Accountability: Quotes From Bob Karmelowicz
Tell me this doesn't burn you up? Are they (Chiefs) serious? Can this type of draft mismanagement actually be occurring?!
A former Chiefs assistant on Saturday accused the organization of ignoring “red flags” that could’ve prevented the draft busts that led to the team’s current talent shortage at defensive tackle.
Bob Karmelowicz, a Chiefs assistant during 1997-05, said he sensed the team was making a mistake by using such high draft picks on the players — particularly Freeman and Siavii.
“Junior and Eddie were both good kids,” said Karmelowicz, who worked with the defensive line. “But they had social issues. They were too high-maintenance. You can’t take ‘projects’ in the second round. It shouldn’t have happened.”
Karmelowicz said Siavii’s line coach at Oregon, Steve Greatwood, was a former assistant for the St. Louis Rams and was friends with then-Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil.
“Dick fell in love with the kid and the recommendation,” Karmelowicz said. “He had had some serious drinking issues (in college) that we just gave him a passing grade on. When I ran my reports on him, there was always a question of maturity and toughness.”
Karmelowicz said he could see from watching Siavii’s film that physicality might be a problem.
“As a position coach you can only say so much, but he had never played a tough brand of football,” Karmelowicz said. “If you hit him in the mouth, he was going to blink. But we ended up taking someone’s word that he was tough.”
Karmelowicz said former defensive coordinator Greg Robinson “fell in love” with Freeman at the Senior Bowl. The Chiefs sent vice president of football operations Lynn Stiles to Alabama-Birmingham to meet with Freeman. The two went out to eat — but Freeman was never asked to work out, according to Karmelowicz. Messages left Saturday night for Stiles went unreturned.
“I guess he was a good dinner date,” Karmelowicz said. “No one ever worked Eddie out. We never watched a film of Eddie working out. All Stiles did was take him out to dinner. Maybe we should’ve done a more thorough job.”
On the morning of the draft, Karmelowicz said, he didn’t expect the Chiefs to select Freeman. But a player the Chiefs were targeting — Karmelowicz wouldn’t say who — was taken just before Kansas City was set to pick.
“Most people were dying to go with someone else,” Karmelowicz said. “But Eddie was the highest-rated player left in the draft at all positions. Time was running out, so we just ended up taking him based on where he was rated on the board. Based on that, he was the only option. The board drafted Eddie Freeman.”
Karmelowicz said Freeman arrived at training camp with medical problems that had gone unnoticed. He said he had problems with “lower body stiffness” along with “classroom issues” and “social issues” that made Freeman difficult to coach.
Those things, Karmelowicz said, would’ve been detected had the Chiefs done better research.
“With Eddie there were opportunities to discover red flags,” Karmelowicz said, “and we didn’t discover them.”
Karmelowicz didn’t seem bothered that Freeman said he wasn’t “developed.”
“That’s like me saying that I could learn to slam dunk if someone would just work with me,” Karmelowicz said. “We both know it’s not going to happen. Eddie was one tough cookie, and he tried real hard. But there’s a reason he’s not playing anymore.”
I realize this is a very busy time for the Chiefs and all, but shouldn't either or both Carl Peterson and Clark Hunt address this issue?
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Originally Posted by Cisco Kid
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