By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star

The rapid climb in the coaching profession by one-time golf pro Todd Haley has come for one reason: his ability to squeeze yards and points from an offense.

The Chiefs hired Haley as their head coach largely because of his work the past two seasons as offensive coordinator for the high-scoring Arizona Cardinals.

Haley faces the challenge of his career this season — along with coordinator Chan Gailey and the rest of the offensive coaching staff. Since Haley joined the Chiefs in February, they traded Tony Gonzalez, their best receiver; and their best offensive lineman, Brian Waters, has asked out.

The Chiefs also traded for a young quarterback in Matt Cassel and appear to have made peace with running back Larry Johnson. Overall, though, the talent mix is nothing like what Haley had in Arizona, a fact he candidly admits.

“I’m still figuring these guys out,” Haley said after one of last week’s practice sessions. “As I get comfortable watching or get a feel for these guys, there are signs of life. It looks like some guys have some skill. It’s just a matter of getting them to do it the right way all the time and then get in sync with the passer. We’ve got some work to do, and there’s a lot of room for improvement.”

The offensive uncertainty comes as the Chiefs stabilized themselves at quarterback with the trade for Cassel. A college backup and a former seventh-round draft choice, Cassel became a starter for the first time last season for New England and responded with a big season.

The Chiefs jumped at the chance to get him, and the trade — coming at the beginning of the new league year — seemed to indicate that his new team would work to surround him with talented players.

Instead, a starting offensive lineman (Mike Goff) and a slot receiver, Bobby Engram, were the only other significant offensive additions. Those gains were offset by the trade of Gonzalez to Atlanta and the possible loss of Waters, who has yet to appear for any of the offseason practices.

The Chiefs haven’t done their new quarterback any favors.

“Most quarterbacks are only as good as the people around him,” said an assistant coach for a rival NFL team. “Matt Cassel will be good only if the players around him are good. He’s had good schooling in New England for a long time. You can never overlook quarterback experience in a system. That’s something he’ll have going for him in Kansas City. They’ll do a lot of the same things he did with the Patriots.

“But I’m not sure he’s a guy that can carry the load himself. He didn’t get hit very much in New England. He’s probably going to get hit a bunch more in Kansas City.

“He’s got (Dwayne) Bowe as one receiver. Who else does he have? They took their best, most productive offensive player in Tony Gonzalez out of the equation. Who makes up those numbers? Is Larry Johnson going to play or not? If he does play, how effective is he going to be? He didn’t like what was being done last year, and he wasn’t very productive.”

In losing Gonzalez, the Chiefs have plenty to make up. Their leading receiver in each of the past five years, Gonzalez had more than 90 catches and 1,000 yards in each of the last two.

Brad Cottam is his replacement at tight end, but he won’t be the prolific receiver that Gonzalez was.

“If you don’t have an inside (receiving) threat … look at New England,” the rival coach said. “The most productive guy was Wes Welker, the inside receiver. The Chiefs took their best inside receiver and shipped him off to Atlanta. And they don’t have Randy Moss on the outside.”
The Chiefs have Bowe, Mark Bradley and Engram as their top three receivers. Bowe caught 86 passes and scored seven touchdowns last season but has room for growth. He was maddeningly inconsistent, dropping several passes.

“I’ve got a big chance to do more things now,” Bowe said. “This is what they drafted me for.”

Bradley, who caught 30 passes after joining the Chiefs early last season, could give the Chiefs more. Engram is one year removed from a 94-catch season with Seattle in 2007, though he turned 36 in January.

“I feel like I’ve still got that kind of season in me,” Engram said. “I’m setting my goals high. I won’t tell you I can’t do that again. Obviously, I want to step up and help.

“On paper, we’re better than a lot of people think. We absolutely have a chance to be a high-scoring offense if you look at the talent level across the board. We’ve got that chance, that potential. We’ve got one of the best running backs in the league. We’ve got a lot of guys that can do different things. We’ve got some talented receivers and a strong line. Matt is a talented guy, too.”

The Chiefs went away from Johnson and their running game last season when they spread out their offense to suit the skills of Tyler Thigpen.

Johnson asked out after the season, and though he’s remained silent since, his agent indicated Johnson had a change of heart and would prefer to stay with the Chiefs.

The new administration of Haley and general manager Scott Pioli has shown a preference for players who are versatile and have a complete set of skills. Johnson, a deficient pass blocker and average receiver, is purely a power runner.

He became unhappy last season when the Chiefs began to prefer Jamaal Charles in obvious passing situations. Charles may play as the third-down back again this year, so any contentment Johnson has must be viewed as tenuous.

For now, at least, the Chiefs appear to need Johnson. Haley recently praised Johnson, something the coach has been reluctant to do for any player.

“He’s made some runs in (a recent) practice I thought were pretty special,” Haley said. “I was very encouraged by a couple of those. Those flashed at me and the coaches to where you say, ‘That was pretty good.’ If Larry continues to work and stay on point and do the things asked of him, he’ll definitely have a chance to help us.”

Whatever they get from Johnson, Haley softened the expectations for an offense that last season showed a surprising amount of spunk.

“I don’t really care what it looks like or what the statistics are,” Haley said. “If it doesn’t look pretty, it’s not going to matter to me if (the Chiefs win). We’re going to do what we have to do to give us the best chance to win. If that’s three yards and a cloud of dust and we don’t turn the football over and we play great defense, I’ll be the happiest guy sitting here every game.”