Originally Posted by Direckshun:
Not by himself. You're going to need several things to work out.
You're going to need Blythe to be an improvement, you're going to need Long or LDT to be strong at RG, and you're going to need to have whoever your RT to play up to expectations.
Assuming you have those things, then replacing your replacement-level LT with Eric Fisher as close to 100% as possible will elevate the line's performance.
If Veach honestly believed that, he never would've cut Eric Fisher.
If Veach didn't believe Blythe was an improvement, he would've re-signed Reiter. If Veach didn't think Long was an improvement, he wouldn't have signed him.
And again, it's April 1st and being in a panic with your panties all in a wad is stupid. [Reply]
Originally Posted by The Franchise:
Regarding Reiter: Pretty easy to not give up any sacks when your QB has to bail the pocket after 2 seconds and roll out.
It's like someone else said, if Alex Smith had been the Qb for the last 3 seasons, Reiter would've given up double digit sacks. [Reply]
Remember a year or two ago when Direckshun said we'd have one of the worst secondaries in football, and we ended up having one of the best? Pepperidge Farm remembers. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Direckshun:
We wasted the first three days of FA in suspended animation because our intel was wrong on Trent Williams.
Which was problematic to begin with: our actual offseason plan involves dumping a LT we literally went 26-1 with in order to try to outbid a half dozen other teams on the hottest free agent in the NFL — which we misjudged anyway.
We dropped the largest guard contract in league history for a really great guard. And we entered the offseason with gigantic holes at LT, WR, and DE. And we’re pretty much going to end up there.
It’s hard to imagine the long term ramifications of how dogshit this offseason has been. We cannot resteucture Mahomes, Kelce, or Jones every offseason. And we did it this year for mild returns at best.
And 2022 is going to be extraordinarily rough, as well. We had some tough holes to fill this offseason, and we failed to fill any of them, unless Veach has the best draft of his GM career. 2022 will offer more cap space, and somehow even more holes.
Literally everything you posted here is incorrect. :-) [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chris Meck: If Veach honestly believed that, he never would've cut Eric Fisher.
If Veach didn't believe Blythe was an improvement, he would've re-signed Reiter. If Veach didn't think Long was an improvement, he wouldn't have signed him.
And again, it's April 1st and being in a panic with your panties all in a wad is stupid.
Do you think Veach knows he can get Fisher once the dust settles? [Reply]
Originally Posted by Chris Meck:
Listen, you're going to have to square yourself with the realization that there is no Pro Bowl caliber LT that the Chiefs could possibly sign/draft for 2021. There was ONE available, and he chose to stay put in San Francisco for a Brinks truck full of money.
That was it. ONE. Not Fisher; Not anyone else could you just pencil in as a Pro Bowl caliber LT on day one of 2021. So that was just not going to happen. Expecting Fisher to just pop back into the lineup 8 or 9 months after tearing his achilles and playing at a 'Pro Bowl Level' is absolutely fantasy.
Your personal view on the film you've seen on Blythe being on par with Reiter is horseshit. Reiter fucking sucks. Blythe does not. Mahomes being elusive in the pocket has made Reiter's PFF stats look rosy but the fact of the matter is the guy is not a starting quality center in the NFL. Horrible run blocker, maybe kind of adequate pass blocker. He sucks. Blythe is an upgrade.
And you may not be sure that Long starts week one, but if he's healthy (and I doubt they'd sign him if he wasn't) he's absolutely starting week one and the fact that you don't think so tells me you have no idea whatsoever what you're talking about.
I think the deeper issue, the one that isn't about this or that decision of the past couple weeks, is a long gnawing that o-line isn't a 'cross that bridge' situation.
We have this legacy as Chiefs fans to heap derision on stockpiling fatties.
But teams don't stockpile fatties because they think the fatties themselves win the game, no matter how bad the rest of the team is. They stockpile because if the fatties fail nobody is good enough to cover the shitpile in the middle of the scrum.
