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From the moment the NFL draft ended, all I have heard on the TV, radio, and internet is how great the draft was for the Chiefs, and how much of a genius GM Scott Pioli is. Rick Gosselin from the Dallas Morning News even gave out his only "A+" to the Chiefs and had nothing but rave reviews for the brass over at Arrowhead.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not hate the draft, and from what I have seen and heard from the players I like the guys as people as well as what they can bring to the team.

My beef with the draft is the biggest holes on the team from last year were not filled.

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Dwayne Bowe, even without the suspension, is on pace for his worst year as a professional by a wide margin. After averaging 78 receptions and just over 1000 yards in his first two years in the league, Bowe was on pace to barely reach 800 yards on just 59 receptions.

Clearly whatever “performance enhancing” drug he was taking wasn’t working. Maybe his dealer screwed him. Maybe he’s like the wanna-be drug dealers back in high school who used to sell oregano to kids for them to go home and smoke. Maybe Dwayne needs to give Shawne Merriman a call and hook up with his performance enhancing drug dealer, because he made Merriman a beast the year he was caught.

On a more serious note, I wonder how this suspension will affect Bowe’s relationship with head coach Todd Haley. Haley has been on him to perform up to his ability since he got here, and yet only has two games of 75 yards or more this year.

Haley values players who can perform on the field day in and day out. Being suspended for four games certainly hurts that.

We of course don’t know for sure what exactly he tested positive for, although Adam Schefter says a source that he has says Bowe tested positive for a diuretic during training camp because he was trying to lose weight.

This scenario seems plausible, especially after hearing exactly how hard Haley was coming down on him at that point in time.

This of course will raise questions in the media of whether Haley's workouts are too demanding, and whether they push players into these kinds of things.

This suspension will take place right in the middle of the second hardest stretch of games the Chiefs have this year, facing the Steelers, Chargers, Broncos, and Bills. The first three of those games would been incredibly hard to win even with Bowe, although the Bills seem to be in even worse shape than are the Chiefs, especially after the recent firing of head coach Dick Jauron.

That Bills game was one of few left on the schedule where the Chiefs had a good chance of winning. With Bowe gone, that likelihood diminishes greatly.

We will see in the coming weeks how much Chris Chambers and Lance Long can step up their game and fill in for the talented, and missing, Dwayne Bowe.

TJ Gerrity

Originally Posted Here, at Fanhuddle.com

Everyone else seems to be putting up draft predictions, so I decided I'd jump on the bandwagon.

Here's the guys I think we should target in the first three rounds..

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The Ravens don’t have what you would call a “high powered offense.” If the Chiefs can put some points up on the board (17 or so), they have a shot at winning this game.

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A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about the players the KC Chiefs should look at in the first few rounds of the draft. Now I'm going to look at some players the Chiefs should target in the last half of the draft.

Even though offensive linemen should be a priority in this draft, I left them out in my list to target in the first three rounds of the draft.

I feel this can be a very high impact draft. By this, I mean players of high impact positions are plentiful this year. Because of this, NT, WR, and TE were the targeted positions in rounds one through three.

Additionally, unless drafting a franchise left tackle, the value is not there for drafting any other position on the offensive line that high in the draft. Most starting interior linemen in the NFL weren't picked in rounds one and two, rather, they were drafted in the mid rounds or free agents. Same goes for most right tackles in the league.

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It is never too early to start looking ahead to next year's draft, especially if you've been a Kansas City Chiefs fan the past several years.

Now, this year has brought some optimism and a reason for excitement around town with the hiring of general manager Scott Pioli and head coach Todd Haley, but how big of a turnaround can you honestly expect after going 2-14? Miami's 10-game turnaround is a fluke and cannot be expected for most teams.

In all reality, the Chiefs will win somewhere around six games this year, and be picking in the bottom half of the top 10. With that in mind, here are some players the Chiefs should target that will not only pay dividends immediately and push for starting time as rookies, but can be stars down the road.

Lots of people will say we should get OL in rounds 1 and 2, but I'd argue that the value for the ones we need are found later in the draft. Wrapping top-15 money into our RT and LT I think is unnecessary. Most starting RTs in the league right now have come from later in the draft. I think we can do the same thing. Same goes for most interior linemen, but getting a top-notch OG in the second round I would not be opposed to.

