Here are three players (Offense, Defense and Special Teams) from each team to keep your eyes on.

Chiefs

Offense: Dwayne Bowe

Over his 2+ seasons in the league, we have seen flashes of brillance from Bowe.  Last week we saw some of that with a big time touchdown grab to tie the game while taking a huge hit.  If there was ever a game where he needed to carry over some momentum it would be this week against a Redskins defense that is third in the league against the pass.

Bowe has a touchdown in three of his four games this season and will have to be physical with the Washington corners — DeAngelo Hall and Carlos Rogers.  With Matt Cassel likely having little time to throw the ball, Bowe needs to get off the line strong and start making more plays after the catch.

Defense: Glenn Dorsey

Last week against the Cowboys, Dorsey quietly had his best game as a Kansas City Chief.  Not only did he register four tackles, but he was in on Wallace Gilberry’s sack of Tony Romo (uncredited) and forced the Dallas QB to throw a screen pass away by quickly getting in his face.  Dorsey also nearly picked up a safety, but Marion Barber just slipped out of his grasp.  Against a solid offensive line his name was called as much as anyone on the Chiefs defense.

The Redskins will be without their starting left tackle, Chris Samuels, and that means Clancy Pendergast will be loading up the right side of the line looking to get to Jason Campbell with Dorsey being a huge part of that plan.  Look for him to get his first official sack(s) of the season.

Special Teams: Jamaal Charles

Even though his fumbling problems are still in the back of everyone’s mind, Charles has seemingly locked down the kick return job.  Two weeks ago he ripped off a 53 yard return and has been one block away from finally taking one to the house at least three times.  Could this finally be the week?

He faces a very good coverage unit that in the first five games has only given up one long return — a 55 yard return last week to Kenny Moore of the Panthers.  If Charles can help the Chiefs more in the battle for field position than he has to this point, it will go a long way towards taking pressure off of Matt Cassel and the offense.

Redskins

Offense: Jason Campbell

Every week you hear about winning the turnover battle and the person that will likely determine the winner is Campbell.  Over the first five weeks of the season Campbell has fumbled 9 times and thrown 5 interceptions.

If the Redskins are going to bounce back from their loss to the Panthers, Campbell has to take better care of the ball.  With him likely being forced to run for his life behind a reworked line that may be easier said than done for the fifth year veteran.

Defense: Brian Orakpo

Just like Tamba Hali, Orakpo is a defensive end making the transition to linebacker and showing improvement every week he spends at his new position.  Through five games the rookie has 15 tackles and 2.5 sacks, with all of those sacks coming in the last three games as he learns to rush the passer from a two point stance.

With Albert Haynesworth, Andre Carter and London Fletcher getting all of the attention up front for the Redskins, that leaves Orakpo under the radar and ready to harass Matt Cassel.

Special Teams: Rock Cartwright

Just like Charles, the Redskins return man has yet to take one to the house this year but that isn’t a surprise.  Cartwright has only returned one kick for a touchdown in his 8 year career.  The surprise is that he has yet to register a return longer than 27 yards.  He is – however – still a threat to take one deep with returns of at least 80 yards in each of the previous three years.

Cartwright is due to break a long return, so the it would be wise for the Chiefs special teams not to sleep on the struggling Redskin.

What would be the situation around the Chiefs right now if they were 2-3, instead of 0-5?  Even without a victory on the season, and the apparent demotion of an assistant coach in the past week, there is not the feeling of desperation and negativity hanging over the team or the locker room.  Nobody is happy, but they continue to put their head down, handle the work they’ve been given and hope to earn their first victory this Sunday when they play the Washington Redskins.

Now, the Skins are 2-3 and the kettle is boiling around the franchise.  If you thought the Chiefs might be catching Washington at the right time, think again based on the comments of QB Jason Campbell.

“It’s not just another game,” Campbell told the media this week.  “It’s a big game for us, for a lot of ways and a lot of reasons.  We’re in a tough division.  You can’t afford to fall too behind in your division.  And for the morale of our team, to get confidence going back in the right direction, you got to do everything you can to get the win.”

