Hey folks. Just trying to keep my end of the bargain. Enthused about this idea.

OLB has been unfairly described on draft boards across the interwebs as one position, when in fact it is two distinct positions that are just as different from one another as right tackle and left tackle. Guys who play well on the weakside may not fair well on the strong side and vice versa. Weakside linebackers ("Wills") are the fastest linebackers on your team. They are adept at zone coverage, but mostly they cover a ton of ground, and should be particularly adept at zipping to the QB. Strongside linebackers ("Sams") do not need to be as fast, but they definitely need to be the stronger of the two, as any path to the backfield must fight through the heavy side of the OL, including the TE, and they must be particularly adept at man coverage, as they are often responsible for TEs.

Our strongside linebacker situation isn't too bad, with our best defensive player, Derrick Johnson, as the incumbent there. Rocky Boiman has been a pleasant surprise as a young, undrafted nobody who, turns out, has a good nose for the ball. I believe Boiman has earned the opportunity to compete to be DJ's backup.

The weakside situation is dire. Donnie Edwards will likely retire this offseason, and that leaves us only with DeMorrio Williams. Williams is easily our fastest linebacker, but his play has underwhelmed this season. He is our current incumbent, but this team definitely needs more talent there. At the very most, we could use a stud to start with D-Will backing up. At the very least, we must have some depth there.

So my list will include my favorite 7 Wills, and favorite 3 Sams.

Wills:

1. Sean Weatherspoon, Missouri -- Call me a homer if you must. Lord knows I've bene susceptible to it before. But Weatherspoon is arguably the best Will this upcoming Draft, and it's very likely he'll be available for our second round pick. He has a great nose for the ball, and his speed is a great fit for the Cover 2.

2. Gerald McRath, Southern Miss -- McRath is a bit raw and will need some work, but his ability to get to the QB is what sells him as a solid 2nd round pick. This team needs a pass rush like oxygen this Draft, and McRath may be a future playmaker.

3. Anthony Heygood, Purdue -- Heygood is, in my mind, the fastest linebacker in the 2009 Draft. His athleticism is ridiculous and Purdue LBs have a good track record in the NFL, but he's very, very raw. He will need good coaching to realize his full potential.

4. Tyrone McKenzie, South Florida -- McKenzie is the opposite of Heygood in terms of attracting teams like the Chiefs: he doesn't have Heygood's ridiculous speed and he's a bit big for the weakside. But unlike Heygood, he has an impeccable track record, averaging over 120 tackles a year for two schools during his college career. Great 3rd round prospect.

5. Zach Follett, California -- Yet another Will who's displayed a good amount of speed and an ability to get to the QB in a hurry. Follett also has the advantage of playing in the Pac 10, which I always like because they face the toughest offenses.

6. Brian Toal, Boston College -- In terms of sheer talent, there are other Wills who are more talented than Toal, but few have his speed. Toal's stock has fallen recently because of a serious shoulder injury, but I love the smarts of Boston College players, and Toal's natural abilities could make an impact at the Combine.

7. Maurice Crum Jr., Notre Dame -- Crum plays well in coverage, and he's a fiery leader that this defense could always use in the linebacker corps. He's a well rounded player but he may be lacking the speed this defense needs on the weak side. Might be worth a shot in the 4th. Might.

Sams:

1. Brian Cushing, USC -- Cushing is probably the best OLB talent coming out this Draft. Cushing has shifted from position to position in his time at USC, and has excelled everywhere. He is smart, versatile, incredibly athletic and like all USC defenders, suited to the Cover 2. He is a 1st round pick, but not where the Chiefs will be picking.

2. Aaron Curry, Wake Forest -- Curry is a good fit for the Chiefs, should he fall into their laps late in the 2nd (if they trade down) or even into the 3rd. His strength is man coverage, which is exactly what he'll be asked to do in the NFL.

3. Cody Brown, UConn -- Brown will need to improve in his coverage, but there's no denying that this guy makes constant noise in the backfield. This is a Draft more than ever where the Chiefs need to be thinking pass rush, and Brown may fit the bill in the 3rd or 4th.

Second-year nobody Tyler Thigpen licked his palms at the ten-yard line and extended his forearms into the warm San Diego air, preparing his hardcount in shotgun formation. Gonzalez was in motion yet again, Bradley staggerred back a yard or two off the line of scrimmage, and Bowe stood wide, motionless as he eyed Thigpen's cadence.

I was in my correct stance, too: jack-knifed over the television set, squeezing my fists so tight my knuckles exploded. The classic Sunday afternoon of a Chiefs fan. The intensity rarely relented over four thrilling quarters in Qualcomm Stadium.

