My NFL Draft Wish List

As most folks know, baseball is my primary form of sports fan psychosis. Being a Red Sox fan these days, I get a lot of flak from people who think I’m one of those bandwagon fans. It was really almost better before 2004… at least then the only people dumb enough to jump on a bandwagon were those with some sort of self-loathing complex. The only thing worse than being called a bandwagon fan is having to actually talk to one of them. My stock test for anyone I meet wearing any sort of Red Sox paraphenalia or claiming to be a Sox fan is to name 4 members of the Red Sox starting lineup from 1999. This quickly seperates the wheat from the shaff. Now, to my point: anyone who knows me knows that I can’t possibly be a bandwagon fan because of the simple fact that my NFL alligance lies with the Kansas City Chiefs.

It’s a sad lowly existance, to be honest. When your interest in the NFL season ends before your baseball team is done playing, you know things are rough. As a Chiefs fan, the highlight of my NFL season is typically those couple months leading up to the NFL Draft. Baseball ends, the Chiefs are invariably only contending for a high draft pick, and I turn my attention to the promise of that mid-April weekend.

In the Carl Peterson era, it was sort of a bittersweet enthusiasm. You knew that the draft was coming, but you also knew that there was about an 85% chance he would draft a bunch of louts who would be ot of the league in three years, and a 100% chance that his first round pick wouldn’t get signed until about week 2, efffectivy rendering his rookie season utterly lost.

As a Red Sox fan I saw my fellow fans bask in the Patriots franchise turnaround. They went from the kicking post of the league, to a slight resurgance under The Tuna, back to kicking posts, and then to the model NFL franchise. It was hard. I had to resist the urge to jump ship on many occasions. But I didn’t want to be one of THOSE. So I endured.

It was with great excitement that I read the news of King Carl’s ouster from The Hunt Palace, and even greater excitement that I read that Pats guru Scott Pioli would be given the reigns of my beleaguered franchise. Then they added Cards OC Todd Haley as the head coach and I was rejuvenated… then came the 2009 draft. A draft that left me feeling every bit as kicked in the junk as so many Carl Peterson drafts before them. But I was determined to give Pioli and Haley the benefit of the doubt.

One year later and one more NFL season in which the only thing keeping me watching football beyond week three being my fantasy football team, I find myself in the same spot. The Chiefs have re-energized me, for the offseason at least, with the addition of Charlie Wiess as offensive coordinator and Romeo Crennel as defensive coordinator. The Patrioits of the AFC West are continuing to take shape.

So once again I find myself cautiously optimistic that the Chiefs will find someone, anyone, worthwhile in yet another NFL Draft.

So, without further adiu, I give you my 2010 Wish List for the Chiefs this NFL Draft.

1st Round (#5 overall)
S – Eric Berry, TEN or
OT – Russell Okung, OKL ST

Both the secondary and offensive line has been downright porous the past few years. It’s especially hard watching this having grown up watching teams built on a strong defense and offensive line (nevermind those teams had worse passing attacks than the Timbuktu Fighting Hellen Kellers). In Eric Berry the Chiefs find themselves falling into the perfect storm of being able to select the best defensive player in the draft (outside of the two big DTs) and filling a major position of need. Both starting safeties from last season should be replaced and how better to start on that path than to select a guy often compared to Ed Reed? If Okung is somehow still there, he should probably be the pick. He also fills a position of need and is the most complete and NFL-ready tackle in the draft, giving KC a nice bookend tandem along with Branden Albert.

2nd Round (#36 overall)
WR – Golden Tate, ND

The Chiefs need to determine whether or not Matt Cassel is the answer at QB sooner rather than later. In order to find out, they need to surround him with weapons in the passing game. In Golden Tate, the Chiefs not only nab one of the slickest names in the draft, but also score a proven producer in a pro-style offense. And of course it doesn’t hurt tha the pro-style offense in which he produced was the one run by new Chiefs OC Charlie Wies. Along with Dwayne Bowe and Chris Chambers, Tate would give the Chiefs an excellent receiving corps to pair with their two-headed running game of Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones.