Campbell might be saying the right things, but there’s no way all of the distractions won’t impact the Redskins on Sunday.  It’s hard enough to deal with coaching questions week in and week out, but add an injury to their starting left tackle and their most prominent former players ripping them and it’s bound to affect the team when they hit the field.

It’s Friday and that means the “expert” predictions have started to roll in for Sunday’s Chiefs-Redskins matchup.

WASHINGTON 17, Kansas City 16 (+6½): The only two wins by the Redskins were over winless St. Louis and Tampa Bay by a total of 5 points.  Washington is 1-7 ATS in its past 8 home games.  The Chiefs figure to win a game sooner or later.

I haven’t decided one way or another yet, but this is the most confident I’ve been about the Chiefs at this point in a week since the beginning of last season.  The Redskins are thisclose to self destructing and there were a lot of positives to take out of the Chiefs loss to the Cowboys.

Even if you don’t feel confident that the Chiefs will win outright, 6.5 points is a lot of points get get from a scuffling team.

If the Jim Zorn plans on keeping the Chiefs winless, he is going to lean heavily on his defense.

The Redskins were opportunistic on defense the last two games.  They pressured quarterbacks consistently, forced and recovered fumbles and intercepted passes.  Producing turnovers is the sign the Redskins’ defense is back on track after being momentarily derailed, secondary coach Jerry Gray said.

“You’re getting turnovers, you’re getting deep into other people’s territory, you’re getting sacks on a consistent basis,” Gray said.  “And then the coverage and the pressure is going hand-in-hand.  You’re not saying, ‘Well, we were almost there.’  Now, we’re actually getting there, and we’ve got good coverage.  Those are things that you see.  When you’re actually on the same page, you see coverage and pressure there at the same time.”

With both offensive lines dealing with injuries, we could end up seeing a lot of sacks and turnovers this weekend.  Albert Haynesworth, Andre Carter and Brian Orapko will be the players to watch for Sunday as the Washington defense attempts to dictate the tempo.

If the Chiefs refuse to draft Michael Crabtree of Texas Tech or Brian Orakpo of Texas then the Chiefs should “pull a Minnesota” and let other teams leapfrog them on draft day.  It just is not worth it to invest all that money on Curry, who was not used to rush the passer at Wake Forest.  Even though next season is uncapped, it will still be for the Chiefs because Clark Hunt’s pockets aren’t that deep meaning getting value now is that much more important.

I love the enthusiasm but Adam and I are on opposite sides of the “draft for need” arguement.  I just want the best player available  and believe that will end up being Aaron Curry if the Chiefs stay at #3.  While I know he’s trying to make a point, the Chiefs are done being a laughingstock and thus will not let any team jump ahead of them on draft day.  If we were talking Carl Peterson and Herm Edwards I might put the possibility at 1%, but I won’t even joke about it with Pioli and Todd Haley.  If the NFL ends up playing any season uncapped, I think the Chiefs will be able to spend plenty of money this season and beyond.  Certainly not Daniel Snyder type of cash, but I’ve seen no indication that the Hunt family is all of a sudden hurting financially.  I don’t think the league will actually ever get to an uncapped year, but that’s a different discussion for a different day.

Speaking of Curry, with talk of the Chiefs possibly trading down there is a discussion at Mile High Report about the Broncos  being the trade partner so they can grab Curry.

Interesting… This is the first time I’ve seen anything about the Broncos trading up without Mark Sanchez’s name attached.  There are a lot of fans on both side of this rivalry that would not deal with the Broncos, but if the Chiefs can pick up two picks in the first round and anohter in the later rounds I would sign on for that right now.  If it helps Kansas City heal the wounds from the past few seasons, does it matter where that help comes from?

And finally today, a moving article from Joe Posnanski on the Nick Adenhart tragedy and how it stirred up memories of other athletes that died young including the great Derrick Thomas.