It was in these final moments of the game, however, that presented the most dramatic departure of the past two seasons for Chiefs fans everywhere: Tyler Thigpen's emergence as a potential force in the NFL. Statistically, he has torched two decent-to-good defenses and one downright superior one. Competitively, he has kept all three of his most recent starts winnable.

But his immense field presense was the most dramatic change of pace for a squad that's endured, for three seasons, low-key, frail quarterbacks (Brodie Croyle), elderly, frail quarterbacks (Trent Green, Damon Huard), quarterbacks who aren't actually quarterbacks (Ingle Martin), and pure, downright incompetent quarterbacks (Tyler Thigpen against the Falcons). But above all, the Chiefs endured quarterbacks who have struggled to provide the feeling that Thigpen exuded against the Chargers this afternoon: that come hell or high water, he was the leader under center (kind of) who can will this team to succeed.

Now, to be clear, we didn't succeed. Not today. But Thigpen left no doubt that it was possible. He played today like he owned the place.

But hopes were only high amongst the most blindly patriotic that Croyle could ascend to QBotF status after six sorry losses in 2007. Few believed that Huard could make chicken salad out of YouKnowWhat when he took the reigns. Heck, few believed Green had a final run in him when he returned to lead this team in 2006.

Really, the last time a Chiefs fan felt this good about his starting quarterback... may be beyond my ability to remember. Huard inspired in his short run in 2006, but he was accepted as a stopgap. The last time Green was his splendid self was in the 2005 season, the last of his heyday, and that doesn't compare to the QBotF feelings Chiefs fans are starting to generate towards Thigpen. No, the best I can do is 2000, when it was clear we had wisely traded for Green, and that we'd reap the benefits for years.

Thigpen's performance of potential yesterday, boosted by the sure hands of Bradley, Bowe, and Gonzalez, was the potential stuff that potential dreams are potentially made of. His decision-making was uniformly superb. He made brilliant decisions with ball placement, pocket manuvering, and trusting his receivers to make a play. His arm is impressive. His unflappability was remarkable. His passion is obvious.

It's possible that defenses start to figure him out, that his hot streak fades, that he's not cut out for the under-center style of football that prevails in December.

But like this entire team, he's starting to get it and it shows. He is a one man distillation of what this team is growing capable of. And he's already commanding a completely new enthusiasm for Chiefs fans for Sundays to come.

It's the easiest proposition to make about a football team in the NFL, and the hardest one to be proved accurate: that a particular team, thanks to a particular game, has discovered its true identity.

Heck, we've written that about this particular Kansas City Chiefs squad at least three times this season: after the Raiders home loss we thought this team would be young and incompetent, after the swoon of the Broncos victory we thought this team would be fun and dynamic, and after the dregs of the Titans trainwreck we wrote that this team would be boring and disasterous. That doesn't even include the preseason. It's just impossible in this league for single games to have the monumental message delivery that we writers constantly invent for them.

Having tasted my own proverbial foot shoved down my throat heel-deep a time or two this season, I nonetheless can't help saying it's for real this time. Having watched this game, the Chiefs looked about as comfortable in their own skin today as they have all season.

We've mislabeled this team by simplifying them as a team on the verge of competing in a couple years. That rang true at one point while LJ was running hard at River Falls, Croyle was leading drives in preseason, and the defense looked somewhat competent.  All Herm talked about was the future. The team was thinking about the future. We were thinking about the future.

But with Croyle out, LJ suspended and getting his act together, and our defense giving up historically awful performances against the run, the future has begun to look farther and farther away. It's become near-impossible to watch these games and feel good about the future of this team. I can only imagine what it's like to be playing the games.

It took second-year nobody Tyler Thigpen and all-time great Tony Gonzalez to reframe our perspectives onto the present rather than the future. Gonzalez's proud leadership on the field and in the locker room, combined with a downright sprightly performance by Thigpen, truly led a team to understand the excitement of being a spoiler. On the other side of the ball, the defense followed suit. Tamba Hali got his groove back on the left side and rookie Brandon Flowers made a name for himself.

Thrilled, more than anything, with the prospect of upending a good team that dared look past them. With Flowers' pick-six in the fourth quarter, you could feel it.

The Chiefs aren't racking up wins by the handful this year. They aren't world-beaters. But they can make their names as the league's traveling hornet's nest. They are young. They are unafraid. And they've really got nothing to lose.