O-line isn't like a movie montage where Captain America assembles the team and mumbles a few words of encouragement and strategy and everyone executes to perfection. It's more like a stew or sourdough starter. You have to monitor and maintain it vigilantly. [Reply]
Don’t overreact. Veach is playing poker here and negotiating strongly at the perfect time. The cap is lower and many if not most teams are already having cap problems. The market for many of these players is lower than in most years. I don’t believe that veach has burned any bridges and has asked for an opportunity to match or beat any deal offered to fisher, just like what San Fran did with silverback, he came back and said sign me or else. And veach is right in this approach. No one is scrambling to sign fisher. As a fan, I sympathize with direckshun, it’s stressful to have this many holes. But lots of free agents are still available. No need to panic. Veach is making the right move and negotiating well by not over paying. And we are in a good position to still sign fisher back if we want for less money than his previous contract. You can’t panic and be a good negotiator. Our line is much better. We have more quality and depth with the moves we’ve made so far assuming we fill LT in free agency.
LT ?
LG thuney
C blythe
RG LDT, Long
RT Niang, Long, Remmers
As for DE and WR, we can address those early the draft and taco has a lot of upside. We need to address DE, WR or CB as priority over LT in the draft and address LT via free agency with a stop gap. We need to win now and addressing LT in the draft is too risky for next year with where we are picking. Get a developmental LT mid to late. Veach can still get all this done. Don’t panic. [Reply]
This approach also allows us to evaluate fishers rehab and not resign him unless he’s showing progress. Keeping him under contract and hoping he gets better was too risky. They made the right move to cut him. And we still have room to sign free agents on cheap one year deals to provide competition to fill holes. Next year the cap will go up and these 1 year signings can hope to cash in and compete for a championship. [Reply]
Originally Posted by Baby Lee:
I think the deeper issue, the one that isn't about this or that decision of the past couple weeks, is a long gnawing that o-line isn't a 'cross that bridge' situation.
We have this legacy as Chiefs fans to heap derision on stockpiling fatties.
But teams don't stockpile fatties because they think the fatties themselves win the game, no matter how bad the rest of the team is. They stockpile because if the fatties fail nobody is good enough to cover the shitpile in the middle of the scrum.
O-line isn't like a movie montage where Captain America assembles the team and mumbles a few words of encouragement and strategy and everyone executes to perfection. It's more like a stew or sourdough starter. You have to monitor and maintain it vigilantly.
No team in the NFL "stockpiles" fatties to the extent this fanbase wants.
Yeah, there's probably bit too little concern over the line right now. But historically, this fanbase has valued RB's and linemen like other teams value QB's and WR's. That's where the "heaps of derision" come from. This fanbase celebrated being also-rans for years, as if a stout defense and strong running game were good enough to win a Super Bowl. The way they played was more important than the results at times.
Thankfully, Mahomes is erasing that slowly but surely. [Reply]
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
No team in the NFL "stockpiles" fatties to the extent this fanbase wants.
Yeah, there's probably bit too little concern over the line right now. But historically, this fanbase has valued RB's and linemen like other teams value QB's and WR's. That's where the "heaps of derision" come from. This fanbase celebrated being also-rans for years, as if a stout defense and strong running game were good enough to win a Super Bowl. The way they played was more important than the results at times.
Thankfully, Mahomes is erasing that slowly but surely.
Remember the angst around here about the TE situation when Tony G went to Atlanta?
Originally Posted by htismaqe:
No team in the NFL "stockpiles" fatties to the extent this fanbase wants.
Yeah, there's probably bit too little concern over the line right now. But historically, this fanbase has valued RB's and linemen like other teams value QB's and WR's. That's where the "heaps of derision" come from. This fanbase celebrated being also-rans for years, as if a stout defense and strong running game were good enough to win a Super Bowl. The way they played was more important than the results at times.
Thankfully, Mahomes is erasing that slowly but surely.
Man, critiquing the positions of others seems delightful, . . . if you get to define their positions for them to begin with. [Reply]
