Chiefs Have Some BIG Decisions to Make Before Week 1 | Chiefs Group Chat
The Chiefs' offensive line suddenly has some major questions. Patrick Allen, Sterling Holmes and Matt Conner break down Kahlil Benson's rough outing against Tampa Bay, the injuries to Josh Simmons and Trey Smith, Kansas City's questionable depth and whether Brett Veach may need to make another move before Week 1. Plus, Garrett Nussmeier continues to impress, Felix Anudike-Uzomah finally flashes, the guys debate whether Justin Fields should remain QB2 and Harrison Butker somehow follows a monster 69-yard field goal by missing his next two kicks. Is it time to be concerned or are we reading too much into the preseason?
Video Transcript
Yeah, again, I know it's early, but damn does the draft class look good early.
I would be just fine writing with Nussmeyer as QB2.
If I could be world class at one completely useless skill, so I'd be like, Check out my foot sweep because nobody could do it.
Everyone knows chicks love magicians.
Chicks magicians, I know that's just anyway, onto Patrick, keep this, keep this train rolling.
What are we, what are we doing here?
Hey, welcome in to Chiefs Groove chat.
Patrick Allen back in the saddle with Sterling Holmes and Matt Connor.
Connor, the hair is looking fabulous today.
How are you doing, man?
Um, yeah, good.
I'm just, uh, I'm easy, breezy, beautiful this morning.
Are you a are you a Pantene guy?
Oh, man, you know, I don't, I don't know, maybe per plus, maybe.
Yeah, I, I honestly don't know.
I just like pump whatever's in the bottle.
That sounds a little, don't take that out of context, please don't cut that and use it for a video short.
I'd hate if that was used out of context.
That would be bad, bad news.
Are you a conditioner guy?
Yes, I only wash every 3 days, right?
And then put it up, rinse it properly, but then like when I do it, I go like all out.
Yeah, I have a, I have a stylist too.
Like I have a, do you guys have a stylist or do you go to the barbershop?
I go to the barbershop.
Sterley, I, I, I go to my friend's fiance who cuts my hair into a mullet, so I don't know.
Nice, nice.
That's a good one.
You need to make sure that that, that whole thing works out for you for the long term.
Yeah, let's hope so.
Let's hope they stay together because, yeah, they'll have to go back.
Actually, I like my old barber too, so it's not, it's, it's a win-win.
Speaking of, uh, staying together, the, the Chiefs are having a , a little bit of a difficult time having their offensive line stay together.
That's a good segue.
Well, you know, I've been doing this for a minute.
Uh, good, good, uh, preseason game here, number 2 over the weekend, Chiefs played the Bucks.
It was illuminating, I think, particularly on the offensive line front.
There's a little bit of panic in the streets right now, if you didn't watch.
No Josh Simmons, he's a little banged up.
Trey Smith's a little banged up, so they didn't play.
So you had, uh, uh, Jalen Moore playing left tackle for a majority of the game and, uh, and, and, uh, uh, Khalil Benson playing right tackle.
Didn't go great, I guess is sort of most people's opinion.
There were some bad reps in there.
How did you guys feel about their performance and how nervous are you about the current offensive line situation?
So, I like Khli Benson a lot.
I thought it was an astute pickup.
I think the Chiefs see a lot in him, and I think they really, really like what they've seen for the majority of training camp with him, clearly because he's been, you know, rolling with the ones, the majority of training camp.
That was not a good game.
There's no two ways to put it.
Uh, also, Monso Delane better be good because Ruben Bain looked incredible in that one.
I mean, Ruben Bain was a game wrecker.
I mean, that one specific play he had on Khalil Benson was, I don't care who's at right tackle, but if you're that size and you get moved like that by another grown man, that's impressive.
Uh, shockingly, arm length didn't matter there, even though Khalil Benson has very long arms.
I'm not giving up on Cole Benson by any means, but he has to bounce back game 3.
Clearly, the Chiefs wanted to see more because they left him out there with a lot of the 2s as well, right?
They wanted to see him try and bounce back a little better, right?
It was a little better as the game went on, but Yeah, he did look overmatched early on in that game.
That's not a great sign.
Um.
Caliendo is Caliendo.
I think we know who he is at this point.
Right?
I don't think there's much to really delve into.
He's a backup guard and expecting him to be a starter or Trey Smith is expecting to get let down.
Uh, Jaylen Moore, I, I, I didn't pay attention to as much in this one.
I, I was really focused on Khalil Benson and quite frankly, again, I, I was disappointed in, in what I saw in this one because I thought the, everything was pointing up and like old-time rockets, it, uh, it fell back down to earth.
I was reading that book by, uh, Tom Wolfe, um, about space and stuff.
It's cool.
Is that what it's called About space and stuff by Tom Wolf, I forgot what it's called.
It's called like true, uh, the right stuff.
The Right Stuff.
Good book.
I like that you're a reading man.
Oh, you know, guy, Sterling, like reading on the decline, you know, statistically, whatever.
I'm, I'm, I'm proud that maybe this is a, a literary group that can help push, you know, we need well-rounded fans is all I'm saying.