The future will be here soon enough. So will the endless great discussions across the Chiefs blogosphere about who factors into this team's longterm plans. But this game promises us, for the rest of a season now worth watching, that all the newfound enthusiasm that comes with youth needs to be appreciated for what it is, and not wasted by simply focusing on the future.

Youth is to be appreciated while we get to enjoy it. It's a classic lesson of life. You spoil the fun by simply waiting for this team to grow up.

A screen shot from the Wikipedia entry on the 2008 NFL Draft:

Bumped this up a few hours. Morning update will come around 8 AM. -Chris

It's never too early, is it? Nah.

I am, nonetheless, an addicted draftnik, to the point where I literally have a tackboard that I keep all my favorite draftees targeted at particular points in the Draft.

But the point of this entry is not necessarily to judge which players we might be more intrigued by (rest assured, there will be plenty of those in the months that come from yours truly). Here, I'm more convinced in our needs. What needs are the most and least pressing for the Chiefs in the 2009 NFL Draft?

A complete and obsessive breakdown follows, after the jump.

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Dear Carl.

What's left to be said. The Chiefs are stuck in the lowest grade of rebuilding that's even possible. And you decided to hold onto a player who, for all his eminent talents and place in history, will ultimately not do this franchise any good.

So let me ask you, general manager Carl Peterson, if you are by any chance reading this. Would you rather have a decent Draft pick(s) that could materialize into cogs of our future championship runs, or would you forfeit taking any of that to hold on to a player that doesn't want to be here, and won't do our future championship runs any good?

I had mentioned in an earlier entry, breaking down Gonzalez's worth, that he was worth about a 3rd at best, or a 4th and an additional low-rounder. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but there are multiple reports out there that that's exactly what you were offered. And you decided that instead of allowing Kuharich and Herm -- the masterminds behind a pretty strong 2008 draft for this team -- a chance at some good talent in the 3rd or to mine for talent in the mid-rounds and low-rounds, that you were going to sit on your hands and let Gonzalez wallow.

For what?

Leadership? What good does that do you when you're a Bottom 5 team? Groom young leaders, don't depend on your old leaders 'til death do you part.

For what? The emotional punch of Tony finishing his career with an arrowhead on his helmet? Why don't we create new legacies instead of depending on beloved, old ones?

To sell tickets? I don't know where you got the idea that Gonzalez was the only Chiefs player that fans love seeing.

The reliable target in the middle of the field? Sure, Tony's presence on the field cannot be replaced, but this team doesn't need to replace him this season. We're not going anywhere this season, Carl.

Your fanbase has accepted that. You can't, and I don't know why.

And you know where we're at because of this stalling pattern? We have a disgruntled star displeased with our youth movement who is blabbing all over any media outlet who will listen to leverage popular opinion against Carl Peterson and the rest of the Chiefs' front office. We're holding him hostage in a high-profile staredown with several other regimes across the NFL, decreasing the chance that anybody anywhere will blink.

If that sounds familiar to us, it's because that was the Trent Green hostage situation from a year and a half ago. You miraculously succeeded there, but that's largely because you were dealing with a completely incompetent administration.

No sir, in this situation, asking for a 2nd for a 32-year-old who can't help us makes you the incompetent administration. And you are becoming increasingly exposed.

In the grand scheme of things, this isn't a monumental mistake, but it is significant because it illustrates your consistent modus operandi that has punished this franchise far more frequently than not.

Your time with this team, and the NFL, is running out.

As we all sit around, with the upcoming trade deadline upcoming, I would just like to congratulate the Chiefs for coming to their senses. This team, in what seems like the most hopeless stages of rebuild mode, cannot survive on seven draft picks a year.

I want to take just a real brief moment and set all of our expectations up properly with a breakdown of the value of each of these players that are supposedly on our trading block. Let's also breakdown exactly how likely it is that any of these players are on our roster by sundown Tuesday.

TE Tony Gonzalez

What he is: A flashback to old school, to the days where tight ends were actually put on the field to block and receive. There is no weakness in Tony G's game, as he is capable of blocking better than most tight ends in this league, is coming off a 99-catch season from one of the worst offenses in the league, and owns perhaps the most phenomenal tight end reception of the year against Denver. He is also a great leader, a perfect citizen, and Hall of Fame bound.

Where he is: The twilight of his career. However, Tony's numbers have hardly fallen off. Many speculate that as fit as he stays (Gonzalez's workouts leading up to games with other star TEs are legendary), he could still play competitively in this league for a few more years. His Pro Bowl days are sharply numbered, however, just on the basis of age.

