Chiefs 2019 Preview - Part V

Just a couple days ago I got to write another happy blog post about our delightfully positive Chiefs future.

Now I've got to get a bit more into the therapy. I don't feel real good about what I'd been hearing about this Tyreek Hill situation. My work colleague who knows I like the Chiefs came in and told me yesterday that official government people said they didn't have enough to do anything to Tyreek for child abuse. ::Whew:: breathe a sigh of relief.

I didn't know anything about this announcement because as you know I go out of my way to avoid looking at too much Chiefs stuff -- it is just too gut wrenching far too often. Even the Frank Clark acquisition had me feeling that euphoria two days ago, yet yesterday feeling a bit of dejection thinking about when we picked up Chester McGlockton in 1998 after a 13-3 season. I thought "We're going to go undefeated now!" Sure enough we started out splendidly, then slammed into a wall. ::Sigh:: endure more ponderment. Yeah, this year feels different, but I know I can't get too excited. This is the NFL. Right now they're all drafting, building their teams for the future, and the Chiefs haven't got a 1st round pick.

Anyway, after hearing this fine Tyreek Hill quasi-exoneration news, I peeked around today at bit at Chiefs stuff and saw that some television station released a recorded phone conversation between Tyreek and his girl (wife? fiancee?) -- the mother of his 3-year-old boy. The conversation is not flattering, full of vulgarities and vitriol about what happened to the boy and what kind of discipline is or isn't employed.

Apparently the investigators couldn't charge anyone with a crime because they just weren't sure whether Tyreek or his girl did wrong here. Thing is, here we go again with the TMZ-like news organization splashing the "evidence" in everyone's faces so Tyreek may be found guilty in the court of public opinion. It is ugly, just ugly.

I honestly don't think he is long for the Chiefs. I really hope I'm wrong and this is different, but I really feel we're watching yet another Kareem Hunt episode unfold before us, yet again putting the hurt on our team. And yet again I wonder: if what Tyreek Hill was so bad that he's dismissed from the team, will it be so bad that he shouldn't be in pro football again? If so that's perfectly just. Legitimate child abusers should be in prison. Or if what he did isn't so bad, or merely that he can't justifiably be prosecuted even if he's not looking so great here, why can't he just be cool on the Chiefs without all the horrific aspersions blasted from these TMZ operations?

Instead I still wonder: will all this result in yet another fine player being dismissed from the team, then being suspended for a few games by the NFL, then being allowed to sign with some other team? This is what is so unjust. This is just part of the stultifying aggravation the Chiefs Kingdom has all the time with the NFL and whatever other powers that make these kinds of things happen.

The ironically crazy thing is that another bit of nifty Chiefs news came out just now: Patrick Mahomes is the newest coverboy of Madden. This is not surprising, but everyone is naturally thinking about how jinxable that honor is. I don't believe any of that hokum. I do however know how much the NFL et al do do things that derail sustained Chiefs success. I've written tons about it. And I'm not just picking on the NFL. I pick on the Chiefs themselves just as much, or any guilty party even if it's Tyreek, or Kareem, or even Clark.

In fact, just one more thing -- we do pick in the 2nd round tomorrow. I've heard whispers that we're going after one of those fine wide receivers that I'm told could easily drop into our laps. I can't say I don't wonder about why exactly they'd be considering doing that. Hmm.

The extraordinarily extended Chiefs 2019 Preview -- just so much to get into this year.
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Chiefs 2019 Preview - Part IV

Brett Veach is again making major waves in the Chiefs Kingdom. You can't help but love this guy.

We were stuck there at Pick No. 29 in this year's draft, and what little I've seen it's all, "Will that guy still be there? With this other guy still be there?" Veach has done his due diligence with free agency, picking up critical components of a revamped defense so he's free to take the best player available. Awesome stuff.

Well, today, two days before the first day of the draft, Veach went ahead and snatched the best player available. He traded that No. 1 pick and next year's No. 2 to the Seahawks for standout defensive end Frank Clark.

One of the reasons people have criticized the move is that Clark has a history. Oh wow, is this touchy, what with the Kareem Hunt affair and the still unresolved Tyreek Hill situation. There is so much to all of this, but here's how I look at it.

I look at what Al Davis did. Yes, the reviled Oakland Raiders Al Davis. I'm not even saying any of these Chiefs players are bad in some way, simply because I don't know them -- I'm only hearing it from others. But when Al Davis was in his prime, you know, late 70s, early 80s, he found diamonds in the rough who were, well, very rough. Many Raiders players had reputations, and not as choir boys.

But they were the fiercest competitors who played for a team that embraced them.

And they won three Super Bowls from 1976 to 1983.

I'm all for the Chiefs organization being so respected from top to bottom that supposed rebels can find home and family here. I'm thrilled like crazy to see Brett Veach doing the Al Davis thing, welcoming these guys into the glory of a fine organization and sharing with them how meaningful Kingdom pride is.

I know many are worried we're not going to get that first-round cornerback we need. Eh. I kind of like what we've got in Kendall Fuller, Bashaud Breeland, and Charvarius Ward. We've been retooling that front four to mold new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo's 4-3 and make those D-backs' jobs a bit easier.

Not to mention, please, let's give our new kids, now with some fine experience under their belts, a chance to shine. Derrick Nnadi worked his way into a starter last year. Armani Watts was playing somewhat regularly before he was hurt. Dorian O'Daniel showed amazing skill on a number of stops. And nothing has shown that Breeland Speaks can't continue to improve and ultimately be a real gamer.

It was imperative this off-season that Veach do some major, and we all know, major retooling -- this defense will look nothing like it did last year.

The Frank Clark acquisition means yet another extended preview post for a team that Brett Veach at least believes can win it all this year. It is all extraordinarily fun right now, that is for sure.
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