Lets start out with the NT's projected to come out next season.

Jerrell Powe DT Mississippi 6-2 340

Kendrick Ellis, DT Hampton 6-5 340

Phillip Taylor DT Baylor 6-4 355

Lawon Scott DT Mississippi 6-1 322

Harold Ayodele DT 6-1 338

This season will determine a lot as to where they go in the draft, but I could see Pioli holding out for a Powe, Ellis, or Taylor and standing pat with the two vets or taking a young guy late for depth, like he did with Magee in the third.

Look at the C's next season

O'Dowd, he could be a center, but at 6'5 I could see him as more of a RG

Wisniewski at 6-3 298 would probable fit our scheme better or Ryan McMahon 6-3 285 from florida state or Zane Taylor 6-2 300 from Utah.

I could see us taking Powe, or another NT in round 1 and C in round 2 with Wisniewski or another C later in the draft.

So really I expect a NT in rounds 3-5 this season, and most likely in round 5 for depth and we take our starter at the position next season.

I could see the same thing at C, but I'm expecting RG and RT, possibly LT if the right guy falls.  What do some of you right now guys think?

Well I've been trying to figure out where he fits on the O-line, and finding anything on him is a pain unless you go back to his days at MU. 

Here's the good on his scouting report. Both scouting reports are from cbssports.com

Tall with a strong frame, with the room to add more bulk and strength. Good initial kick-slide; his lateral movement on zone plays is also better than expected. Has a wide base in pass protection. Will stick onto his man if landing his hands on his jersey. Resets hands inside to maintain anchor if quarterback holds onto the ball. Able to angle a defender out of the inside gap to open huge running and passing lanes. Adjusts inside, getting his hands up quickly to help on end-tackle twists. Despite his height, Brown cuts his man effectively when needed.

Sounds like he was drafted with Cassel in mind on pass protection.

To me that sounds like a LG or a LT.

Now on to the bad.

Plays too tall at times, and tends to bend at the waist. Does not play as strong as you'd expect for his size, and can get out-leveraged on the line and bull-rushed into the quarterback. Quick defensive ends can beat him easily with an inside spin move or hesitation move to the outside. Needs to prove he can get out of a three-point stance as he wasn't asked to do it often. Plays top-heavy, overextending in space and in pass protection, losing his balance. Adequate moving to the second level, at best.

The negatives also push him more towards a backup for the left side of the line, although the coaching staff had him playing right guard.  I'm guessing his being bull rushed isn't a strength thing it's a leverage thing exactly as stated.  A project pick for the right side of the line, RG possibly eventually moving to RT as his technique improves.  All of those problems sound like technique which is very coachable.

I can see why he was moved from tackle to guard based off of the scouting report.

Moving onto his injury, you go over and over the internet and you get undisclosed injury, undisclosed injury.  One site said he missed part of the preseason with a shoulder injury before going on injured reserve.  When I clicked on it the site had been removed or was down for some reason.

another scouting report this one from http://www.nfl.com/draft/2009/profiles/colin-brown?id=238429

He developed into an all-conference performer at right tackle by his final two seasons, and has the size teams love at that position.  Although he's not an elite athlete, Brown's length and relative agility make it tough to beat him on the outside. But Missouri's spread offense makes it difficult to project if he can handle run-blocking duties at the next level. 

After walking on at Missouri and redshirting his first season, Brown was awarded a football scholarship before the 2005 season. He saw action in two games as the backup center.

After seeing action in 13 games as a reserve left guard and on special teams in 2006, Brown emerged in 2007 spring drills. After backing up left tackle Tyler Luellen, Brown moved to the right side and won the job in the fall. He was entrenched at the spot for the final two years of his Tigers career.

A huge man at 6-feet-7 and 340 pounds, Brown earned Honorable Mention All-Big 12 in 2007 and built on that with another Honorable Mention campaign as a senior after being named to the Lombardi Award Watch List.