Uh, hey, look, on the, on the offensive line front, I'll just say this.
I, I, I think, I think Sterling grabbed onto something I think is important.
He said, I thought the trajectory was up.
I thought the arrow was up.
And I guess I would just push back to that because I just don't think anything related to the Chiefs for the next 10 weeks is gonna be linear like that.
And I know Sterling didn't say that , but what I think is important to keep in mind is, Everybody, from Mahomes taking his first reps again, um, and learning to trust that knee, from star players like Smith working their way back from an injury that Andy Reid insists is not that big a deal, you know, and, uh, and then younger units like the secondary learning to play together, like with Gilman and Delane and so on.
So, when I look at last, uh, or when I look at two nights ago, um , at Khalil Benson, when I'm looking at, um, Other young guys subbing in, Nussmeyer or whoever, Justin Fields learning a new system.
I'm just not overly panicked about any of it.
And so I just think, hey, if you like what you've seen so far in Khalil Benson, that's not undermined by Uh, a struggle in the 2 preseason game of his career.
What that is, is he's been given valuable reps to learn how to raise that floor of what we've seen.
So, what we've seen is the height of a ceiling that could be a real find.
And now we're raising the floor with reps that are gonna be valuable lessons.
I think Ruben Bains is gonna make a lot of people look silly, not just Khalil Benson, and I think he's gonna do that from, from week one, and I think that's OK. And I think I think a lot of pass rushers are gonna make both Jalen Moore or Khalil Benson look silly.
If I'm worried about anything along the offensive front, it is, uh, two things.
What Andy Reid insists is the short-term nature of these injuries that keep guys out for weeks at a time.
Josh Simmons with the back, um, you know, Trey Smith with a hip, a hip injury where you need to see a specialist.
And you need that kind of presence next to a tackle position where you're openly auditioning a rookie free agent.
Like, you need that chemistry, you need that continuity.
Don't bullshit me that this is like, oh, not a big deal.
You need that guy in there to be teaching the guy next to him how to do it.
And I would assume they want to ask Trey Smith, what do you think of the guy playing next to you?
Because that matters a lot in the evaluative period.
It's not happening here.
So, I, I think we're being fed some real, you know, uh, I, I, I, I don't know how much I trust these sort of short-term things here.
The other thing to keep in mind, Jesse Newell of the Athletic also came out and said, hey, I, I think it's possible that we're dealing for backups here along the interior offensive line.
Which is a real, you know, then why are we bringing back Caliendo?
We know the ceiling and the floor there.
It's basically the same level .
Um, you know, it, it's, it's an indictment on the fact that we used two draft picks on interior lineman a couple of years ago, Hunter Norzad, CJ Hanson, and neither one of them are moving the meter.
If we're playing Pete Nyra, who's an undrafted free agent out of Louisville, a center, we're playing him the most offensive reps of any of the first two games, trying to see what we have.
I think you're seeing a team looking around going, what do we have behind our interior?
Trey's already fallen apart.
Here in the early going, we need something and then Jesse Newell says we're gonna make a move there.
So, my worries are less about mercurial tackle, um, learning curve.
I think the whole team's on a learning curve until the mid-part of the season, but the depth there is a real concern for an injury that I think we're being lied to about.
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Yeah, context matters here too, right?
I think , first of all, you've got, you, you already said it, Matt.
Cleo Benson is an undrafted rookie free agent.
That doesn't mean that he's not good, but it means that he's got some issues.
If he didn't have issues, he would have gotten drafted.
Like this is, the NFL is pretty good about identifying offensive linemen, and if people have talent, you know, they're, they're generally not, not getting drafted at all.
So that's number one.
He's not gonna come in and be Joe Thomas immediately.
If you watch, uh, I, I encourage everybody who watched that game and is concerned, go to Mitchell Schwartz's Twitter.
Mitch did a whole breakdown on Khalil Benson.
He, he did every single snap, it's about 20 minutes long and it's a good watch because it's an actual offensive lineman, not.
Some guy on Twitter who saw him give up one bad rep and he's like, this is a disaster.
And what you'll see from Mitch, the big point that he made was Benson was slow off the line, like he was just slow.
He was, he was, so, it was, he was like, it's kind of hard to evaluate when he's getting beat on the edge.
Can, is he just not fast enough to get to the edge in his pass set?
In the NFL or is he just slow?
Let's add in some more context.
If he's been out there practicing a lot with the ones, he's practicing with Patrick Mahomes.
Now all of a sudden he's in there, he's playing right tackle with Justin Fields and his cadence.
Is that why he's a little bit slow?
Like, it's probably not one thing or the other, it's probably a lot of things.
And so, he's going up against a really good player.
Who, who a lot of people thought should have gone in the top 5.
He's with the backup quarterback.
He's out there on the right side.
He's also been playing a lot of guard.
He's also playing in his 2nd ever NFL preseason game.
I mean, there's a ton going on there, so I wouldn't panic, but he did some good things as well, particularly in, in, in the run blocking.
So that's exciting.
