Grading the New Chiefs: The Brandon Albert Edition
A couple of weeks ago, Phil suggested that Brandon Albert was a logical choice for the Chiefs to take at #5 (we both thought it was a reach, but that he offered the Chiefs the best value). I still think that Albert would have been a decent choice at #5, but at #17, the Albert pick was highway robbery.
Albert’s upside: What makes Albert such an outstanding pick is that he’s got ridiculous upside with a relatively minimal downside. At best, he’ll turn into a solid starting left tackle and could project to be even more effective than any of the other left tackles in this year’s draft (Long, Clady, Williams, Otah, Cherrilus). He’s an awesome blocker when he’s put into open space and he has outstanding footwork. Arguably, he’s the most talented tackle in the draft. If he doesn’t pan out at left tackle, he’ll be shifted to guard, where most scouts believe he is a surefire starter with pro bowl potential.
Albert’s downside: Playing left tackle is difficult enough as it is, but it’s going to be extremely difficult to do on the NFL level. It’s a bit idealistic to believe that Albert can bypass years of inexperience and play at an effective level from the get-go. It’s one thing to have the athleticism to play a position; it’s quite another to actually have the know-how to play the position.
Albert’s role with the Chiefs: Carl Peterson made the comment that Herm Edwards projects Brandon Albert to be a right tackle. You would think the Chiefs would make such an announcement after evaluating him at OTAs. This comment makes me question if Peterson is trying to lowball Albert by projecting him to start at a lesser-paid position. I personally don’t think Albert should start the season at Right Tackle. I think one of the most dangerous things we can do for the kid is to move him around over and over again like a chess piece. That was a mistake I believe they made with Jordan Black, who arguably could have been an effective guard. Right tackle and left tackle are not the same position, contrary to popular belief, so my feeling is that you start him at left tackle from day 1 of practice and give him about a year to prove he can or can’t play the position. That’s a long enough time to get a pretty good evaluation as to whether he’ll ever have the upside to play the position. The last thing we want is for the Chiefs to never learn what Albert’s capable of and what role he best fits until the 3rd or 4th season of his career. The second-to-last thing we want is for the Chiefs to shatter Albert’s confidence by setting him up to fail in not one, but two positions. The Chiefs are in a rebuilding year and should take every opportunity this year to see if Albert has what it takes to be a left tackle, even if it comes at the sacrifice of less-than-optimal play in 2008.
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13 Responses to “Grading the New Chiefs: The Brandon Albert Edition”
May 4th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
Jon - We drafted Albert at #15. We traded up from the 17 spot, but it was a smart move from the Chiefs braintrust. Great value still at 15. I have to agree about starting him at OLT as well, unless he’s lost. Many teams seem to put rookies at OLT and survive. Next year isn’t about winning the Super Bowl. It’s about laying the groundwork for such a run. If Albert is not ready at OLT, what about OLG?
May 5th, 2008 at 10:30 am
If we want him to be the LT, I agree, they should start him there. But what if we want to keep him as a guard? Having Waters, , and Albert could let us run inside, much like we were able to even after losing Roaf (LJ rushed for over 1700 yds the year after big Willie retired)
May 5th, 2008 at 10:33 am
and yes, I know that drafting a guard at #15 is kinda crazy, but what if we had known in 93 what Shields would have turned into…wouldn’t he have been the first player taken in that draft? Not saying that Albert is or ever will be Shields, but I am not sold on this unspoken “you never draft a guard that high” rule. If Albert stays at guard and makes the ProBowl 5 or 6 times, wouldn’t we all agree he never should have played LT?
May 5th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Albert was a good pick but you gave up Allen for that pick. Just think of the combination of Dorsey and Allen on the same line. You could have dominated some games and that combination could have given you a couple wins. Your coach talks about rebuilding. He is in his third year, the year in which you should see the results of your rebuilding. I think you took a step foward and two steps back by trading Allen. The bottom line is you just did not want to pay Allen, period. Why bother aquiring talent if you are going to trade it away.
May 5th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Albert won’t start at right tackle. I am going to stick my neck out and project the starters on the offensive line before the Chiefs even go to camp. The starting left tackle will be Branden Albert. The starting left guard will be Brian Waters. The starting center will be Niswanger or whoever can beat him out for the position. The starting right guard will be Damion McIntosh. The starting right tackle will be Barry Richardson. This scenario fits the Chan Gaillery/Herm Edwards power running game nicely. I don’t think it will be too far from right.