I said just a few days ago I could see Brown being our starting RG next season, now I'm not so sure.  What was Brown's injury?  What can be done with him while he's on IR, did he lose a whole season or is someone working with him not only on his rehab but on his technique? 

I'm pulling for him at RG but maybe Incognito should be brought in so Brown has another year or two to learn the things that will make him our future starter at RT or he could be that back up for us that Wade Smith is.  We need Two  starters on the O-line, a C and a RG.   Waters is getting long in the tooth and at times it shows.  Are we going to sign a LG, or draft a LT this year?  That's a possibility of needing three starters.

With all the hush, hush around the Chiefs and the way Brown just dropped off the world with no explanation I think he plays a big part on the line next year.  The question is, Where?

I know I'm going to be fried by some of you for this, but I have a migraine and I can't sleep.  This has kept me from going off of the deep end tonight.

FA's -
RB - Chester Taylor, LenDale White, Justin Griffith (FB)
WR - Brandon Marshall, Antonio Bryant, Chris Henry, Chris Chambers, Mark Clayton, Matt Jones, Miles Austin
TE - Alge Crumpler, Ben Watson
C - Justin Hartwig
G - Logan Mankins, Richie Incognito

NT - Vince Wilfork, Casey Hampton, Jason Ferguson, Ryan Pickett
DE - Richard Seymour
OLB - Shawne Merriman
ILB - Kirk Morrison, Larry Foote,
CB - Carlos Rogers, Dunta Robinson,
S - O.J. Atogwe, Nick Collins, Darren Sharper, Dawan Landry

OK Lets start with the O-Line.  

Justin Hartwig (C) is a FA this year, 6' 5" 312 lbs. but he's 31 years old, might just be a stopgap for us.  Kind of a hometown guy, he's from Iowa, played college ball at Kansas, might not be hard to pick him up if he thinks we're making strides in the right direction.

Is Colin Brown our answer at right guard?  Alleman doesn't seem to be the man for the position, there seems to be some biased (by the coaching staff) against Ndukwe Playing right guard if anyone else has a pulse.  But Indukwe is our starting RG against Pitt this weekend isn't he?

Logan Mankins (LG) 6' 4" 310 lbs. 27 yrs old.  Logan's name has been brought up, but doing a little research he plays left guard.  We have Brian Waters and we have Branden Albert to play left guard.  Do we bring in Mankins and leave Albert at LT?

Richie Incognito (RG) 6' 3" 324 lbs. 26 yrs old.  Another name being tossed around, this time we might have hit the nail on the head.  Richie is a RG, one of our positions of need, a "dirty" player.  Could be someone worth checking out.

A project LT and a starting RT can be addressed in the draft along with a starting C, I highly doubt we put this much effort into rebuilding our O-Line this year, but there's a few options.

Moving on
TE, our Holy Shit we gave away Gonzo for these guys?!?!?!?! position

Alge Crumpler (TE) Height: 6-2 Weight: 262, 32 yrs old  Has Algernon Crumpler's clock been winding down?  Is he done?  He's a nine year vet, 32 years old.  A Haley training camp might save his career.  He's 3 yrs removed from the pro-bowl and was considered one of the best TE's in football when Tennessee signed him, with Jared Cook taking away playing time he might be ready to move on to a new team.  This is from TitanRob of the Music City Miracles "Let’s not forget that Algae proved to be a great blocker last season and his good blocking will allow Rookie TE Jared Cook to run patterns consistently and even line up in the slot."  Most of Alge's knocks come from a fumbled ball in the playoffs and coming into this season out of shape, kind of sounds like some of our guys doesn't it?

Ben Watson (TE) Height: 6-3 Weight: 255 Age: 28.   An outlet tight end, a flight of stairs up from who we have and a flight of stairs down from Gonzo but he's fairly young, but what I can find on him he's not a natural blocker, but I did find this.  "However, a source close to the team tells us that starting TE Ben Watson improved his blocking considerably during his injury-shortened 2007 campaign."  I don't remember where I got that tidbit but I'm not going back to look it up.

