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The Chiefs said it would be terribly painful to surrender their first round pick. The
Rams said they didn’t want Trent Green to leave their organization.
When all was said and done, though, the Chiefs gave up their No. 1 pick to get Green
from the Rams. Call it medicine both organizations really needed to swallow. Medicine may
not always taste great, but it is good for you. So it was for these two teams.
The Chiefs had to get a ready-for-prime time quarterback. The Rams need to
substantially revamp their defense and could no longer afford the luxury of Green as a
superb backup when draft choices are so badly needed to upgrade the ‘D.’
All of a sudden, the Chiefs have a pretty interesting offense. Green is a smart
quarterback who makes accurate throws. Although his passer rating was even better than
that of Rams starter Kurt Warner last season, Green clearly is not the quarterback Warner
is. Green does not have the magic Warner does. Green does not make reads as quickly as
Warner does. That said, Green should give the Chiefs a very capable quarterback. The
Chiefs couldn’t say that about the holdovers they had on the roster after Elvis Grbac
left.
The Chiefs have also agreed to a five-year, $8 million contract with free agent RB
Priest Holmes. I’m not a huge fan of Holmes as a starter. He is an excellent backup
but is merely average as a starter. He may have posted some big numbers in the past, but
his top games usually come against the worst teams in the league. Ideally, you want your
starting back to also come up big against the heavyweights. Nonetheless, Holmes at least
gives the Chiefs an answer at running back. The RB-by-committee approach did not work last
year, so this at least provides someone who has carried the load at times in his career.
With the QB and RB situations improved, the Chiefs have protected their terrific
receivers. If the QB and RB positions had gone unresolved, the receivers would not have
been able to perform to their maximum ability.
Tony Gonzalez is the best pass-catching tight end in the league. WR Derrick Alexander
is coming off a career year, and WR Sylvester Morris should only get better now that he
has a pro season under his belt.
Plus, the team has a nice, young pair of tackles in John Tait and Victor Riley.
As for the Rams, the Green trade simply gives them more firepower in Round One. The
Rams have three first-round picks and need to think defense, defense, defense.
The Rams have added a couple of nice pieces to the puzzle in LB Mark Fields and S Kim
Herring so far this offseason (and CB Aeneas Williams will be a nice move if it
doesn’t run into any snags), but there is a lot more work to be done. They especially
need DT help.
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