Tony Gonzales has stated publicly and privately over the last two years that he would prefer to end his career playing for a contender with a shot at the Superbowl rather than continue on with the Chiefs. On occasion he has been rather blunt about it like last season before the trade deadline, but recently more diplomatic stating through a "source" if the right oppurtunity presented itself he would like to go.

This led me to research where the right place would be for all parties; Tony, the Chiefs, and the team he would be going to. I looked at the upcoming draft order, who has what picks and such, then sifted through contenders for the upcoming season, and finally looked to see if there where any connections between our man Scott Pioli and the GM of the team he would be going to. After all this I found a great location for Tony G. The Atlanta Falcons.

Before we take a peek at why this deal makes sense on a number of levels lets establish what Tony's worth is draft pick wise. I would put the estimate at a low 2nd round pick or an early 3rd. I've seen some sites saying a 3rd and a 5th as well, but for the sake of this exercise lets put the ceiling at at a low 2nd rounder. Based on that value lets analyze why this deal could be a winner for all involved.

First lets look at the needs of the Falcons, per walterfootball.com

Tight End: What makes Matt Ryan's rookie performance even more amazing is that he did everything without a reliable tight end. Imagine how dangerous Atlanta's offense will be once Ryan has someone like Brandon Pettigrew going over the middle.

Atlanta picks #24 in the upcoming draft and by most of the mocks Ive looked at Pettigrew who is the #1 TE in the draft will be off the board by then. That leaves Atlanta still in need of a dynamic TE for the upcoming season. Atlanta has a 2nd round selection, its #55 overall. Which just happens to be a low 2nd rounder or the ceiling value of Tony. G.

Gonzales has stated he wants to play for a team that has a real chance to go to the Superbowl. Well, last season the Falcons made a huge turnaround and produced a playoff season, this offseason they have been relatively active in upgrading their roster to continue their push forward and they play in a winnable division. The Falcons did great offensively last year, and as stated above, imagine what a threat like Tony G. going over the middle could do to improve the Falcons.

The Gm connection- Our new boss is more than just friendly with Atlanta GM Tom Dimitroff. They worked hand in hand together in NE for six seasons before Dimitroff took the job in ATL. Dimitroff was the college scouting director for NE and was the protege of Piloi. To say they have a history would be an understatement. And as we have seen this offseason player/coach acquistions have been about who you know.

So to recap, come draft day if Brandon Pettigrew is off the board come by the time Atlanta picks in the first round, look for us to make it back into the second round by dealing TE great Tony G to the Falcons for their second round selection #55 overall.

Tony goes to a contender, out of conference mind you which is an added bonus, we pick up a valuable first day selection to continue our rebuilding efforts, Scott and Tom have a drink to old times, everybody walks away a winner.

While reading an article written by Randy Covitz the other day

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/chiefs/story/1047043.html

 Scott Pioli was quoted as saying.

“Even though we’re three, we could be at 23,” Pioli said Saturday at the NFL scouting combine. “Even though you’re at 23, you could be at three..."

This gave me an idea of a super draft day scenario. What if we swapped 1st round picks this year with NE and acquired Matt Cassel in the process? That would enable us to get the QB we need and a hi speed LB with our 1st round. I know that some of you are high on Aaron Curry @ #3, but I would say that Cassel + Cushing or Laurenitis> Curry.

We are 50 million under the cap so picking up Cassel's 14.65 contract wouldn't kill our aspirations of picking up a couple of marquee FA's as well. I feel really good about this posibility, what do yall think?

I have thought about the switch to 3-4 and originally was against it as I figured we would be starting from scratch, but then reality set in. We had the worst pass rush in NFL history. We can't stop the run, we can't get offenses off the field. We didn't have the guys to make a 4-3 work, so we aren't losing anything by switching to 3-4. I know some of you will say what about Dorsey, but Im sure the guys @ Arrowhead Drive have thought about him and have got a plan brewing. I'm willing to bet they dont tell us what the plan is, but thats fine, they get paid the big bucks, we don't.

Anyhow if we were staying in the 4-3, I felt strongly that Curry would be the pick @#3 and would play strongside LB, with DJ moved to weakside, and a FA pickup, I was targeting Vilma, would play Middle. Well now with the new revelation of the switch to 3-4, the draft and FA scenarios I had going have obviously switched as well.