Moving on

Chester Taylor (RB) Height: 5-11 Weight: 213 Age: 30, an older guy gotta give you that.  I've heard reports that he's a younger Kevin Faulk.  Maybe, maybe not, and is he needed with Jamaal Charles on the roster?  But I've heard people calling for Faulk so I looked around and Taylor popped out at me.

LenDale White (RB) Height: 6-1 Weight: 235 Age: 25 by the time it counts  Here's that bruising downhill runner some want us to have.  He's seeing a diminished role in tennessee, might be ready to move on.

Justin Griffith (FB) Height: 6-0   Weight: 230   Age: 29  Has experience in a zone blocking scheme.  Trying to find a decent scouting report on this guys is a pain.  Seattles fans seem to like him better than Schmitt at FB, the way they talk Griffith finds the hole and makes the correct blocks, what I can find a lot of on him is a quote saying you had to block longer for Mike Vick than any other QB he'd ever played with.

Moving on

WR and I expect to get fried here

Chris Chambers.......we have the skinny on him, is he worth resigning?  Will he resign with us?

Mark Clayton Height: 5-10 Weight: 190 Age: 27  A hot and cold player it seems so far in his career in the league, a yo-yo guy?  Or does gameday and gameplan in Baltimore dictate the type of numbers he puts up?

Antonio Bryant Height: 6-1 Weight: 205 Age: 28  He's shown the talent to be a #1 WR, but his career seems to be a good year then a bad year, followed by a good year.  This season might be due to erratic play at the QB position in Tampa.

Matt Jones Height: 6-6 Weight: 218 Age: 26  We've all heard the good and the bad and the ugly is he worth taking a chance on at the Vet minimum for a season if he can pass the drug test?

Chris Henry Height: 6-4 Weight: 200 Age: 26  This is taken from Wikipedia, I'm getting tired here, it's late.  Henry has been involved in a string of legal troubles during his professional career, which include several arrests for such offenses as driving under the influence, marijuana possession, assault, and criminal damaging. He was suspended for the first four games of the 2008 season. He had trouble free 2009 season where he has been deep threat for the Bengals. He suffered broken forearm while making a 20 yards reception against Baltimore Ravens. He appears to be out for rest of the 2009 season.

Miles Austin Height: 6-3 Weight: 214 Age: 25   We've seen what he can do first hand, can he make a career out of doing that to people?

Brandon Marshall Height: 6-4 Weight: 230 Age: 25, again someone else we're familiar with, is his talent worth his off the field problems and what he'd bring to the locker room?

I don't want LJ junior or some of the other WR's mentioned due to off the field issues, I didn't even list TO, but to be fair I had to list most of the WR's that might be able to come in and contribute.

There's 15 possibilities on offense, holes that might be able to be filled in FA, some guys are role players, some guys that will want to own the organization.

Moving on to Defense

D-Line
NT -

Vince Wilfork Height: 6-2 Weight: 325 Age: 28  We are all familiar with this guy, with Ron Brace being brought in last season, is Wilfork out?

Casey Hampton Height: 6-1 Weight: 325 Age: 32, Pitts' NT we'll all get to see him in action sunday and draw our own conclusions.

Jason Ferguson Height: 6-3 Weight: 310 Age: 34  Is he any better than Ron Edwards?  Just went on the IR, for a knee injury, he is getting a little long in the tooth.

Ryan Pickett Height: 6-2 Weight: 340 Age: 30  Reports are that he's holding down the NT position in GB well with a rotation of BJ Raji.  

DE -

Richard Seymour  Height: 6-6 Weight: 310 Age: 30  Another guy we all know the skinny on, but will he come here?  Is pioli our ticket to him?

Moving on

OLB
Shawne Merriman - Height: 6-4 Weight: 265 Age: 25  Again someone we're familiar with, is he worth it?

ILB

Kirk Morrison Height: 6-2 Weight: 240 Age: 27  Will he fit into our 3-4?  I know he's a raider but he puts in some solid performances year in and year out.