May 5th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
PV, that’s a good thought. And I think the answer to that is that good guards grow on trees these days but a good LT is very hard to find. The Chiefs will have Barry Richardson, Herb Taylor, and Rudi Niswanger competing for that position, in addition to several undrafted rookies. I feel pretty comfortable that one of them will end up being a pretty capable solution. I’d rather test Albert at tackle first and move him to guard if he’s anything short of solid at tackle.
Diamond Jim, I was one of the biggest critics of the Allen trade and I’m still not happy about it. But the Chiefs didn’t do bad here. They drafted Dorsey and still got arguably the second best lineman on the board in Albert, in addition to getting the extra pick that ultimately got them Jamaal Charles (who I believe is going to be an absolute steal–a Maurice Jones-Drew type player) and Dajuan Morgan who is both a special teams gunner and potential starter. So for one star free agent, the Chiefs may have gotten 3 key players for the team.
I agree that Carl Peterson needs to clean up his act because we can’t afford to lose yet another Jared Allen… but the Chiefs ended up okay, quite possibly even better b/c of the trade.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
I like the line with Albert at left tackle, Waters at left guard, Wade Smith at center, Niswanger at right guard, and McIntosh at right tackle.
May 5th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
“Albert was a good pick but you gave up Allen for that pick. Just think of the combination of Dorsey and Allen on the same line. You could have dominated some games and that combination could have given you a couple wins. Your coach talks about rebuilding. He is in his third year, the year in which you should see the results of your rebuilding. I think you took a step foward and two steps back by trading Allen. The bottom line is you just did not want to pay Allen, period. Why bother aquiring talent if you are going to trade it away.”
It could have given you a couple wins. Exactly. Yes, that would have been wonderful to see, but a couple wins would be the max. Somthing HAD to be done about the offensive line. Plain and simple. Also, they haven’t even really let Herm start the rebuilding process until this year. Don’t you think he wanted to do this when he first got here? If he had, we would be a power in the AFC by now.
As far as Allen goes, it was the best decision. Period.
1. He didn’t want to play here anymore.
2. If you’re trying to rebuild, how can you justify using up cap room by having the highest paid defensive player of all time?
3. Especially if that player could be a potential risk down the road?
4. Especially if you have so many holes that the team looks like swiss cheese and his trade will get you quality players to fill those holes?
As far as the offensive line outlook, I like it, with one exception. I’m hoping that McIntosh gets beat out altogether by one of the younger guys (maybe Taylor) so he can get playing time and develop the line for the future. D-Mac won’t be around much longer. Neither will Waters. We can draft his eventual replacement next year.
May 6th, 2008 at 6:45 am
Brandt,
You could be right with that starting offensive line. Wade Smith could beat out Niswanger at center and Smith has NFL experience. I know my pick for right tackle (Richardson) is a rookie, and has to work on his pass protection technique, but he is young, strong, and a bull of a run blocker. It all depends on how the players develop. I was hoping to stimulate some discussion by sticking my neck out and projecting who might play on the offensive line. Yours certainly makes a lot of sense.
May 6th, 2008 at 8:57 am
The Kansas City Star is projecting the offensive line starters to be Left Tackle–Branden Albert, Left Guard–Brian Waters, Center–Wade Smith, Right Guard–Adrian Jones, Right Tackle–Damion McIntosh.
May 6th, 2008 at 10:45 am
You don’t ordinarily see a team burn a #15 overall pick on a guard so I guess the debate is more about where Albert is most effective? RTs are also seen as value picks in that (#15) neighborhood so let’s see where the young man is most effective before we start slotting him in at a particular position.
McIntosh could move back to LT if Albert isn’t up to the task as yet and the Chiefs are still another good draft or two away from being legitimate contenders anyway, so again, I say we let Albert’s play on the field dictate where he starts.
May 10th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I personally don’t think the Chiefs are that far away. The defense is good, the offense will be a hell of a lot better, and special teams can’t get any worse than last year. The offensive line will be a lot better now with a lot of capable lineman battling it out for a couple of spots; competition makes everyone better because in life, you either get better or get worse, you never stay the same. I don’t think they will actually make the playoffs in the thick AFC, but they won’t be an easy team to beat.
May 16th, 2008 at 7:22 am
The Chiefs are saying their starting offensive line will tentatively be Albert–left tackle, Waters–left guard, Niswanger–center, Adrian Jones–right guard, and McIntosh at right tackle.
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