By Michael Blunda
April 26, 2008

Glenn Dorsey

Updated 5:30 p.m. ET, Saturday, April 26

A once-proud franchise, the Chiefs now find themselves as one of the league’s most dreadful teams, lacking talent at practically every position. With so many needs, the Chiefs used the fifth overall draft pick to take the best player still on the board, LSU DT Glenn Dorsey. This comes as a bit of a surprise only because just a few days ago everyone thought Dorsey would be long gone at No. 5. Considering the glaring hole on the D-line left behind by 2007 NFL sack leader Jared Allen, who was shipped to Minnesota earlier this week, this pick is a terrific value and makes a lot of sense.

Dorsey, who had 69 tackles and seven sacks last season while helping lead LSU to a national title, should step in immediately in the DT rotation. Kansas City will need him to contribute from Day One, as Allen’s 15½ sacks from a year ago are now gone, although rushing the passer will be a secondary responsibility for Dorsey. The former Tiger possesses great athletic ability and will be plugging the running lanes for years to come.

Knowing his team isn’t going to contend any time soon, Chiefs GM Carl Peterson has made it a point to get younger, and he’s done a good job in recent years carrying out that plan on the defensive line. He selected DE Tamba Hali in the first round in 2006 and used second- and third-round picks to add DLs Turk McBride and Tank Tyler, respectively, in ’07.

Dorsey likely will see a great deal of playing time right from the get-go, rotating with veteran DTs Ron Edwards and Alfonso Boone as well as the young Tyler. This gives the team a nice corps of youthful linemen bookended by McBride and Hali, who’s had a very productive two seasons in Kansas City. While this is a decent group of players, just imagine what the D-line would’ve looked like if the Chiefs had kept the 26-year-old Allen. We’d be talking about one the league’s top units.

The Chiefs have an astonishing 12 picks in this draft, and they’ll need every one of them, seeing how bereft their roster is of quality players. As a result of the Allen deal, the team had Minnesota’s pick at No. 17, which they swapped with Detroit to move up to No. 15 and select Virginia OG-OT Branden Albert, who fills a huge need on the offensive line. They also have an early second-round choice and two picks in the third round. Peterson and coach Herm Edwards hope to come away with multiple starters out of that bunch.

Kansas City might not be going anywhere this year, but at least it’s getting the pieces in place to rebuild.