How Early is "Too Early?:" John Dorsey Does Not Receive Passing Grade

Before I'm accused of pressing the panic prematurely, I'll point out that I did predict the Kansas City Chiefs to go 5-11 in 2014 season, and I was also critical of the decision to trade for Alex Smith and give him a contract extension.

John Dorsey has been a disappointment in the front office for the Chiefs.

Kansas City has gone 11-7 in his tenure as general manager (counting the playoffs), but you'd be hard pressed to find a weaker 11-7 team in recent NFL history.  Dorsey significantly turned over the roster following a 2-14 2012 season under his predecessor, Scott Pioli, but has missed the boat on several key roster moves.

It all begins with the acquisition of QB Alex Smith.  The news of the trade for Smith from San Fransisco made me happy until I heard that Dorsey foolishly parted with two 2nd-round draft choices.  I couldn't, and still can't, conceive of giving up more than 3rd round pick for a middle-of-the-pack, game manager at quarterback.  See Smith's career advanced passing statistics on Pro-Football-Reference.com (100 is considered league average):

Year	Age	Tm	GS	QBrec	Att	Y/A+	NY/A+	AY/A+	ANY/A+	Cmp%+	TD%+	Int%+	Sack%+	Rate+
2005	21	SFO	7	2-5-0	165	72	60	53	49	71	60	40	47	49
2006	22	SFO	16	7-9-0	442	94	94	92	92	93	96	92	94	92
2007	23	SFO	7	2-5-0	193	56	59	69	69	57	66	115	88	66
2009	25	SFO	10	5-5-0	372	88	90	92	93	98	109	96	103	98
2010	26	SFO	10	3-7-0	342	98	98	98	98	97	98	101	95	98
2011	27	SFO	16	13-3-0	445	99	93	108	104	103	95	128	77	108
2012	28	SFO	9	6-2-1	218	117	107	117	111	133	118	108	71	123
2013*	29	KAN	15	11-4-0	508	91	92	100	100	98	102	112	95	103
Career			91	49-41-1	2720	92	90	95	93	96	96	103	87	96

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 9/8/2014.

Smith is not worth the price paid by the Chiefs in terms of draft compensation, but Dorsey compounded the mistake this offseason by signing Smith to a 4-year, $68 million extension.  That's a lot of draft picks and a lot of money for a guy Pro-Football-Reference compares most similarly to guys like Brad Johnson, Jeff George, Jim Harbaugh, and Chad Pennington.

Dorsey had the number one overall pick in the draft in 2013 and settled on tackle Eric Fisher, who was so awful as a rookie he was demoted to the second team late last season and didn't play in the playoff loss to the Colts.  Fisher had a poor training camp but was handed the starting left tackle position after Dorsey allowed incumbent Branden Albert to depart via free agency and Donald Stephenson was suspended for a PED violation.  No team can afford to miss on the number one overall pick, but it was especially important for Dorsey to hit on it because of the general feeling that the Chief's veteran defense and stud RB gave them a legitimate Super Bowl window in the short-term.

The rest of Dorsey's draft picks are having a difficult time seeing the field.  Travis Kelce and Sanders Commings in particular have been injured, and this year's first round choice, Dee Ford, the LB from Auburn is quite obviously a pick made for next year's team, since those in the know predict Tamba Hali will be a salary cap casualty following this year.  Dorsey drafted another quarterback in the fifth round this year.  To say this is a head scratcher is a severe understatement.  Did Dorsey think that 3rd string QB was a more pressing need than wide receiver?

After Donnie Avery's uninspiring 2013 campaign I figured it was a foregone conclusion that he'd be released and replaced for his year.  It wasn't until training camp in July that I discovered he was still on the roster, and I couldn't believe my ears when I heard, just a few weeks ago, that he would be starting Week 1 for the Chiefs in 2014.  Donnie Avery ought to be in street clothes; he's a fourth or fifth wideout on a playoff team.

WR, along with Safety and Tight End, were three of the most desirable positions for Dorsey to upgrade heading into 2014, and Dorsey failed to draft ANY of them back in April.  That is damn near a fireable offense right there!  How could Dorsey release Brandon Flowers, the team's best cornerback and 2013 Pro Bowler, and expect the combination of Sean Smith, a disappointing veteran free agent signing of Dorsey's last year; Marcus Cooper, a 7th-round pick claimed off waivers who was burned ad nauseum in the second half of last year; and Phillip Gaines, a rookie 3rd round pick to replace him?  How could Dorsey possibly count on Avery and Junior Hemmingway to magically improve the team's WR corps?

Besides losing the aforementioned Pro Bowl players Albert and Flowers, the Chiefs also lost key contributors like DE Tyson Jackson, G Geoff Schwartz, and punt returner Dexter McCluster.  Dorsey made no apparent attempt to replace them.  Safety Kendrick Lewis, like Cooper, played horribly later last season, and left, but Dorsey failed to draft or sign a free agent safety.

After one week, it didn't appear that Dorsey's decision to cut kicker Ryan Succop in favor of an undrafted rookie was a good one, either.

