COMMENTARY

Chiefs make good picks for a bad team

The glaring hole in Glenn Dorsey’s game was made obvious Saturday afternoon.

Chiefs coach Herm Edwards announced that with Dorsey’s acquisition journeyman defensive tackle Alfonso Boone will move to left defensive end. Boone’s flip to end indicates that Turk McBride, Kansas City’s second-round pick a year ago, is a flop.

The flip and the flop raise major questions about the Outland Trophy-winning defensive tackle the Chiefs snagged with the fifth pick in Saturday’s NFL draft.

The Artist Formerly Known as King Carl’s success rate when selecting defensive linemen makes the “Madden Cover Curse” look like a rabbit’s foot. When Carl Peterson really likes a defensive linemen Chiefs fans usually learn to hate him and offensive linemen learn to love him.

On paper, Dorsey was the most NFL-ready player in this weekend’s draft. He has all the tools that made Warren Sapp a dominant force on the Tampa Bay defenses that shaped Edwards’ philosophy. Dorsey is wide, strong, prideful, athletic and tough. He gutted out the second half of his senior season despite playing on a bad knee after two overmatched Auburn linemen took him out with an unethical block.

Yes, there’s much to like about Kansas City’s first-day draft. The Chiefs moved up two spots later in the first round and grabbed Virginia offensive tackle Branden Albert at No. 15, causing Peterson backup singer Bill Kuharich to remark that he never imagined in his “wildest dreams” getting Dorsey and Albert.

Kuharich has pretty tame dreams. I’ll leave it at that.

Chiefs fans dream modestly, too. They would be satisfied if Dorsey isn’t the second coming of Ryan Sims, Junior Siavii, Turk McBride, Eddie Freeman or Eric Downing. McBride was supposed to be the rookie who could fill in during Jared Allen’s two-game suspension to start last season.

Now McBride isn’t even good enough to be the on-paper, offseason starter at defensive end. It’s not his job to lose. Instead, a 305-pound tackle who has started 33 of 98 games during an unspectacular, 11.5-sack, eight-year career is slated to take Allen’s starting job.

Wow. The Chiefs could be the worst pass-rush team in the league next season. Boone won’t play end in pass-rush situations. But their starting defensive line will not have a proven quarterback-chaser. Tamba Hali recorded 7.5 sacks last season.

Kansas City’s inability to pressure the quarterback will be magnified by the team’s weakness at corner. Patrick Surtain is washed up. KC’s second-round pick Brandon Flowers is obviously unproven. When you can’t pressure or cover, you can’t get off the field on third down.

Glenn Dorsey is going to need to be very good. If he can get up field the way Sapp did early in his career and Hali blossoms at right end (Allen’s old spot), the Chiefs can get away with a run-stopper at left defensive end.

From my vantage point, KC’s defensive-end situation looks horrible. Jared Allen is the prototype NFL defensive end. The four starting defensive ends in this past season’s Pro Bowl all pretty much looked exactly like Allen — long, lean and athletic. The Chiefs are going to play with two squatty bodies. That’s fine if the ends are as explosive and nimble as Dwight Freeney. It’s deadly if they’re a mix of Dan Saleaumua and Tracy Simien.

The Chiefs are basically begging teams to throw on first down. And the opposition would be stupid not to drop back and wing it.

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To reach Jason Whitlock, call 816-234-4869 or send e-mail to jwhitlock@kcstar.com. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com.