I'm more concerned about Jalen Moore looking like Dukey, because he is not a rookie, and he is somebody that some people think are the, is the front runner to be your right tackle.
Uh, and then lastly, I just want to say, if the Chiefs are potentially looking for interior alignmen, and they have been playing Khleo Benson at guard, and they think he, like some people think he might be better suited as a guard in the NFL, we'll see.
Why did they trade Juan Morris?
Like, this is, these are the kinds of decisions that I'm like, we all know Junie Morris isn't, isn't good, right?
He, he, he is what he is at this point.
But if you're at the point where you're like, well, we like this Khalil Benson, and we think maybe he could play guard, and maybe that's his position, and then, so then you don't have tackle depth.
You know what I mean?
I guess he can swing, but I, that's, that's my concern is some of the decision making here, that sometimes the Chiefs make moves where they, they make moves with such confidence.
And Uh, sometimes I think they shouldn't.
I, like, maybe you ought to be a little more cautious there on the offensive line.
Like, why are you trading Jue Morris away when you've got a rookie undrafted free agent and more, and that's it.
I, I would say because they probably had Esapole above Juannier at that point in the pecking order.
And who knows?
I, I don't think they should have, but maybe even like an Ethan Driscoll.
I don't, I don't know where they had Juannier in the pecking order of tackle, but I think clearly he was behind at least Esapole at that point, and so they felt comfortable enough, um .
Driscoll had a nice game, by the way, yeah, I thought so too, like toward the end.
So I, I think there's something there that they like.
But again, we're, we're talking against going against threes and fours.
Going against Ruben Baines different than going against, not a shot against this guy, but for like the like Ethan Hercut, right?
Like there's a difference going between.
You know, yeah.
So, Take it with a grain of salt, but yeah, I, I think Juanny just fell so far back on the depth chart.
But again, if you're saying that you could have Caliendo or Juane Morris, well, give me Juane Morris.
Like I, I, I still think that , or Hunter Orzad, but I guess Hunterd Orzad again, backup center.
He's an interesting guy because I thought he deserved a lot more run last year and just in general, never got to really see it.
I don't know what's going on with the Nor that situation.
CJ Hanson, we've seen nothing from.
That was the 7th-round out of Holy Cross.
That's a flyer.
I have no issue with that.
No issue with, with the draft pick there.
I think overall though, um, you look around and, and, and the offensive line is still an issue.
Now, is it injury-related or is it just they don't get the right guys?
Is it system?
Is it Andy Heck?
We'll find out.
But I said last year and I'm saying it again, I think if you're a, uh, looking at position coaches who should be on the hot seat, I think Andy Heck should be that guy.
There's so much resources now have been inserted into the O-line and at some point, you can't just keep saying, we'll have the best interior 3 in the O-line and We don't see results transpire from that.
Uh, I do think the defensive line, on the other hand, was at least fun to watch.
FAU might be good.
It might be FAU season.
I don't know what's going on, but he was really enjoyable to watch.
I didn't mean to transition from O to D, but I, I, I loved what I saw from FAU a ton.
I love that we saw anything from FAU.
I'm not, I'm not counting those chickens yet, that's for sure, but I'm counting chickens.
I'm like, he was still behind Ashton Gillati before Gillati got injured on the, on the depth chart.
So he should be, he didn't play for a full year.
Like, and Gelati's a promising.
I like Gelati.
Yeah, yeah, I do too.
I do too.
But it's like, OK, is this, is this, is he gonna live up to his potential or like, what are we hoping for here, right?
Rotational , like best case scenario, rotational guy who gets 5 sacks.
I mean, is that, That'd be great .
I mean, if FAU got 5 sacks, you're thrilled.
I mean, I, I, I think he could do a different style of player, different style, but can he be?
Like Mike Danna Yeah.
Like Mike Danna would have like 5.5 sacks.
We saw FAU on, uh, passing down situations.
He kicked inside for like the NASCAR package that Spaggs likes to run.
Dana used to do that as well.
I, I thought FAU looked pretty good in run game.
I mean, he was, he was a menace.
I, I, I really was impressed.
I, this is not me trying to be hyperbolic.
I, I thought FAU was, I thought our Mason Thomas looked fine as well.
He, he had a couple of flashes, but was FAU the best defender in this game?
I, I'm certainly up there, certainly up there.
Yeah.
Do you, do you mean, I mean, I, I, I know it's a preseason game.
I get that.
It's a preseason game, all that stuff, but did we ever think At this point, we would have a conversation of did FAU look like the best defender for the Chiefs because we had that on Saturday.
You also brought up Ethan Hercut, you know, which, I mean, is it worth it?
Ethan Hercut, I put my thing down, flip it, and reverse it.
Oh man, Am I right?
Am I right?
Is that good?
I've been saving that ever since you said it.
You don't.
Hit your button flick it.
He didn't hurt it.
Oh man, I didn't know you're the Missy Elliott of the show, but here we are, baby.
I, I love it.
I'm here for it, man.
You said you're missing me when we're not on podcast, so I just wanted to keep it anyway, onto Patrick, keep this, keep this train rolling.
