a commitment to excellence throughout the organization.

We’ve had reason to be proud of what our team has accomplished, particularly in those years when Chiefs football was synonymous with excellence, notably the decades of the 1960’s and 1990’s. What is quite encouraging is that this team does show great promise in spite of its horrendous won-loss record over the past two years.

I trust that you will make terrific decisions as our new general manager, I’d like to take a moment and simply share with you thoughts from a fan about what may help this Chiefs team. I am sure you are aware of these things, indeed you certainly know much more than any of us do. I’d still like to share what I think are our top priorities, ranked from least important to most important. Of course all are critically important.

8. A receiving core to compliment Dwayne Bowe. The Chiefs have never really had a dynamite set of wideouts, and while it was nice to have had people like Eddie Kennison, wouldn’t it be great if we can get someone to compliment Bowe on the other side? We can’t expect Tony Gonzalez to last forever, I mean, does he even have another year left in him?—If he does, great! This may not be such a big deal if Mark Bradley and/or Devard Darling can be solid next year.

7. A solid kicker. Huh? A kicker? What’s with that? It is no secret that the Chiefs have an oppressive kicking curse hovering over them. I think it started right after Jan Stenarud ruined the Vikings with his leg in Super Bowl IV, it has carried through our very best—Jan himself (in ’71, the infamous Christmas Day loss to the Dolphins), Nick Lowery (in ’91) and Pete Stoyanovich (in ’98), all of them missed critical FG’s that lost us playoff games—and it continues to this day, to wit: Two years ago we wasted a critical fifth round pick on Justin Medlock, and last year we signed John Carney as a fill-in and who made the Pro Bowl this year—with a different team. Oh that we’d have a reliable long-term kicker who’d just once—just once!—bang in a clutch field goal in a playoff win. Oh what joy!

6. A head coach who calls full, confident games and finishes. What’s this, way down here sixth in the order of priorities? Really, head coach should be higher, but I personally like Herm Edwards. He’s a gamer, he wants to win, he wants to surround himself with good people, he relates well with the players. I’d like to think he’s willing to learn more about what it takes to consistently win. But really, this is your call.

5. A mean middle linebacker. Not just any mean guy but a steaming fuming raging guy with a killer instinct that cannot be quenched. Last year I asked Santa Claus for a maniacal Ray Lewis-type guy, but I must’ve been bad that year or something. He sure didn’t get him for us this season. Really, we could use a whole bunch of these kinds of guys who know how to shut down a team’s running game. And for Derrick Johnson, the guy has tons of talent, we’ve all seen it, somebody needs to go down there and light a fire under his rear end. That’d be great.

4. Tamba Hali, Tank Tyler, Glenn Dorsey, and Turk McBride to sit in front of hours and hours of game film featuring Bruce Smith and Reggie White mixed with stirring, rousing music. I’d like to think our guys there are going to be pretty good-- all top prospects, solid picks, young guns, but guys who just didn’t do a whole lot out there this year to stop opposing offenses.

3. An offensive line that stands people up. This is axiomatic, I know, games are won in the trenches. But as all of us Chiefs fans know so well since we had such a kickin’-aye line for so many years, we have really got to have that Jonathan Ogden guy anchoring the line for gobs and gobs of years. I’d spend the third pick in the whole draft on that guy, but only if he ends up doing real Jonathan Ogden-type work for us.

2. A world-class quarterback. Please please please please please please please get us a word-class quarterback. Please draft and develop him for the duration of our team’s imminent success. Please do not pick up a guy from the scrap heap who may have a couple quality years left. And please don’t hang our hopes on the gonzo play of Tyler Thigpen—while fun to watch, it won’t get us rings.

Finally, the most important item of them all…

1. Respect through the league and the professional football world. Really, it’s about time we got what so many other teams have been privileged to enjoy, a rank of status from which people see us as the class of the profession. While it is definitely our turn in our division—the Broncos, Chargers, and Raiders have all had much more overall success through the past several years than we have—the only way we can get that is not because “it is our turn” but because our commitment to hard work and smart football is felt and shared from water boy to owner. Yes, it’s a cliché, but it sure would be nice to have it.

I just urge you to continue to take pride in your efforts and in achieving that highly respected status for professional football in Kansas City, even if the owner is not where you think he should be in all of this. Clark Hunt is still new to it all, and it'd certainly be great if he becomes a truly class owner in the mold of an Art Rooney or Wellington Mara. No matter what happens, we are hoping you will take the baton and do what you know you do best.

Chiefs fans will be looking forward to 2009 with eager anticipation. Thank you for joining our team!

With greatest respect,

A Chiefs fan
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