Larry Foote Height: 6-1 Weight: 239 Age: 29  A 2 down ILB in Pitt, who was released last year and signed and played for his hometown team this year.  He stayed in on first and second down in Pitt and went out on passing downs.  Is he an upgrade?  Can we get him?

Moving on

CB -

Carlos Rogers Height: 6-0 Weight: 190 Age: 28 A step up over Brandon Carr, a scouting report from Football's future.  Rogers is a good cover corner in the league, but not having the greatest season this year, which could cost him a little. DeAngelo Hall is arguably playing the best football in that secondary right now. Still Rogers does a nice job of contesting passes and is not one of the bigger areas of problem in Washington. He, like many other players on the team, have voiced concern with ownership and could easily be on his way out if allowed to become an unrestricted free agent......  Does he physically fit the mold of what Haley wants in his CB's though?

Dunta Robinson Height: 5-10 Weight: 184 Age: 27  A small corner,  possibly undersized for what haley wants.  Still I'm sure he's a step up in coverage over Carr.  another scouting report from football's future.  After holding out for nearly the entire offseason, Dunta Robinson has stepped in and played pretty badly this year for a lousy secondary. With an entire offseason of workouts, Robinson can return to form and be one of the better corners in the league, but it’ll be interesting to see how the situation plays out next offseason after the saga of last year. His cries for more money have disappeared in recent weeks, but he may still demand top money, which the Texans will once again be reluctant to cave in to. Hopefully he won’t miss valuable workouts and play at a high level wherever he winds up playing.

S

O.J. Atogwe Height: 5-11 Weight: 205 Age: 28 (FS)  Reports are he's having a down year as far as big plays are concerned, but he's a very steady tackler, on pace to set career highs in tackles.

other possiblilities at safety
Nick Collins GB (26)
Antoine Bethea, Indianapolis Colts (25)
Darren Sharper, New Orleans Saints (33)

I know there's more but you can fill in the blanks for me, I'm getting tired.

Tyson Jackson and MaGee were both drafted because they fit the mold for 3-4 DE's.  Both were drafted to stop the run, push the line back right?  Not really drafted to rush the passer. 

Now the 3-4 scheme is built so the linebackers can rush the passer, but Jackson and MaGee will both be under tackle, which will leave Hali and Vrabel rushing the passer.  Or in simpler terms Hali and Vrabel will have tackles on them, one of them will even have a tight end to throw a chip before he releases to run his route. 

Uhhh, didn't Hali struggle just a little bit rushing the passer against NFL left tackles last year.  I'm even willing to bet that Vrabel is the guy that gets stuck with a tackle and a tight end, yeah I'd be the coach that would say, Let Hali beat us. 

I expect a pass rush from Vrabel's side, which will probably help Hali some, but nothing like Jared Allen did.  I fail to see a major upgrade in the pass rush, although Bob Gretz and other writers seem to think this will help.

I do expect to see Jackson, MaGee, Dorsey, and Tyler pushing the pocket early this year, and as lineman learn to defend against them, stand the rookies up and force them back, wasn't that the knock on both of them in thier scouting report.  I don't expect to see a whole lot coming off of the edges. 

Maybe Beisel will fill that ILB spot well enough next to Thomas that Johnson will be able to rush the passer some and Hali won't be on the field taking up space.  I believe something really has to be done and soon.  Is there a satisfactory answer out there as far as our pass rush goes.  I don't really think so.  LaBoy? Taylor?  We're not close enough to a play-off team to make a trade for someone to get after the passer.

I expect to see us start out faster this year and slowing down as defenses catch onto our rookies and our older linebackers get worn down.  Instead of making a late season push.  Our pass rush probably will improve 5 to 8 sacks this year and I hope I will be eating all of these words next year this time. 

To me the Chiefs are a better defensive team this year at this point than we were last year, but we've taken a step back on offense.  I'm hoping for a 7-9 showing, but who knows.