What are we doing here?
I'm trying.
Let's talk about, um, really quickly the quarterback position because we, we all.
I know, Mahomes is gonna be out there when the season starts, but You got your, you got your, you got your Justin Fields experience here, if y'all, uh, haven't watched a lot of Justin's career thus far.
Um, and then you got Garrett Nussmeyer who Is that QB2?
Probably not, because it's Andy, but dude looked a little bit like Mahomes on a couple of those throws out there.
He seems, uh, you know, it, it hasn't been that long since we were in quarterback purgatory and every, You know, we were sitting there watching the preseason games being like, can this guy play?
Oh my God, he made one pass, you know, so, I'm I'm sure there's a little bit of that in there, but we watched a lot of bad quarterbacks come through Kansas City.
And I remember one of the things that I noticed about Mahomes when he first came in in the preseason.
Was that he kept his eyes downfield, uh, when he navigated through the pocket, which we had, I had been used to like guys like Matt Castle at the first sign of pressure just like collapsing in on themselves, like a black hole.
And he seemed composed, even when things got frantic.
And of course that was a, like that was a sign of things to come, right, uh, for, for Maholmes.
I feel like I see that in Nussmeyer.
Like he keeps his eyes downfield, he navigates the pocket well while doing that and doesn't seem to panic.
Is this a good like gem of a pickup for, for the Chiefs here in the quarterback room?
Yeah, again, I know it's early, but damn, does the draft class look good early.
I mean, this, this needed to happen and so far it looks a little like 2022 all over again, right?
Need to rebuild.
Yeah, whole new pieces, lower expectations, and we know how that went for KC .
So let's hope the same thing transpires.
But when it comes to Garrett Nessmeyer in general, I think now you're clearly looking at a guy who's gonna be on the 53.
You're not getting him to the practice squad.
I, I, I, I think there's no chance that a, from what we've seen again, I know it's preseason, all those things we saw Shane Bushell looked good one time in the preseason, but Garrett Nussmeyer.
was gonna be a 1st-round draft pick, like a top 10 guy before last year.
Injuries happened, he played like ass.
He was gonna get benched, and then, I don't know what happened.
I mean, we don't know what happened to LSU.
College is so wild how things can change year over year.
I mean, he went from literally a top 10, top 20 pick to a 7th-rounder in 1 year in college.
But the talent was there.
There was no denying .
No one was sitting there going, well, he's not talented.
No one knows exactly what happened about the injuries.
But he looks really good, like really, really solid.
Um, I'm still having fields above him, right?
Like he's not, he just seems, he seems like he's played NFL before.
I mean, even the little bootleg out when he went to the right and the pass, was it Jared Wiley or Britting stool.
I mean, I, I thought that was a nice little play .
Um, I, I, I think for me it still feels as QB2.
I know we'll sit there and laugh and yell about that sack that he took, which that just can't happen.
A year, what, 56 for Fields, that's a rookie mistake.
If you're making those mistakes, then yeah, put Nussmeyer out there.
But I, I, I thought Fields looked pretty good for the majority of that game, but that one specific play stands out so strong because it was such a horrific, hilarious play.
I mean, we're lucky that the Buccaneers got him when they did, or else he would have been running at the back of his own end zone.
Um, so, I think Ness Meyer is QB3 still, but now for me, he's on the 53.
That's what we needed to see.
Um, I think he's your long-term backup.
Potential to be the long-term backup here in KC for a while.
Yeah.
Yeah, I've, I've got nothing to add to that.
I, I hate that we, I, I both understand why we traded for Justin Fields.
I think it was the responsible thing to do in the moment.
We did not have the money of we being, Brett Veitch didn't have the money to go shopping for backup quarterback because guys like Minho and Mariota were going for a lot more.
I get why they made the trade that they did.
Um, you have to do that when Mahomes is, is at that point in the recovery just to be responsible to the position.
But, um, at the same time, I, I would be just fine riding with Nussmeyer as QB2.
I know they won't.
I know that's not responsible in terms of, you know, that's too big of a bet behind Mahomes at this point.
So they won't do it.
I get why they won't do it.
I would also be fine if they did it.
To your point real quick, just, just real quick.
It was a responsible move.
Even if we think Nussmeyer, I'm not saying we think that, but even if it were, were to be, oh, yeah, we like Nussmeyer better than Fields.
At the time , you had no backup.
At the time, you had no one throwing to a lot of the wide receivers in the OTA's training camp.
Like you needed someone to throw the football who was a professional out here.
Um, you didn't know Neussmeyer was gonna be there at that point too.
Like you didn't know you're gonna draft a quarterback.
So, everything into the conversation.
The responsible move was the Justin Fields move.
And by the way, again, he's looked OK.
It's not like he's been horrific.
It's not like he's been unplayable.
It's just he took, uh, one massive sack and he's probably not gonna be super explosive.
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And it's, it's important to remember too that it's a preseason.
You, so you're gonna see like Justin Fields, his warts, like they're gonna be there because what Andy's doing right now, if they're, if they're practicing some concepts and some things like that, he's got Justin Fields out there doing some of the things that he might want Patrick Mahomes to be doing when Patrick's out there, right?
