Many people have been confused by the Chiefs off season direction, when Scott Pioli took over this team it had more cap space than any other team in the NFL after Pioli acquired win now veterans like Mike Goff, Mike Vrabel and Bobby Engram some Chiefs fans assumed the youth movement was a thing of the past and the Chiefs were moving towards a win today philosophy. While a majority of Chiefs nation got behind this notion and looked forward to the Chiefs going after big time big name players like T.O., Julius Peppers, Ray Lewis and Bart Scott, those players came and went even super stars on the trading block drew little interest from the Chiefs. This move left the media with mere speculation of the Chiefs future plans only further fueled by the tight lipped nature of Scott Pioli.

The youth movement was considered further dismantled by the release of one third of the 08 draft class. The victims were Will Franklin who was considered out of shape but was more than likely released as a motivational tool to the rest of the Chiefs young roster, seventh round tight end Michael Merritt who was released early in the off season after a marijuana possession charge, kick returner Kevin Robinson who spent most off the season on the injured reserve and defensive end Brian Johnston who was no longer a fit on this team with the change to a 3-4 defense. While four out of twelve draft picks from last year have been released anyone who takes a closer look at the roster will realize if any thing the Chiefs have merely gotten younger.

Sure the Chiefs brought in veterans Zach Thomas, Mike Goff, Bobby Engram and linebackers Mike Vrabel and Monty Beisel who are all over thirty and nearing the end of their career but they have simply replaced Donnie Edwards, Tony Gonzalez, Patrick Surtain and Damon Huard as the veteran leadership on this team so this move is a wash as far as increasing or decreasing the average age of this team. Even though four of last year’s rookies are no longer on this team they have been replaced by this year’s draft class bringing the average age of this roster down. With the roster established on this team to be every bit as young as last years team if not younger in terms of on field experience the Chiefs do still have one big problem, they are still ten million under the minimum salary cap.

Expect the Chiefs to get to the minimum salary cap requirements by the beginning of the season but this would explain why Matt Cassel has not been signed to a long term deal. If the Chiefs sign Cassel to a long term deal that would bring down the money he is owed this season since he is signed to a fourteen million dollar franchise tender making it even harder to get to the salary requirements. That leaves one last interesting story line to follow as Chiefs inch closer to the beginning of training camp, how will the Chiefs get to the minimum salary requirement will they start locking up and giving raises to their more productive younger players such as Derrick Johnson, Tamba Hali and Jarrod Page or even a Dwayne Bowe? Or do they go they go the veteran route when the veteran releases start after June first?