Chiefs right to pass on DeSean Jackson

[Stryker]

From a purely football standpoint, the Kansas City Chiefs couldn't have found a better wide receiver for their balky passing game than DeSean Jackson. He definitely would have provided life to a group of wide receivers that was last in the NFL in 2013 in targets, catches and yardage.

Since 2008 Jackson has 21 touchdowns of 30 or more yards and was third in average yards per catch at 17.2 for the Philadelphia Eagles, who released him last week. Add in the fact Jackson thrived for the first five seasons of his NFL career playing for Andy Reid, now coaching the Chiefs, and Jackson coming to Kansas City seemed to make a lot of sense. But the Chiefs will look elsewhere, probably to the draft, for that receiving help. After making some initial inquiries into Jackson's availability, the Chiefs backed off, reportedly because of cost concerns.

The Chiefs, who have about $4.5 million of remaining cap space, could have found a way to squeeze Jackson's salary under their limit. But at what cost? The Chiefs would like to re-sign quarterback Alex Smith and linebacker Justin Houston before they can become free agents next year. Neither will come at a favorable price. Safety Eric Berry is among the players who could become an unrestricted free agent in 2016 and he too will be expensive.

Signing Jackson at top dollar would have cost them one of those players and perhaps more. But there's something else at work here. Adding Jackson would have smelled of panic. It would have been a sign the Chiefs were veering away from their plan, making it up on the fly. You can argue the merits of their plan, but Reid and general manager John Dorsey prefer to find their stars, the players they build the foundation around, through the draft and not as free agents.

Listen closely to what Reid said recently about free agency.

"Listen, I'm not a huge free-agency guy," Reid said last week at the NFL meetings in Orlando, Fla. "I don't think you build a team that way. I think you build it through a draft. There are so many elements that go into a player actually fitting into your program and being successful, that if you get them right when they're peaking in that system and then you disrupt that and move them on to another system, that can be tough. So, the percentage has dropped, the success rate has dropped. I think you spot a guy here or there.

"Then you have the other element that it has the chance to disrupt your locker room. This guy has been with me for 10 years and is making X amount and then all of the sudden you bring in a free agent who might be as good, but maybe not as good, and you're paying him way up here and all of the sudden you have this rift that goes on in the locker room. I think you have to be real, real careful on who you bring in and how you do it.”

Adding Jackson at something less than a premium price might have made sense. The Chiefs wouldn't need to guess about projecting how Jackson might do in Reid's system. They could look at his production from those five seasons they were together with the Eagles.

But the Chiefs made their decision, for better or for worse, about a high-priced wide receiver last year when they re-signed Dwayne Bowe for five years and $56 million. That's about all a team can reasonably afford without gutting another part of the roster.

That's not to say a move of this nature would always be a bad move for the Chiefs. When their salary cap is in better shape and the signing of a big-money player like Jackson might reasonably put the Chiefs in the Super Bowl, they should go for it, by all means.

And there will be a time and place. But this wasn't it.

http://espn.go.com/blog/kansas-city-...ass-on-jackson

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Many of the same arguments were made in 2009. They're no more or less valid now.

Precisely.

[O.city]

It's just unknowable right now either way.

Results up to this point, don't look promising, acknowledging that it's too early to determine

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Many of the same arguments were made in 2009. They're no more or less valid now than they were during that last "complete overhaul of the front office".

C'mon. That was like half a decade ago. You expect people to remember that and apply it to this situation?

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by Pablo

C'mon. That was like half a decade ago. You expect people to remember that and apply it to this situation?

I think this is what getting older does. 2009 feels like last week to me sometimes. Time is going by scary fast.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

I think this is what getting older does. 2009 feels like last week to me sometimes. Time is going by scary fast.

At least you don't suffer from memory loss like some posters here must. So, you've got that going for you.

[Dr. Van Halen]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

I see you completely missed the point.

Okay. So your complaint isn't about predicting what the Chiefs will do in the draft.

So it must be that you as a fan have low expectations for this regime's drafting based on your 30 years of being a fan ...

IF that was your point, you are foolish. There's plenty to gripe about based on last year's draft. The previous years shouldn't enter into it.

[O.city]

@LRiddickESPN: Not the "same ole 'skins" as far as their approach to paying for/acquiring vets. Would be very very shocked if they are high offer on DJ.

[Mr. Laz]

"Listen, I'm not a huge free-agency guy," Reid said last week at the NFL meetings in Orlando, Fla. "I don't think you build a team that way. I think you build it through a draft.

rebuilding

5-year plan, baby.

[Messier]

I think I understand the disconnect for the fans that say things like they'll never draft a QB high...because they're the Chiefs. They only want to go 8-8...because they're the Chiefs. Its this mystical feeling of being cursed or jinxed. Of course things won't work out, we're the Chiefs.

Its dumb, and based on nothing concrete. It reminds me of the same feeling MU fans seem to have. That nothing will work out because who we are.

Its superstition based doubt.

[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by Messier

I think I understand the disconnect for the fans that say things like they'll never draft a QB high...because they're the Chiefs. They only want to go 8-8...because they're the Chiefs. Its this mystical feeling of being cursed or jinxed. Of course things won't work out, we're the Chiefs.

Its dumb, and based on nothing concrete. It reminds me of the same feeling MU fans seem to have. That nothing will work out because who we are.

Its superstition based doubt.

There are people that believe we haven't won a playoff game since 1993 because we do the same things every year which couldn't be farther from the truth.

We have lost games with the #1 defense, we have lost games with the #1 offense. We have lost games with mediocre offense and defense. We have had teams built from the draft and we have had FA loaded teams.

We scored a ton of points in our loss to Colts in January but we lost that game because we didn't draft a QB in 2006.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by philfree

In a way I could feel a little sorry for those guys but then they did get filthy rich. And to go along with that if those guys want to win it all then why don't they all play better, lead better and win? To me part of the blame goes on them.

Yes. Why didn't Tony Gonzalez, Will Shields and Derrick Thomas play better!?

[Halfcan]

Wow the more reports that come out on djax the worse he looks.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

Many of the same arguments were made in 2009. They're no more or less valid now than they were during that last "complete overhaul of the front office".

One thing you have to credit the new regime for is they at least built to the personnel. Piolis success would have looked much different if he wasn't so stubborn about building his version of a 3-4. Whereas pioli took an ascending team and wasted away three years, Dorsey inherited a team with a shrinking window and a really average cap situation (I realize he added cap problems of his own but different from pioli who was pretty much given a perfect cap situation). Pioli inherited a perfect situation and screwed it up. So I think we need to be really careful when we say a rebuild approach never worked for the Chiefs. I really think it was on its way toward working if pioli never got involved.

To this day I still wonder what this team would have looked like with three more years of Kuharich. Not Herm, Kuharich.

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

This place.

It's true. I've been here for 12 years, I was one of the first 3 or 4 members.

I'm WAY more attached to Chiefsplanet than I am to the Chiefs. In fact, for a time last spring/early summer, I went 5 or 6 weeks without any football at all. No CP, no Chiefs, no NFLN, nothing.

Now, you see, THIS makes sense.

You threw in the towel a long time ago.

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by OnTheWarpath58

Truth. They've had two phenomenal drafts in the last 20 years - and WAY too many years of complete shit in between. And in our most recent great draft, we've not held onto the players.

Example, 2008: Five solid picks, only two left on the roster.

Sadly, you've got to go back to 1996 to find another really solid draft.

And if it continues, we will continue to fail.

It's All about the draft, baby.