I did take a moment to peek around the web at some of the things people were saying about it. Indeed some were justifiably upset -- has Clark lost his mind?! -- others offered some reasons why.
The most reasonable among them was something a number of people mentioned, and something I didn't consider but that I did think about a couple of times before. Two particular players stand out as symbols of John Dorsey's dismissal.
Jeremy Maclin and Eric Berry.
Berry was intensely wooed by the Chiefs and for good reason. He's a fine safety and a phenomenal human being who inspired the entire sports world with his courageous battle not only against cancer but for returning and play football for the Kansas City Chiefs. He had a great regular season last year, making a number of game-changing stops and interceptions, all of which showed up on every highlight reel there could be.
Thing is, Dorsey signed him to a whoppingly huge contract extension the length of which goes way beyond the standard playing years of most defensive players -- especially one who has had a major life-threatening illness. Does Berry deserve it? I don't think many would say he's not one of the best defensive players in the game and a model of strength and character. I've always loved Eric Berry. Not many football fans haven't.
But that much money? And, please, I've mentioned this before, Berry has really pretty much been very subpar in the playoffs. He did do well in the Texans playoff game, but against Brian Hoyer. Otherwise, in order: Joe Flacco, Andrew Luck, Tom Brady, and Ben Roethlisberger have all torched Berry. Sure all of those QB's are great and Berry needs his defenders to help around him, but in each one of those games Berry himself was responsible for key breakdowns. We wouldn't have won the Baltimore game, but the Indianapolis, New England, and Pittsburgh games were all close and Berry's failures definitely contributed to those losses.
Jeremy Maclin was also signed for a gargantuan contract and every Chiefs fan was thrilled. And every Chiefs fan thoroughly appreciates everything Maclin did, I mean he did do some amazing things for us on the football field. But let's face it, was he worth that much money? He was injured frequently -- no fault of his, yes, I understand, but even when healthy, was he so much of a game-changer that he was worth that much?
Now I've always been wary of huge signings and free agency, so it is reasonable for someone to think my perspective influenced by looking at things through crap-colored glasses. But you have to remember, we're talking about how much money a Jeremy Maclin is making against how much any other given player is making and what those players are doing on the football field.
Was Maclin doing more than any other given wide receiver getting paid the same or less?
Will Berry do what he's been doing for each of the next six years? And do his expected job well enough to beat the better quarterbacks in the playoffs? -- After all, really, that's what he's getting paid for.
The point is it does look a lot like John Dorsey had too many dollar signs swimming along his retina.
The counterargument, and it is a good one, is ya gotta pay to win. Dorsey was simply thinking in terms of getting winning players on the field and realizing you've got to pay them -- we needed Jeremy Maclin at the time and he took care of business. That was a very very good thing.
The problem with that is that there is a salary cap, and the reason everyone is saying "Dorsey didn't manage the cap well." And it wasn't just Maclin or Berry, though those are the most glaring examples. This is one of those nuanced aspects of general manager leadership, how do you convince a player to play for money that is just right for him, enough to keep him as a key component of your team?
Fortunately John had drafted phenomenally well. It'd be nice to see a Demarcus Robinson step in a fill Maclin's shoes. But then, this brings up a thought I had since seeing all this come down yesterday.
At the same exact time of the Dorsey firing, Andy Reid got a nice contract extension. How about that -- contract extension for Andy, pink slip for John. I'm wondering. Could it be true that the makeup of the Chiefs team is more Reid than Dorsey?
Could it be that Clark knew the team was mostly Reid's handiwork and not Dorsey's? Could it be?
I don't know, and I'm just not going to look around the web to see what some are saying to find out. Thing is, it'll all come out over the next several years. Will we all, Chiefs players especially, fully understand the reasons behind it and be on board with Chiefs success because Clark did actually do the right thing? That'll come from what we see on the field, ultimately.
You know, a few posts ago when I was pondering Chiefs blessings, I remarked about how John Dorsey was rumored to be cleaning house, and how good that made me feel. Let's get some people in there who will actually win the playoff games we should be winning!
Sure enough, the first major casualty of this semi-quasi-house-cleaning was John Dorsey himself.
Again, to switch to the rose-tinted glasses with frames inlaid with little Super Bowl trophies, let's hope we can get that general manager who can do the nuanced thing, the most important of which is to put players on the field who will pull out those clutch playoff wins.
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