Now our pick @ #3 will be more inline with Mr. Pioli's draft history in New England's formative years. Our pick @#3 will be the guy who blew up the senior bowl, who nobody could block. Alex Mack, the best center prospect coming out of the college ranks in the last decade couldn't handle this guy. The clog in the middle will be BJ Raji. His stats per scout.com have listed as 6-2, 334, a 5 star prospect. The #1 DT in the draft.  

http://profootball.scout.com/a.z?s=127&p=8&c=1&nid=3898154&yr=2009

So what do yall think? Does the switch in defense change who we will be drafting and if so what do you think about Raji?

I've read through a majority of the posts on here about our new coaching staff and it appears to be mostly negative, some of the more descriptive words used are, "rejects, losers".

My thoughts are that this a good group of guys with a wealth of knowledge, and I will tell you, anyone associated with Parcells, Haley and Pioli are top notch guys.

What did you think the announcements were going to be? Bill Walsh as the OC, Lawrence Taylor as LB coach, frickin Reggie White coachin the D Line, with Lombardi leading the way as HC. Maybe while we're at it lets get Montana in here to show these guys how to be cool under pressure, then maybe bust OJ out of jail and have him coach up our running backs? Lets see if Dan Dierdorf wants to give it a shot at OLine, with Lynn Swann showing our receivers the ropes. Bet you all would have shit your pants with those names, hell i would have shit my pants.

But cmon, you got to ask yourselves what are reasonable expectations? And I've read what some of your responses have  been, I've seen the answers, "how bout someone from the Ravens, Steelers, or Giants, an up an comer on the rise?" Did it cross your minds that maybe those guys like the idea of where thy are at? That those guys were under contract?

Now this attitude of negativity is putting a big time damper on what is shaping up to be the greatest offseason ever. We got FA coming up, the combine is starting today, and the draft in 2 months. We haven't come close to OTA's yet and some of you are already suggesting that our D fense is going to be horrible again. That's a bullshit loser attitude that isn't needed or wanted this offseason. Man up Chiefs fans, get behind your team, and lets look forward to the future.

It seems as though the draft debate has shifted to possibly selecting an Offensive Tackle with the #3 pick. I am not above this idea as having a powerhouse line can do wonders for a team. In recent memory our beloved Chiefs had a crushing O-LINE and the results where record breaking. Who among us would not like to see our QB have all day to throw or our RB have lanes the size of I-70 to run through?

However this brings up a few possiblities: What would we do with last years selection Mr. Albert? Would we move him or keep him at LT? How would the pick effect the rest of the line? Would you move Albert inside, push Waters over to center freeing up Niswanger to move over to RG with McIntosh still holding down RT?

This is what I propose we do if we decide to go with an OT  with the #3 pick. 

Jason Smith OT Baylor. He has best feet of any OT, (used to play TE) and is very athletic, also projected as having the highest upside of any OT in the draft. Smith goes to LT. Albert slides to, nope not LG but rather RT. This gives us a pair of athletic tackles, who can keep our QB safe in a pass happy offense ie the Haley/Gailey Magical Hour. Bookend Tackles for years to come, significant impovement on the right side of the ball, slight improvement on the left side, makes sense for the salary cap, and considering where Albert was picked #15, putting him at RT would not be considereded a loss of value.

We cut McIntosh, move Niswanger to RG, and bring in Jason Brown from Baltimore, or Matt Birk from Minnesota, Birk may not play at the level he did 3-4 years ago, but he is an improvement over Niswanger.

So at the end of the shuffle we will have a line looking like this

LT- Jason Smith

LG- Brian Waters

C- Jason Brown/ Matt Birk

RG- Rudy Niswanger

RT- Branden Albert

With the various scenarios out there what would you do if your the one calling the shots?

So I just read a piece by Matt McGuire over at Walter Football, http://www.walterfootball.com/mattblog.php, suggesting that when it comes to our pick @ #3 , the choice will be between Aaron Curry, LB or Mark Sanchez, QB.

McGuire is saying that he thinks the pick will be for Sanchez based on his potential and recent draft history of franchise QB's taken with regime changes. I disagree.

I think that Mr. Pioli goes defense and selects Curry to help shore up our LB corp. My thoughts are that Sanchez is unproven and we all know the history of underclassmen QB's coming into the pros to early. Curry on the hand is the highest rated LB coming out this year, a graduating senior, and would go farther with value for us as he can step in Day 1 to make an immediate impact, where as the odds are against Sanchez being able to make the jump and become a starter from the get go.

So what do you think Chiefs Fans, if there is no way we can trade down out of the #3 slot, do we go with Aaron Curry or Mark Sanchez?