John Dorsey Proving His Worth for Kansas City Chiefs

Feb 21, 2014; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Kansas City Chiefs general manager

John Dorsey

speaks to the media in a press conference during the 2014 NFL Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Kansas City Chiefs GM John Dorsey’s eye for talent has put his 5-3 Kansas City Chiefs in contention despite an off-season in which they lost 5 players to free agency that started for the team in 2013.

Many pundits picked the Chiefs to slide back from the 11-5 breakthrough season due to the mass defections.

More from Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs lost Pro Bowl players in LT Branden Albert and PR/KR Dexter McCluster, as well as guards Jon Asamoah and Geoff Schwartz, and DE Tyson Jackson. Along with those losses, Dorsey also decided to cut Pro-Bowl corner Brandon Flowers due to his big contract and poor schematic fit in defensive coordinator Bob Sutton’s defense.

On top of the roster decisions, the Chiefs lost 3 more starting players in the season’s first game. Pro-bowl linebacker Derrick Johnson, starting DE Mike DeVito and starting G Jeff Allen all were lost for the season. To add even more stress, Pro Bowl safety Eric Berry has missed 5 of the team’s 8 games. Expected starter at inside linebacker Joe Mays has also missed most of the season.

Combined with Kansas City’s poor performance in their opening week loss to the Tennessee Titans, the situation looked bleak. Not many teams can lose 4 Pro-Bowlers and expect to remain competitive.

However, after a road loss to the Broncos in week two, the Chiefs have righted the ship to win 5 out of their last 6 games.

A lot of the reason has been outstanding personnel decisions made by John Dorsey to replace his departed starters and to build depth on the roster.

The Chiefs have not missed Brandon Flowers. They currently sport the no. 1 pass defense in the NFL. Part of the reason has been Kansas City’s strong pass rush. But, Dorsey’s rebuilt secondary also deserves credit.

After Marcus Cooper struggled as a starting corner, 2014 3rd round draft pick Phillip Gaines moved into the starting lineup opposite Sean Smith. Gaines has solidified the corner position the over the last 3 weeks.

Meanwhile, the safety position has been a vast improvement over last season after ditching Kendrick Lewis, and installing Husain Abdullah as the starting free safety. Converted corner Ron Parker has also done an admirable job filling in for Eric Berry during most of Kansas City’s wining run.

On the defensive line, 4th year player Allen Bailey has stepped up his game to become something of a pass rushing force. He’s bulked up to 300lbs. without losing his quickness. Inexpensive veteran pickup Kevin Vickerson has chipped in to replace some of the run-stopping power lost when Mike DeVito went down.

At linebacker, subs James–Michael Johnson and journeyman Josh Mauga have stepped up to do a credible job in replacing Derrick Johnson and Joe Mays.

Not only have the new guys given the team quality snaps, they’ve done so while providing enough cap relief that the team could extend quarterback Alex Smith.

In short, it has been a virtuoso performance from John Dorsey.

Kansas City Chiefs fans, the dark days of the Scott Pioli regime are long gone.

Home/Kansas City Chiefs