Cause he's got to get the rest of the offense ready and he's not doing full-on game plans, he's not showing everything.
But those are the things that we're testing out, and Andy has a long history.
Should should Fields have to actually start, you're gonna see a game plan tailored for what Andy knows Justin Fields can do well.
We saw it with Matt Moore coming off the, like, he, he knows how to game plan so that to take advantage of quarterback strengths, he's done it his entire career.
You're probably not seeing his Justin Fields packages right now in the preseason, when he's trying to get everybody else ready for playing with Patrick.
And so, That should give you at least a little bit more confidence that should Justin Fields have to come off the bench to play a series or two during the season, that Andy's gonna have things that he's gonna look a lot better doing.
Same thing with Nussmeyer, and frankly, I hope that in this next preseason game, I would love to see Nussmeyer start the whole thing.
Forget about Olodokin, like, get him out there because, because look, at the end of the day, we don't ever want to see Garrett.
The only time we want to see Garrett Nusmeyer playing starter for the Kansas City Chiefs is the last week of the season because the one seed is locked up and we don't want Patrick out there, right?
Or if he has to step, and the ideal situation here is that He looks good in the preseason.
Over the next couple of years, he gets a couple of spot starts for one reason or another and looks good, and then we can flip him for a 3rd round pick or something like that later on down the line.
Like that's, that's the ideal situation.
So I hope, I hope Andy lets him, let, let the young guy go, you know what you got in Justin Fields.
He doesn't need any extra experience.
Forget about Ook and, he's not a, he's not an NFL quarterback.
Send Nussmeyer out there, let him play the entire game or most of the game, and see what he can do.
Yeah, I agree.
I mean, we don't need to see Olodoka anymore.
I'm sorry.
It's a fun story.
Seems like a nice guy.
We don't need to see him anymore.
Yeah.
He can't play.
I mean, he can't , he just can't play.
He's, he's not, not at this level.
Um, real quick before we get on to , uh, some fun, how about old Harrison Butler?
We talked about the Justin Fields experience.
We went on the Harrison Butler experience in this game.
If you didn't watch, Butler hit a 69 yard field goal, which I mean he had some juice on that.
It probably would have been good for 74, maybe 75.
I mean it was screaming through there.
He was jacked up, then he proceeded to miss two kicks after that, uh, a long extra point, which is like classic Buck Kerr.
Uh, pretty much really is the reason they lost the game, not that it matters, but you guys, I was talking about on the Thursday show.
Bucker had been talking about last year, he was changing his form.
Sterling knows this as a, as a, as a golf guy, like when you change your golf swing, it can really mess you up for a little while because it's a muscle memory thing and you're in your head and you don't want to think, you just want to go and do it, and it's about repetition.
Buter kind of said that about his season last season, which is, I'm trying not to drop down to this knee anymore.
I'm not thinking about that anymore.
And he looked good in the preseason until those last few kicks of this game.
Are you guys concerned about him at all?
I wasn't And then those two kicks came up.
It's a mental game.
69 yarder was awesome.
But then I, I, I want him and he, he, he was even talking about how he's trying to almost, You know, if when you're 40 yards out, stop trying to make it halfway up the net.
Stop trying to make a 60-yarder when you need a 40-yarder, right?
And so he, he talked about that.
Well, you make a 69 yarder, right?
And so you're amped up.
Well, your next two kicks are about that 45 yard.
What, what was the one he missed?
About 45, 43 , and then the extra point would have been about 43 as well, right?
Because of the penalty.
Did he overcook it?
Did he try and go back to, well, I made a 69 yard, let me boot this thing there again.
I don't know, but it is very frustrating.
Because we were about to leave the preseason, it felt like going, Butker is bleeping back.
This guy is back to being a top 3 kicker.
It's, it's him, it's Brandon Aubrey.
It's name, you know, Cameron Dicker, Chris Bos, what, but Butker's back.
When you see him miss those two field goals, especially an extra point, I know it was a longer one, and you come back just going, well, is that gonna be the start of, The fall.
Because even last year , he made that, that, that fire drill field goal and was it the first game?
Before the end of the first half, and we all were sitting here going, OK, Butler's, the season before is behind him.
Butler's freaking back.
This is awesome.
Proceeded to do basically this exact same thing.
So, I don't know.
Um, let's see what game 3 looks like, but it went from elation to questions pretty damn quick.
Yeah.
Uh, you don't want me on this topic.
I'm, I'm out.
I'm out 100% on Harrison Bucker.
I'm out 100% on paying any kicker over the league minimum.
I don't give a shit if it's Justin Tucker.
I don't give a shit if you have Brandon Aubrey.
I'm out.
I'm out on using team resources on these positions where you can find a guy.
Cairo Santos was good.
Even when we got like Matthew Wright subbing in for a couple of games, good.
I don't get giving a second contract to a guy.
I mean, The Chiefs are paying Harrison Bucker a lot of money.
We've had two seasons in a row where we've had these same exact conversations.
I, I'm just kind of over it.
