Their Record Might Not Show It, but the Chiefs Have Done a Solid Job in the Draft

The Chiefs may not have much to show for their efforts in terms of wins and losses, but there is a bright spot: they've had two of their better drafts in recent history, and embattled head coach Herm Edwards had a hand in both.

The Kansas City Star's Adam Teicher writes that Tamba Hali, Jarrad Page and Dwayne Bowe should develop into stars, and the only obvious miss so far was kicker Justin Medlock.

"I've had the chance to watch the two of them together, and they're very much on the same page," said Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt, referring to Edwards and [vice president of player personnel Bill] Kuharich. "It's always important to have your head coach and the guy running your draft on the same page, and I think we've had two very good drafts.

Unfortunately, those guys to this point have been too young to have a tremendous impact. Going into 2008, I would expect that 2006 draft class to have a tremendous impact."

And that's the thing: the Chiefs have had solid drafts recently but it wasn't enough to offset a four-win season in 2007. Hopefully, though, that'll change.

Although the defense is in good shape, it's the offense that raises some concerns. Hopefully, new offensive coordinator Chan Gailey will mitigate some of that, but there's only so much he can do. Ultimately, it'll come down to whether Larry Johnson is healthy enough to play, and perhaps more importantly, if Brodie Croyle will be able change his draft grade from "TBD" to "quality NFL starter."