Dick Vermeil took some risks with their final roster. I approve of some of the risks, and don't much like others.

I'm glad Coach Vermeil decided to go with Lawrence Tynes over Morten Anderson. I, for one, think Tynes showed he can handle pressure by kicking 83% of his field goals in the CFL. He's got a strong enough leg for kick-offs, too. I don't know how I feel about going with Cheek over Baker for punter, but in one game, Cheek had a better average and better consistency than Baker, so I don't have a problem with it.

I don't really like going with only five wide receivers. Particularly since one of those is Dante Hall. Playing more WR will affect his ability at PR/KR, I think, and vice versa. I think Chris Horn did enough to make the team, particularly since there is no guarantee Johnnie Morton is fully healthy and at least one of the back-ups, Sammie Parker, is injured and unavailable. With what Horn did in the pre-season (including the long punt return), I think it's lucky he made it onto the practice squad.

I think part of the reason he stuck with only five WRs is a calculated risk on personnel, in that he needed to shield certain young, developing back-ups like Jimmy Wilkerson (DE), Benny Sapp (CB), and Kevin Samson (T), from getting snapped up by other teams. Another large part of the reason is that the rash of pre-season injuries pretty much forced us two starters on the roster that won't play: Kawika Mitchell, LB, and Kris Wilson, TE. I don't think we will really need seven linebackers...but in the early part of the season, until we get Mitchell back, we have no choice but to ensure depth. I think Fred Jones will be the odd man out after Mitchell comes back, and Horn will ascend to the active roster.

The one that puzzles me the most is that we kept Kendall Gammon on the roster. Jared Allen (DE) seemed to demonstrate that he can not only handle the long snapper chores sufficiently, but that he also improves our coverage (making several tackles from the long snapper position). Sure, he's going to make a contribution at DE this year and may have an outside shot of replacing Vonnie Holliday as starter by the end of the year...but will he really play so much that it prevents him from being the long snapper? Carrying Gammon, (who is a TE in name only) when we probably need a third TE to actually play, seems a little risky to me. To me, the ideal would be to find someone who can actually add decent depth at another position and still be serviceable at long snapper if Allen were to get injured. I don't really have someone in mind, but one of the guys who got cut right at the end should consider looking into it.

Finally, the Chiefs lost one gamble when the Colts signed Ryan Lilja (G) off of our practice squad. He had demonstrated surprising ability for an undrafted rookie FA, but Vermeil said that he was slightly undersized at this time. Lacking battle-tested back-ups, I guess Vermeil decided that we couldn't carry him on the roster as a project, since he probably needed a year to be a credible sub.

So far, that means that 4 players that went to camp with KC were considered valuable enough to sign to the active roster for teams, three of which made the playoffs last year.
Lilja: Colts
R-Kal Truluck, DE: traded to Green Bay
Darnell Alford, OG: signed by the Rams
Morten Anderson, K: signed by the Vikings
Eddie Freeman, DT: signed by the Arizona Cardinals

So two of the "mediocre" defensive players that lost out in the "no significant players added" competition are still good enough to win roster spots on other teams. Wow.
The thing is, Siavii is a significant addition. Jared Allen is a significant addition. These guys are players who will make significant contributions (if not start by the end of the year), and it makes it more clear that KC has a top-notch scouting team when you notice that they not only recognized the worth of Kris Wilson, Kevin Sampson, Jared Allen, Richard Smith, Samie Parker, and Benny Sapp, they also recognized that they didn't have to reach for them. And that was just this year...

KC's defense has a good chance to be Top-15. If so, and we avoid significant long-term injuries, we'll win the division and make the AFC Championship, if not the Superbowl. I still predict a 12-4 finish, though.