I, I think.
Yeah, so I. Yeah, I've had this debate so many times.
I'm just not into ever paying a specialist to do anything more than make the league a minimum, to do what they do.
I've heard all the arguments.
I remain unconvinced.
I, I'm just, I'm done with it.
I'm just done with it.
Could I offer you this now again, I know Butler is not the right answer, but if it was Brandon Aubrey, for example, I'm out.
No, but hear me out.
Would you rather have Brandon Aubrey or the contract given to Christian Fulton?
I don't think it has to be an either or.
I don't, I just don't think you have to play that game.
Which one's the safer bet, the elite kicker or the oft-injured cornerback, and they go for about the same amount of money.
I, I, I just don't even, I can't even get there.
I start with, I start with, never pay the punter, never pay the kicker, never pay the long snapper, move on.
And then let's make smarter decisions at corner.
I like, to me it's just like a steadfast rule for a team that found Ber on a practice squad, for a team that's been able to find good, steady, you know, the guy Bucker replaced was like the all-time accuracy leader.
For the Chiefs at, uh, you know, it, it's not like we haven't been able to find a guy and Butler rescued us from a sea of horrible kickers.
So the guy just got replaced rescued the Bears from a sea of bad kickers as well.
Yeah, but, but I just don't get our need to hang on to this.
I don't.
I mean, the Chargers looked for 15 years.
Minnesota's been looking forever for a kicker.
I mean, I, I think there's so many teams, but the Chiefs do not.
The Chiefs have, the Chiefs have been good.
I'm not gonna, I'm not arguing that I.
This is not necessarily even like a bucker conversation.
I, I made, it made sense at the time why they paid him.
I, I , I.
Because they make so little compared to other positions.
I get your point.
I do.
I think punter is a different one.
Like, don't pay Tommy Townsend.
Sure, that made 100% sense .
I'm, I am with you there with punters.
Long snappers, they're all basically the same amount.
They're all like, it's like the going rate for a long snapper.
I have no idea.
It's like 1.4 million probably.
I have no idea what the exact number is.
When it comes to a kicker , There is a difference to me.
Um At the time when they, when they paid Butker, he was a top 3 kicker in the NFL.
I don't have a massive issue with that.
I, I, I just don't.
I think there's so many teams, especially what we've seen from him in the playoffs, how you can count on him to not, I mean, what was the Vikings kicker that missed a 23 yarder?
I mean, we, there's so, to be the bleeping Bills.
You think the Bills would have taken Harrison Butker over Tyler Bass?
Yeah, they would have.
They would have.
Again, I'm just saying, have we had this conversation all through 2024?
Yes.
Have we had this conversation all through 2025?
Yes.
Are we having the same conversation again?
Yes.
My point again is not.
It's not the Ber necessarily.
It is the philosophical never pay a kicker.
If it was Brandon Aubrey, he would have no issue.
Again, Ber is gonna go down in history because of what he did in the playoffs, in the Super Bowl for KC.
You can't erase that .
But the questions linger, and now it's been multi-seasons of the questions lingering.
You're right now, now, now, now that money does not look good going to him.
My thing is, I think the process was OK, even though the results had been lackluster.
The process of, I'm trying to think of other ones, uh, for, for, for example, I didn't love the process of paying Trey Smith that amount of money.
But the process of drafting Josh Simmons at the back end of the first round with the, with the upside, again, one I didn't necessarily love, the process can still be correct.
The process of trading up and getting Trent McDuffie could be correct.
The results were also there.
You won't always get it right , but I thought the process of the extension for Butler made sense, even if the results right now have been a little less than stellar.
I, I just, I, look, he has some focus issues, that's clear.
He tends to miss extra points, which a lot of people are automatic with, and he seemed like, so, you know, did he let his guard down a little bit?
Was he a little too jacked after hitting that 69 yarder?
It's a pretty big deal.
It's the longest kick he's ever hit.
Now, you can make the argument, hey, this is a guy we want to be ice water in his veins in the playoffs, so we don't want him to get too jacked up about anything ever, but He does seem to have some focus issues and we're just gonna have to see.
He was 4 for 4 last week, hit a big kick in this one.
Let's just hope it was a little blip.
They happen.
Guys do miss kicks, and so, in, uh, in some respect, we're holding the last couple of seasons against him.
Uh, so let's, let's see.
Let's let this, he's gonna be the kicker.
So let's, uh, let's see how the season plays out.
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Before you get out of here, fellas, I got two fun ones for you.
Um, So, let's say that you can instantly become world class at one completely useless skill.
What are you choosing and why?
You start.
Me?
It's your question.
It is my question.
Get his ass, Matt.
Yeah, hell yeah, yeah.
If I could be world class at one completely useless skill, I think it would be, uh, you know, it depends on what you define as useless.
You know, it's your question.
Could you make, yes, could you make a career out of it?
I think it would be.
Uh, I would like to be really good at magic.
You know, sleight of hand.
Because That's one of those things that like, yes, you can do it to entertain people, but like, It's something that you could pull out anytime and like delight people.