2nd Round (#50 overall, from ATL)
Trade for Ravens T Jared Gaither
TE – Rob Gronkowski, Arizona

If Okung is off the board when the Chiefs select at #5 then they should seriously consider sending their second selection in the second round to Baltimore in exchange for restricted free agent tackle Jared Gaither. Gaither is still young and is proven at the NFL level, a rare find for just the second round pick the Ravens are said to be seeking. Truth be told I would rather see KC opt for Berry and go this route to shore up the tackle poition even if Okung is available at #5. Should a trade not be able to be worked out with the Ravens, the options at tackle are pretty slim here. The Chiefs should instead switch gears and grab high-ceiling TE Rob Gronkowski. Gronkowski missed most of 2009 with a back injury, but if healthy he is a complete four-down tight end. The Chiefs leading TE last season was journeyman Sean Ryan who has since signed elsewhere. The options left on the roster won’t make Chiefs fans Roget about Tony Gonzalez any time soon.

3rd Round (#68 overall)
LB – Brandon Spikes, FLA

The Chiefs linebacking corps has vastly underproduced for their talent level for the past several years. Former top pick Derrick Johnson has been a dissapointment, last season’s finale against Denver not withstanding. Furthermore, none of the linebackers on the roster really fit the Chiefs new 3-4 defensive scheme. At one point, Spikes was considered a first round talent. He has a high motor, an aggressive nose for the ball and an NFL pedigree (his cousin is long-time NFL linebacker Takeo Spikes). The Chiefs defense needs playmakers and in this scenarios the Chiefs have added two ball hawks on Spikes and Berry by the end of the second day.

4th Round (#102 overall)
S – Myron Rolle, FSU

We’ve already mentioned the Chiefs need to upgrade both starting safeties. In Berry they’ve added a big time playmaker and with this addition of FSU star and Rhodes Scholar Myron Rolle the Chiefs add a leadership-type guy to a secondary in dire need of it. Rolle has seen his stock plummet due to the absurd notion that he’s too smart… yes, it is as absurd as it sounds. Rolle is a charecter guy, a leadership guy, and fills yet another position of need in this draft for KC. Selecting him isn’t rocket science.

5th Round (#136 overall)
QB – John Skelton, Fordham

Kansas City doenst have much in the way of projectable quarterbacks should Cassel either get injured or proove to not be “The Guy.” Croyle has shown an inability to stay healthy and beyond him the outlook is bleak after the trade of 2008 fantasy star Tyler Thigpen to the Dolphins last year. Skelton is a guy that may not be available this late. He comes from a small school, but he has the cannon arm and the size (he’s 6’6″) scouts and coaches love and he has shown ball protection awareness and accuracy throughout his colligiate career. I would love to see Wies get the chance to develop him.

5th Round (#142 overall, from MIA)
LB – Mike McLaughlin, Boston College

McLaughlin is a player who could come in and help right away on special teams and potentially challenge for a spot in a weak LB corps. He had a productive career at Boston College and has shown a pretty good knack for being around the ball. Cornerback and defensive tackle are also options here.

5th Round (#144 overall, from CAR)
OT – Vladimir Ducasse, Mass.

Should the Chiefs miss out on Okung and Gaither, you would think they will have to address OT here in some manner. The Chiefs don’t have a sixth or seventh round pick so they need to fill posiitional need here. Ducasse is big and he’s still learning the position. If the Chiefs nabbed a tackle earlier they should look for a DT that fits their 3-4 scheme.

Years of Chiefs drafts should have taught me not to get my hopes up, but like Charlie Brown lining up to kick the field goal I keep thinking maybe this time will be different. Maybe this time we don’t end up flat on our backs after the draft, staring up at the sky wondering how we could have been so foolish. The next three days will tell, yet somehow I think after all is said and done this weekend I’ll be left once again with nothing but a bruised tailbone and the hope for an extended Red Sox season.