The Titans were one of the five wins I had chalked up for the Chiefs this year, so I'll have to revise my prediction to 4-12, however, now that stud MLB Derrick Johnson is lost for the season, I'm left with no choice but to revise again to 3-13.

I'm getting sick of rooting for the Chiefs to tank for draft position, but that's exactly what I'm left to do for the remainder of this year.

Worse yet, I'm seriously questioning whether I want John Dorsey to make that pick in 2015.

Follow me on Twitter: @JimScheffres

Roger Goodell is Ruining the NFL for Me

It's not so much that I don't want domestic violence cases to result in a six game suspension, it's just that Roger Goodell seems to make up the rules as he goes along.

One summer a few years ago I was playing some drinking games at a friend's house and he was teaching me how to play beer pong.  As the night went on, several different circumstances arose and my friend remembered that those circumstances had corresponding rules that changed the outlook of the game.  To an inexperienced player like me, it was frustrating to go from jubilation to frustration after a big play was wiped by a rule I didn't know existed; and I couldn't help but wonder how many opportunities I missed earlier in night to take advantage of the rule if I had known about it then.

I applaud Goodell's open mind and willingness to adapt as the game evolves, but he is a hypocrite, too.

Goodell's modern NFL preaches safety.  He is known to make public appearances denouncing helmet-to-helmet hits and raising concussion awareness in youth football.  If Roger Goodell truly cared about the well-being of NFL players, then Wes Welker, who sustained his third concussion in the last 9 months during the Broncos' last pre-season game vs the Texans, would be forced to retire, and the Redskins' safety Brandon Meriweather, who has been flagged six times for illegal contact to a player's head, would be banned permanently from the NFL.

Meriweather is among the dirtiest players in recent NFL history.  He has no self-control, and is apathetic to the injuries he causes.  But after hitting the Bear's Brandon Marshall last year and seeing his two-game suspension reduced to one game, Meriweather raised some interesting points.

"I guess I just got to take people's knees out.  That's the only way. I would hate to end a guy's career over a rule, but I guess it's better other people than me getting suspended for longer.  You just have to go low now, man. You've got to end people's careers. You got to tear people's ACLs and mess up people's knees. You can't hit them high anymore," Meriweather said.  He's a menace, willing and able to blow out opponent's ACLs or deal life threatening hits to their heads.

"[Marshall] feels like I need to be kicked out of the league. I feel like people who beat their girlfriends should be kicked out of the league, too. ... You tell me who you'd rather have? Someone who plays aggressive on the field or someone who beat up their girlfriend," Meriweather asked.  Ahem, the ball is in your court, Mr. Goodell.  You have, apparently, answered Meriweather's question.  A second offense for hitting a domestic partner results in a lifetime NFL ban, but six illegal hits to the head followed by threats to intentionally take out player's knees is only a two-game suspension.  Goodell speaks about player safety, but his actions don't demonstrate it.  Goodell wants to lengthen the NFL regular season by at least two games; the Player's Association is against this move because of the rigorous dangers that comes with playing two extra games each year.  It seems that when the NFL has a chance to make more money, player safety doesn't matter.

This is further demonstrated by Goodell's insistence of getting every team on primetime TV by adding extra Thursday night games last season.  How is playing two football games in five days in any
way safe?

And, to be honest, I'm sick of the lip service paid to player safety.  I don't want to see a 15-yard personal foul called when a defensive end's thumb inadvertently grazes a quarterback's facemask.  I'm all for flagging the flagrant hits to a defensive player's head, but Goodell's rules have changed the game in a way that I just can't stand anymore.  Each and every Sunday we watch as the course and outcomes of games and seasons change because of ticky-tack personal fouls.  Listen to broadcasters and sports writers talk on television and on radio as they ask "Does anybody know what an illegal hit is anymore?"

I sure don't.  The rules are subjective and undefinable.  They are strict and mostly unnecessary.

And here's where my biggest concern is heading into the 2014 regular season:  Goodell is now interested in putting the clamps on defensive holding and illegal contact.  I had a hard time writing that sentence without getting nauseous.  Why?  Because, according to the Washington Post, in the entire 65-game pre-season in 2013 there were 38 defensive holding and 18 illegal contact penalties.   Through the first 49 pre-season games of 2014, there were 146 defensive holding flags and 84 for illegal contact!  If this trend continues into the regular season, it's going to result in 4-hour football games that end in 48-40 scores where play is stopped every few seconds so officials can pick up yellow laundry and announce penalties.

Roger Goodell has made watching football somewhat of a chore.  I'm not willing to go so far as to say I'm not going to watch games any longer, but I'm definitely going to watch a lot fewer games than I have in the past.  At one time, I could sit at watch two awful teams play on Thursday or Sunday night just because it was the NFL.  Now, I just don't have any interest in football unless the game is meaningful.  These preposterous rules and asinine hypocrisies have ruined what used to be my favorite sport.

Follow me on Twitter: @JimScheffres