So that's a pretty like, it's not, it's not gonna change the world or anything, but it'd be a pretty cool skill to have, to just be able to be like, at a party and be like, oh yeah, I'm gonna make this disappear or what have you.
Uh, so yeah, I guess I'd go magic.
Everyone knows chicks love magicians.
So, I know that's just, that's a magic, you could start unironically wearing a vest.
Right?
You could start wearing colored vests around.
Oh, I would just love, I, I kind of wish you were like a Steelers fan so you could pull out a terrible towel that just like never ended.
Just like, right.
Well, that was, that's, that's what the, uh, that's what the refs did whenever, uh, uh, whenever the Chiefs were on offense last year.
Just no penalty penalty penalty, um.
What, what, wow, comedian 2nd on my list, um.
That isn't that useless.
Like, I maybe I'm went to like totally useless things, right?
Yeah, yeah.
I was like my, my first thought was like fold clothes, uh, like, like a folding clothes, like be really good at that or like, uh, putting sheets on your bed, like getting real good at that would be, would be, would be nice, like the duvet cover.
Like that'd be practical, dude.
I don't wanna do the duvet.
Yeah, OK, fine.
How about, how about this one.
I would love, like, I'm pretty good at darts.
I'm pretty damn good, but to like just be electric at darts, you could win a lot of money off of that pool or darts, like billiards or darts.
I think either one would be, hell yeah.
I, I think dart bulls.
I go underhand a lot sometimes just to really try and, and, and get in the dome.
Try and just lay down my dominance before the game starts.
You guys, you guys could still make money at those.
I guess when I was thinking, so when you, uh, so when you asked that, I thought of like the game Street Fighter.
You could do like a, you could do like a foot sweep.
Like I've never been able to do a foot sweep.
I've never seen a human able to do like a real foot sweep, like in a single second to like, jump down, spin around, extend your leg all the way and then spin back up like some Michael Jackson smooth Criminal video or something.
I've just never seen it, and so if I was like, given some superhuman ability to do something that's completely worthless, I'd be like, Check out my foot sweep because nobody could do it.
And then I'd go down and come back up like Michael Jackson in like 2 seconds and then Like I'd foot sweep you.
You'd be like, what the hell just happened?
I'd be like, right, right, no one can do it, but me, but me .
I think that the caveat would have to be with all of these, like, I couldn't do magic to make money, could only just like do it in bars, like you couldn't do your foot sweep in a real fight, but you could demonstrate it to people, you know, um, same thing with Sterling's darts .
OK, that's, that's a fun one.
Let us know in the chat, uh, you know, what your, what your completely useless thing you'd love to have is.
And so this one I thought was fun too.
If you could have a personal chef, a personal trainer, or a personal driver for life, for free.
Which one would you choose and why?
Chef, trainer, driver.
Right, I'll go first.
I'll go, oh, go ahead.
Go ahead.
No, go ahead.
You got it.
I mean, to me, there's only one real answer, but it's not the answer I want to give.
I mean, personal chef feels like the obvious one.
I mean, who doesn't want like someone cooking for them for the rest of their life?
That's the only answer, right?
But, but, but.
The people who are driven around like in movies, like I'm watching Lincoln Lawyer or something sometime, and that guy's in the back just looking through his case files.
He's like, take me to whatever all the time or having that guy wait on you.
That's like cool as hell.
I don't know.
There's something about like the aura of like, yeah, that's my driver over there.
No one would see my personal chef.
I mean, maybe if I had him over.
Um, Yeah, I don't know.
I just, I, I want to say chef is the right answer for me, but also like to have a personal driver for the rest of my life.
I'd be Miss Daisy.
I'm good.
I'm totally good with that.
You nailed it.
Chef is the right answer.
Like that, that is unequivocally the correct answer, chef.
Like that just time-wise, food-wise, you can go healthy, you can go unhealthy.
Trainer is good, but like, come on now.
I still have to go to the gym.
Like I'll, I'll go like twice a week.
That's what I do now.
I go twice a week, 2 to 3 times.
I'm not gonna go every single day.
OK. Look at this.
It's called balance.
It's, I work out to, to keep the beer from me getting just sturdy and, and, and chunky, OK.
So we're not out here trying to win some competition, OK.
I'm not getting in a, in a, in a banana hammock, getting a fake spray tan and trying to flex on stage.
So I don't need a personal trainer.
Um, Jeff, correct, but you're right.
The driver would be badass.
And here's another reason why.
How much money would I save on Ubers?
Yeah, I would save so much money on Ubers.
Like, excuse me, uh, Watkins, drive me to Maloney's and let me get drunk at the, at, at the, at the bar.
I don't know why.
Maybe it's Watkins.
Maybe it's Sammy.
Sammy to be your driver.
I don't know.
Uh, but drop me off at the bar, sir, and I just played darts and drink beer and then I'm like, all right, let's go, Watkins.
Uh, no dropping off though.
No dropping off.
So I, I'm with you guys.
I'm gonna go.
I'm chef obvious because you don't need a trainer.
If you have a chef, they can make healthy food taste great for you.
And we all know that it's, it's like, it's 90% diet, right?
