Brain Fertilizer

I feel confident in Mitchell. As you mentioned, he is a legit, number one wide out.
But it seems we have another problem on our hands. Julian Battle suffered a torn achilles heel today. An MRI is slated for Sunday but DV did not sound optimistic about his availability to the team in the near future. So, dare I mention the two words that I have maintained my refusal to acknowlede, Ty Law.
Warfield will more than likely face at least a two game suspension, probably four. We have been grooming Wesley for his absence with the first string and he is progressing nicely, but my concern now is depth at corner for the first quarter of the season. We cannot start out like last season. If we do we may be lucky to end up 8-8, imo.
Law has suffered a much more serious injury to his foot than most people realize. In fact many speculate that he may not play this year, and possibly never again.

My question is, how serious are we with Law? This afternnon it was reported that the Chiefs have contacted Laws agent (Poston?) to schedule another meeting early this next week.

Can we afford him?
Will he play this year?
Will he require a second surgery for this lesnacic (or whatever) fracture?
Is Law just looking for a confortable retirement plan, and the team that signs him to a big fact contract take it in the shorts?

I have my doubts with Ty Law, as you can probably tell.

Speaking with a Chiefs official at mini-camp on Saturday, Kansas City has been in contact with Law and are hoping to have him in town as early as next week.

wow! every thing both of you guys said is completely true. finally i have found some people in KC that totally understand the KC Chiefs. but vermiel had said julian battle was most likely to be the starter for the season. that really suprised me. but its obvious battle has been practicing and trying hard to become the starter and for an injury like this that could possibly be serious, its not a good thing at all. i couldnt tell if it was a serious injury or not, but i could tell that coach vermiel was very upset about it. and as far as Ty Law goes, it would be great if Kansas city could get him, but i dont feel that they have enough money to get him. i think they just spent the last of it on freddie mitchell. but know doubt about it if eric warfield,dexter mcleon,and benny sapp cant fill in julian battles shoes then they should try to pursue Ty Law. that would mean Superbowl expericence on BOTH sides of the football(freddie mitchell and Ty Law)

Good post Mike. Nathan knows his Chiefs alright.

Back to Hakim for a minute; looks like the Chiefs org may be in hot water for letting him practice the other day. I doesn't make much sense to my why they would be, but:

(article)
Stranger than the fact that receiver Az Hakim spurned the Chiefs in favor of the Saints is the fact that Hakim actually practiced with Kansas City on Wednesday.
Although the quotes and quips flowing from Hakim's presence for the Chiefs' final involuntary voluntary session of the offseason clearly indicated that Hakim was now a member of the team, he hadn't actually signed a contract yet.
So what was he doing on the practice field?
Per a league source, a player who is not under contract cannot practice with the team. The only exception applies where the player participates on a tryout basis, with league approval.
Meanwhile, the Chiefs have replaced Hakim with former Eagles receiver Freddie Mitchell.

Battle out for season:

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/3701946

This is not good for our CB depth department. Should we be looking for a FA CB like Buckley or Beasley? We can't afford Law so thats a waste of breath. Even if we could, I'm leary.
Can we rely on Sapp, Harts, Pile, and Wesley? Will Bartee's transition to safety or nickel be a successful one?
Will Wesleys transition to corner be a successful one?

I dont really know what to think. This season ending injury to Battle is bad timing.

Well, there's alot about the Chiefs I still don't know, being stuck out here in Hawaii and having to try and figure out anything I can from the bits I glean from the KC Star Online and KCChiefs.com.

For instance, I'm a little confused about discussing Harts, Pile and Wesley in reference to Battle's injury. Those are all safeties. I could see maybe trying Wesley out at CB because he's got decent range...but he's got decent range for a safety, and the last thing I'd heard is that he has the inside track over woods for the starting safety spot opposite Knight.

That's one of the problems of not being in the area and able to go see all the practices myself...Oh, how I wish I knew how to jump into writing full-time! [grin]

To tell the truth, I'd already pretty much written off Battle in my book. Apparently that was premature, as he was finally coming on strong this off-season. The light clicked on, and his tendon snapped. That does suck.

But we can hope that Warfield gets a light sentence and misses only two or zero games...

But whether he's out for two or four, his absence highlights that we're only an injury away from being in that boat for the rest of the season.

Here's what I think (keeping in mind that I haven't seen any of the practices):
McLeon had more than a season of success at CB. Bartee has had a few good games at CB. Benny Sapp didn't make any glaring errors that I saw when he came in as the nickel or dime last season, and he's got another off-season in the system.

Bartee: covers fine, hits fine. Weakness: defending the actual ball.
McLeon: A little slow, but smart enough to be in position. Biggest weakness: short, combined with slowness makes him a target.
Sapp: short, inexperienced. But he's got good instincts. Again, makes a good target if you've got experienced WRs and a good QB.

Obviously, none is the long-term answer. But it seems to me that all could perform adequately in the short-term (i.e. 2 games).

Furthermore, despite being nearly the worst in the league in passing yards allowed over the last few seasons, the problem wasn't really the cornerbacks. It was that the front seven couldn't get much pressure on the opposing QB, and the front seven couldn't shut down the run well enough to minimize the effect of run-fakes. And then Woods started allowing plays that a decent safety should stop (going for the ball instead of the tackle) and the play from the safeties alone lost two games for us (the Saints and the Texans, as I remember it).
So improved play from the safety position, the LBs, and the DL should help protect our CBs.

And that's not even including Alphonso Hodge, who has been doing quite well, from what I've heard. Even in college, he was a good shut-down corner. He didn't get drafted because he didn't make interceptions and was a little weak in run support and maybe too many teams were afraid he couldn't make the transition to the NFL. But reports from the OTAs were he succeeded at everything the coaches asked him to do, and was impressing people with his body control, speed, and fluidity. If he can shut down his player, who cares if he doesn't get interceptions? If the front seven can tackle securely, it doesn't matter if he shies away from contact. If he gets a chance to start two games, there's always the chance he performs well enough that Warfield doesn't get his spot back.

Bottom Line: while you always want a player of Warfield's talent in the game, the improved front 7, more players that fit Gunther's scheme, another year in Gunther's system, and a rotation of existing CBs of near-starter level (Hodge, Bartee, McLeon, and Sapp) should be enough to get it done until Warfield gets back, without having to sign another CB.
I still would prefer a starter-quality DT, myself.