why the chiefs suck

I have gone off about this before, but in the wake of that horrendous performance on Sunday, it bears repeating.

For people who choose to blame Herm Edwards ... or blame Chan Gailey ... or blame Gunther Cunningham ... or blame the parking nazis ... or blame Brodie Croyle or Damon Huard or (yikes) the utterly incompetent, in over his head worse than Bush 43 Tyler Thigpen ... your focus is way misguided.

I think most NFL fans would agree on four things regarding building a championship caliber roster:

1. You build it through the draft.
2. It takes 3 years for a draft class to develop or fail.
3. Most average, middle of the road NFL players last 8-9 years in the league. Therefore ...
4. The core of your team should be your drafts from 3-8 years ago.

With that being said, here you go. Why the Chiefs suck 101.

Its all about the draft baby.

(source: nfl.com/draft/history)

The first year that should form the core of this team is the 1999 draft. As you can see, the Chiefs currently employ zero players from that draft, and only one remains in the NFL today:

Year Rd / Pick Player / Position / School Current Status
1999 Rd 1, Pick 14 John Tait, T BYU Starting T for Bears
1999 Rd 2, Pick 54 Michael Cloud, RB, Boston College No longer in the NFL
1999 Rd 3, Pick 75 Gary Stills, LB, West Virginia No longer in the NFL
1999 Rd 3, Pick 84 Larry Atkins, DB, UCLA No longer in the NFL
1999 Rd 4, Pick 108 Larry Parker, WR, USC No longer in the NFL
1999 Rd 7, Pick 220 Eric King, ?, Richmond No longer in the NFL

2000? Even worse:

Year Rd / Pick Player / Position / School Current Status
2000 Rd 1, Pick 21 Sylvester Morris, WR, Jackson State No longer in the NFL
2000 Rd 2, Pick 54 William Bartee, CB, Oklahoma No longer in the NFL
2000 Rd 3, Pick 85 Greg Wesley, S, Arkansas Pine Bluff Currently not on NFL roster
2000 Rd 4, Pick 115 Frank Moreau, RB, Louisville No longer in the NFL
2000 Rd 5, Pick 153 Dante Hall, WR/RB, Texas A&M KR / PR for Rams
2000 Rd 5, Pick 162 Pat Dennis, CB, Louisiana Monroe No longer in the NFL
2000 Rd 6, Pick 188 Darnell Alford, T, Boston College No longer in the NFL
2000 Rd 7, Pick 208 Desmond Kitchings, WR, Furman No longer in the NFL

2001? Cover your eyes:

Year Rd / Pick Player / Position / School Current Status
2001 Round 3, Pick 75 Eric Downing, DT, Syracuse No longer in the NFL
2001 Round 3, Pick 77 Snoop Minnis, WR, Florida State No longer in the NFL
2001 Round 4, Pick 107 Monty Beisel, LB, Kansas State Special Teamer for Cardinals
2001 Round 4, Pick 108 George Layne, RB, TCU No longer in the NFL
2001 Round 5, Pick 141 Billy Baber, TE, Virginia No longer in the NFL
2001 Round 5, Pick 150 Derrick Blaylock, RB, Stephen F. Austin No longer in the NFL
2001 Round 6, Pick 176 Alex Sulfsted, T, Miami (Ohio) No longer in the NFL
2001 Round 7, Pick 212 Shaunard Harts, DB, Boise State No longer in the NFL
2001 Round 7, Pick 243 Terdell Sands, DT, Tennessee-Chattanooga No longer in the NFL
(note: round 1, pick 12 traded to Rams for Trent Green)
(note: round 2, pick 42 traded to Rams for rights to Dick Vermeil)

2002: Good Lord:

Year Rd / Pick Player / Position / School Current Status
2002 Round 1, Pick 6 Ryan Sims, DT, North Carolina Backup DT for Bucs
2002 Round 2, Pick 43 Eddie Freeman, DT, UAB No longer in the NFL
2002 Round 4, Pick 107 Omar Easy, RB, Penn State No longer in the NFL
2002 Round 5, Pick 143 Scott Fujita, LB, California Backup LB for Saints
2002 Round 7, Pick 221 Maurice Rodriguez, ?, Fresno State No longer in the NFL

2003: Hey, finally, one guy still on the 53 man roster:

Year Rd / Pick Player / Position / School Current Status
2003 Round 1, Pick 27 Larry Johnson, RB, Penn State Starting RB
2003 Round 2, Pick 47 Kawika Mitchell, LB, South Florida Starting LB for the Giants
2003 Round 3, Pick 92 Julian Battle, CB, Tennessee No longer in the NFL
2003 Round 4, Pick 113 Brett Williams, T, Florida State No longer in the NFL
2003 Round 5, Pick 153 Jordan Black, G, Notre Dame Backup OL for Texans
2003 Round 6, Pick 189 Jimmy Wilkerson, DE, Oklahoma Backup DE for Bucs
2003 Round 7, Pick 230 Montique Sharpe, DT, Wake Forest No longer in the NFL
2003 Round 7, Pick 252 Willie Pile, DB, Virginia Tech No longer in the NFL

2004: how the hell does Carl still have a job:

Year Rd / Pick Player / Position / School Current Status
2004 Round 2, Pick 36 Junior Siavii, DT, Oregon No longer in the NFL
2004 Round 2, Pick 61 Kris Wilson, TE, Pittsburgh Currently not in the NFL
2004 Round 3, Pick 93 Keyaron Fox, LB, Georgia Tech Currently not in the NFL
2004 Round 4, Pick 105 Samie Parker, WR, Oregon Backup WR for Seahawks
2004 Round 4, Pick 126 Jared Allen, DE, Idaho State Starting DE for Vikings
2004 Round 6, Pick 195 Jeris McIntyre, WR, Auburn No longer in the NFL
2004 Round 7, Pick 231 Kevin Sampson, T, Syracuse No longer in the NFL
(note: Sampson was solid backup OL until a tragic stabbing incident in 2006 ended his career).

2005: when the punter is one of your "hits":

Year Rd / Pick Player / Position / School Current Status
2005 Round 1, Pick 15 Derrick Johnson, LB, Texas Starting OLB
2005 Round 3, Pick 99 Dusty Colquitt, P, Tennessee Starting P
2005 Round 4, Pick 116 Craphonso Thorpe, WR, Florida State No longer in the NFL
2005 Round 5, Pick 138 Boomer Grigsby, LB, Illinois State Currently not in the NFL
2005 Round 5, Pick 147 Alphonso Hodge, DB, Miami (Ohio) No longer in the NFL
2005 Round 6, Pick 187 Will Svitek, T, Stanford Currently not in the NFL
2005 Round 6, Pick 199 Khari Long, DE, Baylor No longer in the NFL
2005 Round 7, Pick 225 James Killian, QB, Tulsa No longer in the NFL
2005 Round 7, Pick 238 Jeremy Parquet, T, Southern Miss No longer in the NFL

If you want to blame someone for the mess we're in, these 6 draft classes that should be forming the core of our team, is what you need to blame. Don't blame Herm. Don't blame the vanilla offense. Don't blame a worn out defense.

Blame the man who has consistently and repeatedly failed to stack the roster with even semi-talented NFL caliber players.

Only 3 of our 53 man roster is filled with guys from these 6 draft classes. Only 3 of the 53 slots are filled with what should be the core of this team, what should be 20-25 players. 3. A solid punter, a declining runner, and a mediocre LB.

Not even Chuck Noll could win with drafts this bad ...