So.
Chef, obvious answer, but like, I think you have to take it.
But driver, man, you guys are right.
Like.
It's, you're just, it's always a boss move.
It doesn't matter if you pull up in like a Chevette or, you know, like whatever, like, someone's driving you.
He gets out, he opens the door, you get out, you pull up to any party, wedding, whatever, and then I like Connor's idea of like, no, he doesn't drop you off, he stays, cause when you , you, you, you might want to leave.
So he has to stand there with like his flat cap, like by the door or whatever, you know, and then when you're ready to go, you can.
Yo, you're cruel.
You guys wanna go to another bar.
You're kind of a driver.
You do one of these, you know, you're cruel about it.
I, I kind of, I'm like, dude, take the car for a spin for a while.
I'm thinking like Ving Rhames.
I want like Ving Rhames as my driver, you know, that kind of guy who's like.
I want him to have like a deep voice like, where do you want to go, man?
And I like, hey, man, go have a fun time.
I'm gonna be here for a while.
Come back around, pick me up, tell me about your goods.
You know, one thing I want, I want that window.
Sometimes I just, I'll be like, I'll just roll up that window for some silence just because I can.
I may not even be in a bad mood.
Maybe I even want to be social, but I'd rather look badder ass than I already am.
Let me roll, roll, slow roll that window just like.
Um, I'm just back there by myself.
I don't even know what I'm doing back there.
Well, and also think about going to Chiefs games or Royals games or like concerts.
Huge to have a driver tailgating, boom, don't have to worry about driving home.
Yeah, dude, think of that.
Yeah, I just like the butler aspect of it, because then like like essentially cause he has to drive you, right?
But if you want, now you have a driver, so you have a little bit of income that, you know, you don't not taking Ubers anymore.
So maybe you wanna pay to have your driver take like karate, so that you don't have to he can also serve as like a bodyguard, so it's like he takes you to the, he takes you to the bar, right, and then he's standing there waiting, and now you have paid for him to become a lethal assassin.
Bodyguard as well.
And so if anybody messes with you, he can beat them up and then get you out of there before it's like a whole movie, my friend.
Well, you think about there's layers to this.
Do you want, do you, do you want the chef?
Do you want the personal trainer, or do you want the driver bodyguard, badass karate wielding, um, I don't know.
Apparently he's gonna be a chef too, I would assume, according to Patrick, him to cook.
Hey, that, that would be nice, but I'll say this, the driver, y'all are talking practical, Uber.
This and that, which is true, all that's true.
But a personal driver makes even the tiniest things look like baller moves.
Like I would just be like, let's go get a blizzard, my friend.
I'm just rolling up into that drive-through in a Dairy Queen and they're like, they're like, can I take your order?
He's like , hold on, let me turn around and ask the guy in the back that I'm driving around and they'd be like, that's the most fucking baller customer we're gonna have all night ordering the cookie dough blizzard.
Hell yeah, dude, even small things look big.
That's, that's what I'm in it for.
Not so much, but there is one situation where you can't look baller, is if he takes you on a motorcycle, or like a motorcycle with a sidecar, so you pull, you pull up the, you pull up.
And then you get out of the sidecar.
Wrong.
Still tight.
You still think it's tight ?
I don't know.
Maybe if you're ride in a sidecar, you own that sidecar.
Yeah, I want the goggles, dude.
Like give me the little, little goggles like the get a rolling.
Can we get a rolling from producer Joanne?
Is the sidecar with the driver a boss, or do you look like a dork?
A little dorky, I hate to say.
Well, it depends on the person.
If I'm in it, cool.
Matt Connor, badass.
Patrick.
I got a little flowy.
I got a little flowy ribbon thing going on around my neck, maybe a mascot.
I don't know.
Yeah, like Matt Connor would look so good in the sidecar.
He's clearly the number one sidecar rider.
I think it's about how you sit in the sidecar.
You need to sit like they sit on the iron throne in Game of Thrones, you know, dude, Patrick's doing magic in the sidecar.
Of course, it's gonna look lame.
We're off the rails.
All right, that's it, everybody.
Uh, listen, we'll be back with our, uh, regular slate of the shows this week.
Make sure you check out Tuesday's with Sterling tomorrow.
Uh, and, and listen, join our text group this week on the OG Hour, we are giving away a Chiefs jersey, and if you want to be entered to win, the OG Ho is on Thursday.
By the way, you just need to be part of our text group.
It's completely free, just text Chiefs to 816-477-5421.
Again, that's Chiefs to 816-477-5421.
Not only are you gonna be entered to win this Chiefs jersey, you'll be entered into all of our, uh, giveaways for the foreseeable future.
We're gonna be picking from the text group, and you're also gonna get Uh, analysis, and you can text with us, the host of the Arrowhead Addict podcast.
That's pretty cool.
All right, everybody, thank you so much for joining us.
We'll see you next time.
But until then, as always, go Chiefs.
You know what I got, I got a slinky here, my kid's slinky.
This is me in the sidecar.
Woo.
All right, we've jumped the shark.
Yep.