What he can do: He can block, he is your security blanket across the middle, and he can lead. But perhaps most importantly, he can adjust to virtually any offense, having seen at least three radically different incarnations of the Chiefs offense during his tenure as a Chief. He will be a factor for your team by the end of the year if you pick him up now.

Worth: All things considered, it's either a 3rd alone or a 4th + 6th package. Before you get your blood boiling, loyal Chiefs fans, consider that Jason Taylor, about the same age, just got traded for a 2nd. DE is valued far more in the NFL than TE by a long shot, and Taylor was traded in the more relaxed atmosphere of the offseason, rather than up against the trade deadline, when teams are hesitant to pull the trigger on any deal. Most all of the teams in the market for Tony do not need him, so their offers won't be the 2nd or 3rd that Gonzalez would normally warrant. However, rumors suggest half a dozen teams are interested, which could play an equalizing factor here.

RB Larry Johnson

What he is: The perfect antihero, the guy whose morals in no way line up with yours but no man worth his salt would ever turn down being on his side in the heat of battle. However, he is an albatross when unhappy, which happens any time he does not get the ball early and often in games. Because he is such a lousy blocker, he is of no use on third down, which demands run plays on first and second down; nobody likes to admit it in Kansas City, but LJ is a big reason why our offense is so predictable. That said, however, with good blocking he is a Top 5 RB in this league. With elite blocking, no RB in the league can touch him.

Where he is: He is still capable of giving a new team a handful of solid years. LJ's spirit may sag during weak years such as this one, but his dedication to staying fit never does. I've been surprised every year at how physically fit he looks at training camp. It's unlikely that he can carry an offense by himself anymore, but he can still produce in an even-handed offense.

What he can do: He can run, and get the hard yards. Not a terribly impressive blocker and while he gets along for the most part with teammates, he has never been any kind of emotional leader. Given the hole, LJ can make the most of it between the tackles -- matter of fact, he may be best inheriting a Jerome Bettis-type role on a talented offense.

Worth: At this point, he's worth a 4th. There's no way any team in the NFL will want to pay the price that Carl Peterson is asking at the latest trading stage in the season. There aren't a lot of teams that are willing to cough up a first-day pick for a guy who doesn't block at a position that most teams value little. It's possible that the Chiefs could land a good deal this coming offseason for LJ, when teams are more relaxed and everybody's thinking ambitiously. But at this point, it's near impossible the Chiefs get anything better than a 4th for LJ. If anybody offered a 3rd (which nobody will), Peterson should leap on it--but I'm probably guessing he won't.

QB Damon Huard

What he is: An unflappable veteran in most circumstances that include more than 1.2 seconds of pass protection. He can make most of the safe passes, and all of the smart passes, but is occasionally stifled by tricky coverages and will make a braindead mistake. He is a savvy veteran who can bide time and take a hit, and he can provide the minimal leadership abilities needed to keep an offense afloat long enough.

Where he is: At the end. In his mid-thirties and clearly losing a step, any team picking him up now understands that he is on his last legs and will likely not suit up in 2009 unless lured by a stupid contract.

What he can do: He can man your ship just long enough for whomever you really want quarterbacking to return. He's done it his entire career, and he plays consistently every single week -- you know precisely what you're getting out of him whenever you suit him up: 150-200 yards passing, maybe a TD or two, maybe an INT.

Worth: If somebody truly wants to pry him away from the Chiefs, a conditional 5th that could conflate to a 4th if he gets them to the playoffs. If the Chiefs just want to unload him, they might just take a 6th. The rumor is that the Patriots are in the search for a reliable game-manager to fill the gap between now and Tom Brady's return on a golden cloud as angels sound their bugles. The Patriots are loaded with talent everywhere, feature great pass protection, but need a sure, unflappable hand to at least not screw things up. Huard may be what the doctor ordered, but he won't be commanding much.

CB Patrick Surtain

What he is: Washed up.

Where he is: At the very end of his career.

What he can do: Provide an opponent's wide receivers 10 yards of cushion.

Worth: If the Chiefs managed to gain any sort of compensation for Surtain, at all, at any point, I'd be surprised. Take the conditional 7th and thank the team for taking his cap hit.

We're encouraged to be independent thinkers on sports blogs, but sometimes there's a guy out there shaking the branches so hard you just have to follow his lead. We've had some interesting discussions over the past week regarding our special teams status. And the whole Feely incident was enough to end Batman's patience over at Arrowhead Addict, who is now calling for Priefer's head.

It's hard to blame him. He lists the specific failures of Priefer's judgment, and it's a damning list.

I prefer to take a broader review of the situation, and it's not much better. It might even be worse. More after the jump.

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