Tuesday, May 02, 2017

The 2017 Season Foremath (or, if you must, The Draft Aftermath)

It's easy to progress through the Chiefs draft ramifications with a post titled "The Draft Aftermath", but really, since this blog enterprise is only about game day activities, it really should be "The Season Foremath". It could even be "The Draft Foremath" because what transpired for the Kansas City Chiefs over the course of the draft was already established.

Long before last week's developments, Clark Hunt got serious about Chiefs winning by plugging in John Dorsey and Andy Reid to run things.

Those two in turn have been fastidiously building a stout, reputable organization of winning professional football in a number of ways. It has paid off with four straight winning seasons and a roster that is considered one of the deepest in the game. This has enabled Dorsey and Company to prosecute this draft like no other Chiefs brain trust ever has. A plethora of draft picks were deftly parlayed into higher picks to get stronger talent available at the top.

Now I didn't watch any of it, I never do. Again, I can't handle listening to the television commentators speak about how splendid some guy taken by another team is going to be, and then speak about how neato our guy is going to be, getting our hopes all up and later discovering he's a bust. Percy Snow, anybody?

But that was then, this is now.

John Dorsey knows what he's got, both in his coaching staff and in his own ability to find guys who can play. And while I didn't watch any of it or volitionally look at any of it except for a few peeks at Patrick Mahomes -- I couldn't help it! -- my radar picked up some and my friends and family told me about some.

Here's who I know we got, in the order of being drafted. Sorry, I don't know names, except for that first guy. A couple of them I saw were delightfully unusual, but let's just say I'm looking forward to them becoming households names, then all of us can really know them. And sorry, I don't even know who else we may have gotten last week, not even sure we had any other picks left after these guys. But these guys alone are just fine. So yeah, here they are.

QB, DE, RB, WR, LB.

That first one is that Texas Tech guy my brother said we should avoid, but I had to peek at what they said is so great about him. (Hey, a Chiefs quarterback first-round pick, yowza!) Great arm, great mobility, great confidence. Thing is aside from any of the other things that may be not-so-good, the big question is is he a good decision-maker? That's the most important thing of all, and every Chiefs fan is eager to see what Reid can do with him and trust that John did enough of his homework to trade up to No. 10 overall to get him.

Whatever the case, I trust John. Don't give a rip about the expense (a 3rd this year and our ::gulp:: No. 1 next year), if this guy will take us to the promised land this deal was pretty cheap actually.

I think I saw that the DE is 6'7", something like that? To firm up the D-line with a pick that high -- I like it. (Update: my brother just texted me saying he saw this guy play in person when Villanova played his team, James Madison. Said he was freakishly athletic. We'll take it.)

We traded up to get the running back too, and I've been getting the idea running backs are too costly in the first couple rounds, but are at a premium there in the 3rd. If this rule holds, we scored big here too. The WR we got had a terrific year in 2015 but not in 2016 -- those guys can be real finds because I'd always heard if you can see a guy do something amazing once he can do it again. A work colleague told me about this LB -- he said he is a big, fast, phenomenally relentless guy who comes from a small college, a factor that may have scared away other takers.

I don't know about you, but John and these five guys, all of them not only solid but filling needs -- add them to the team we already have -- I'm great with that.

I was also informed a little while ago that the Chiefs open the NFL season against the Patriots in Foxboro on national television, Thursday Night Football. I'd been told that we should be afraid, be very afraid. Eh, no doubt the Patriots are a historically great team, but I really like John and Andy.

And that we're picked to play in the inaugural showcase game of the season, against the Super Bowl champs? Some people must be noticing too.

There is no question every Chiefs fan is thrilled beyond ecstasy that a Chiefs GM would actually have not only the ferocious ganas to trade up so brazenly on draft days, but to back it up with a record of getting the best players in the draft and outside of it.

All of the culminates in another of the most important items in "The Season Foremath". I happened to catch that getting Mahomes to run the offense over the course of the next several years may be a major indicator that Dorsey and Reid are here to stay for a while.

Oh that that would happen.

That means this not only comprises "The Season Foremath", but the "The Chiefs Dynasty Foremath".

I can't wait until September 7th.
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