Given everything that’s transpired over the offseason, you would think that the vibes emanating out of Kansas City and Miami these days would be similar. Both the Chiefs and the Dolphins took almost identical approaches to rebuilding their clubs, each deciding that an influx of young, fresh faces would be needed in the hopes of reversing their fortunes.
Each of them started by cutting a host of aging stalwarts, with the Chiefs bidding farewell to the likes of Ty Law and Eddie Kennison, just as the Dolphins asked Trent Green and Keith Traylor to turn in their playbooks. They each stockpiled the draft picks in April and aimed first to rebuild in the trenches — both teams’ top two picks were spent on linemen. Both avoided shelling out gobs of cash to high-priced free agents. And, perhaps most strikingly, each traded away their star defensive end, with the Chiefs sending Jared Allen up to Minnesota and the Fins shipping Jason Taylor up to the District.
Yet despite all the similarities the teams share, they are hardly on equal footing when it comes to the future. In Miami, optimism has been restored, whereas in Kansas City, the outlook is bleaker than it has ever been.
Say what you will about a Chiefs draft class that appears strong on paper, it hardly makes up for a litany of poor decisions, the most glaring of which was to split with Allen. Simply put, Allen’s the best defensive lineman in the league today and is only now entering the prime of his career. Yet, because of the Chiefs’ stubborn refusal to offer him the type of long-term deal a player of his caliber deserves, they set themselves back immeasurably. Perhaps it’s somewhat justifiable to say that the club was scared off by his two DUI arrests, but he nevertheless represents a stock with far too high a ceiling not to have invested in him. With Taylor, on the other hand, the Dolphins received second- and sixth-round picks for a player who probably has one more season left in the tank.
Both Miami and Kansas City claim that they’re building for the future, but Miami’s the only one that’s actually practicing what they preach. The Chiefs are merely overhauling their roster in the hope that new faces translate to more wins.
In either rookie Chad Henne or second-year pro John Beck, the Dolphins have reason to believe that their quarterback of the future is already in place. Both were second-round picks the last two years and have the upside to eventually develop into franchise quarterbacks. The Chiefs have Brodie Croyle. In his six career starts, Croyle has failed to lead the team to victory. Although it may be premature to completely write off a passer entering his third season, there’s enough of a body of work to have serious doubts as to his ability. Yet, instead of grooming a touted youngster in the likelihood Croyle doesn’t pan out, the Chiefs chose to ignore football’s most important position in their offseason bounty.
Bill Parcells
The derivation of the dichotomy between the future of the franchises is abundantly clear. In Miami, owner Wayne Huizenga pulled off a coup when he lured Bill Parcells away from ESPN to become the club’s executive VP of football operations. Given Parcells’ track record in resurrecting moribund clubs, the fact that he’s already put the Fins on a distinct track for success shouldn’t be surprising. On the other hand, Chiefs president Carl Peterson, who’s been in charge of making the personnel moves for two decades, has demonstrated incompetence time and again in sustaining success. The irony in all this is that, if anything, the roles of the Dolphins and Chiefs should be reversed. In Miami, Huizenga is nearing the end of his ownership, yet he is setting owner-in-waiting Stephen Ross up well by appointing Parcells to guide the team. Meanwhile, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt is just beginning his tenure after taking over control of the team from his father — the late, great Lamar Hunt — yet is stuck in neutral for as long as Peterson remains the personnel chief.
The Dolphins and Chiefs. Two teams coming off a season full of embarrassment. Yet only one seems motivated to escape their cellar.
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