With that said, Here's the 3 players I think we can get the most value out of in the first 3 rounds:

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With the exception of Dwayne Bowe, the stars were not out on Saturday night. Judging by that game only, the Kansas City Chiefs should have a starting lineup without their newest multimillion dollar player Cassel, and instead have guys like Jovan Belcher, Rodney Wright, Brodie Croyle, and Dantrell Savage playing on a regular basis.

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I know what you are thinking: "Can he really be considered a 'breakout candidate' if he's averaged over 75 catches and 1,000 yards his first two seasons?"

Yes.

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A few months ago, when Scott Pioli and the Chiefs first decided they would run the 3-4 defense this year, Glenn Dorsey seemed destined for one of two things: a trade, or failure.

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It stands to reason that with a 2-14 record, the Chiefs have many holes to fill on their roster. The vast majority of these holes lie in the trenches, and with the linebackers.

Through the draft and free agency, Scott Pioli and crew filled many of the gaping holes in this team's depth chart. Well, they temporarily filled them, it was more like a cheap Bondo job you'd find at a used car dealership.

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(Click here for the original article, posted on Bleacher Report)

Scott Pioli thinks Matt Cassel is a franchise quarterback.

Josh McDaniels seems to think Matt Cassel is enough of a franchise quarterback to drive away the one he already had.

So what exactly can we expect from Matt Cassel?

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By now, most people have heard Todd Haley is a no-nonsense guy. We saw this last year during the Cardinals Super Bowl run when Haley was arguing with star wide receiver Anquan Boldin on the sideline.

We heard about his combative nature from the media when he was hired as head coach in February, and we saw this again when Pro Bowl guard Brian Waters had a bumpy first meeting with his new head coach.

Brandon Albert saw Haley's no-nonsense approach as soon as he got to Kansas City this year.

"The first day I got here," Albert said on Sunday, "when I weighed in, he said, 'Oh, no, no, no, no.' "

Albert weighed in at 341 pounds that day in March, about 25 pounds heavier than his listed weight last year during an impressive rookie season in which he made the switch from guard to tackle, and did it quite well.

Haley made his presence felt right away for Albert when his new head coach gave him another big goal and asked him to drop more than 35 pounds to a playing weight of 305 for the upcoming season.

The now svelte left tackle has dropped almost 30 pounds since then and is working hard with his newly hired nutritionist to drop even more.

Albert's not the only player who hit the buffet line too many times in the offseason.

"Dwayne's another one who probably let himself go too far in the offseason," Todd Haley said during an interview, "so it's been a long road back when you're trying to lose 20-25 pounds."

The Chiefs are already looking like a new team.

"Physically, conditionally, strength-wise, we look like a different group of players for the most part," Haley says. "We've lost 338 pounds, which is a significant amount of weight."

Haley figures the average weight loss for an NFL team during offseason workouts is between 125 and 150 pounds.

Maintaining proper weight can be crucial to a successful season. Brandon Albert says he knows the extra weight he was carrying around last year may have contributed to his nagging injuries last year, and maybe even the team's appalling record of 2-14.

The lack of conditioning could have led to many of the team's losses last year. The Chiefs had a lead in the fourth quarter in numerous games, only to fall apart and give up the lead late in the game.

For any team with a new regime, change is bound to happen. Add to that a 2-14 record the previous season, and it is safe to reason that no incumbent player is safe from a demotion.

“We want competition,” head coach Todd Haley said, “in as many positions as we can.”

Aside from QB Matt Cassel, whom GM Scott Pioli and Todd Haley personally brought in, every position is up for review.

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Scott Pioli, like Bill Belichick, chooses his words carefully. He speaks delicately to ensure his message is not misconstrued.

Pioli had a very distinct message following this year's draft: The future of the 3-4 DL for the Chiefs lies in his first two draft picks—Tyson Jackson and Alex Magee.

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The 3-4 defense is chic again in the NFL; it's all the rage. The Packers and Broncos both are reportedly switching to the 3-4 this offseason. The majority of the best defenses right now are running the 3-4: Pittsburgh, Baltimore, New England, San Diego.

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