The KC Chiefs Best Draft Day Bet Is Anthony Davis

This is the only time of year that has more experts and optimism than the pre-season. There are a ton of players who are slated to enter the league and become the next superstars. Aah spring, when the snow melts and the flowers bloom. The time when we who love losing teams annually forget the many draft busts that happen on every single team all the previous years. Being a Chiefs' fan is a colossal exercise in optimism after so many years of losing, but every spring our optimism is reborn as NFL teams get ready to take some of the biggest gambles in NFL history. The draft is a billion- dollar crapshoot and when your team is mired in league's cellar, the smart money says you have no choice but to gamble big. I know Scott Pioli is not hot on potential personality problems after last season with Larry Johnson, but the fact is, Johnson was the most productive back in Chief's history. No one thinks that making him a number one draft choice was a dumb move. He certainly wasn't the reason the Chiefs have been losing all these years. Having said that, it was smart of the organization to let him go once he showed himself to be a liability. If Pioli really wants to win fast he has to brush the Johnson experience aside and gamble big. In baseball terms, the Chiefs' management has to swing for the fence. In this year's Chief's draft, that translates to Anthony Davis. Like Johnson, the only real knock on Rutger's offensive tackle Anthony Davis are the character issues and Davis has nowhere near risen to Johnson's level. The fact that Davis is an underclassman, barely over 20 years old is a plus. It means he will have extra years in the NFL. He has the best size of any tackle coming out this year and he has been projected as a NFL star since way back in high school. The only big knock on Davis is that he is this year's Larry Johnson at left tackle. If Davis comes into the NFL and reaches his potential and becomes the most productive tackle in Chiefs history, no one will fault Pioli if Davis has weight problems at a couple of training camps. In fact, when we are talking about guys who are 6'5'' and weigh over 300 pounds, I can't imagine them not having a weight problem. At that size, one hamburger goes straight from the lips to the hips and we are talking about guys who can probably easily eat five or six big burgers with no problem. Coaching big men to be trench warriors on a tuna salad diet is no small feat, but that is why the coaches and managers get the big bucks. Rolando McClain is a bad choice at draft position five because the Chiefs at present do not have a defensive line strong enough to free McClain to roam the field and make tackles. The same goes for super-safety Eric Berry. The Redskins are probably going to take Russell Okung and even if they don't, Okung spent too much time in a two-point stance for my liking at Oklahoma State. Putting him on the Chief's line will hamper the development of the Chiefs running game and that is the key for the Chiefs in this coming draft. They have no shot at the elite defensive tackles at five so that leaves them looking at an offensive tackle. Offensive linemen bring championships first by banging holes for the running game. If the defense respects the run, that gets the quarterback more time in the pocket and Cassel gets fewer injuries. With the porous defense the Chiefs have now, big help in the running game gets them the best chance to win games next season and for the management to show that they and the players they are selecting are making a difference and that is what the draft is really about. Using that criterion, the only logical choice the Chief's brass has on draft day is the Rutgers run-mauler, Anthony Davis.