Just an awful, awful story.  It’s sad anytime a person dies young, but when it’s the result of some idiot drunk driver the tragedy hits that much harder.  For more information on helping prevent drunk driving, visit MADD.

There has been a general consensus that Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry was the Chiefs choice because he was the safe pick.  Nawrocki is now hearing the Chiefs will be in the big-man sweepstakes so the team can protect new quarterback Matt Cassel.

If the Lions take Stafford that means the Chiefs will be guaranteed either Smith or Monroe.  With Monroe there is a connection to both Scott Pioli and Todd Haley as he played for Al Groh who worked with Pioli and Haley in New York with the Jets.  Monroe could play right tackle with former Virginia teammate Branden Albert staying at left tackle and current Chiefs right tackle Damion McIntosh moving inside to guard.

This could be the first time I’ve heard a legitimate arguement for the Chiefs to take one of the top tackles at #3.  Other than Curry the only other guy that has been connected to the team was Brian Orakpo of Texas.  I’ve been pretty clear that if the player is at the top of the draft board, take him.  But with Albert already set at the most important slot on the offensive line I can’t imagine one of the tackles will be ranked higher than both Curry and Orakpo.  It does feel good though to have so much mystery around the Chiefs going into the draft.  I can’t ever remember Carl Peterson drawing this kind of intrigue.

I’m starting to lose count of the players projected to go in the first round but outside the top 10 that the Chiefs have had in for a workout or interview.  As we’ve talked about before, every General Manager has to cover all of his/her bases and there is every possibility that is all that’s going on here.  Especially since you can only watch the top 5 guys on your draft board workout so many times.  As the draft gets closer my belief that the #3 pick will be moved gets stronger.

Even though Larry Johnson’s agent has said he wants to play for the Chiefs and Todd Haley insists everyone has a clean slate there is still an assumption around the league that the running back will be released.  Clearly, many people are asking why the Chiefs don’t trade LJ to get something in return instead of releasing him and having nothing to show.  But Adam Teicher wonders if Johnson has any trade value at this point.

If he had any value at all of course Kansas City would rather grab an extra pick in the upcoming draft.  There just are so many factors working against Johnson, not the least of which is his age (30 in November) or the wear and tear already on his body.  Not to mention he does not block or catch the ball out of the backfield well.  There is also a big suspension waiting for Johnson if he gets in trouble with the law again.   That doesn’t add up to much trade value.

If I’m Scott Pioli and someone offers me a 7th round pick and some new water bottles for training camp I am personally driving LJ to the airport.  And if you are unable to get value, then release him as soon as possible.  Not just for all the reasons Teicher covered, but I don’t want to give Larry Johnson any more opportunities to taint the young players on this team.

The Chiefs are generally believed to be targeting LB Aaron Curry if they keep the #3 pick, but Carlos Holmes at the Dayton Daily News is hearing another name has emerged and it’s DE Brian Orakpo of Texas.  Just like people in the media feel Kansas City is eyeing Curry, the same has been said about the Cleveland Browns and Orakpo.  But league sources are now saying Orakpo might be in play at #3.  Especially with new defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast coming away from Orakpo’s April 1st visit very impressed.

Even though I continue to drive the Aaron Curry bandwagon, I think Orakpo would be a good fit here.  The only thing I really worry about is his durability.  Orakpo has been injured the past two seasons and strained his hamstring at the combine.  He’s a big guy that has always bounced back, so I don’t think he’ll be Brodie Croyle frail but it’s something to be concerned about all the same.

After demanding a pass rusher ever since the departure of Jarred Allen, Teicher still feels that is the team’s biggest need and wants a a player like Everette Brown of Florida State or Brian Orakpo of Texas instead of Curry.  Even though Curry is seen as the safe pick, the Chiefs are in a position where they have to take a chance.

While Babb agrees the Chiefs need a pass rusher, he views the greater need at linebacker.  Especially with the current  depth chart looking something like this:

LOLB Rocky Boiman
LILB Monty Beisel or Demorrio Williams
RILB Derrick Johnson
ROLB Mike Vrabel

So unless Kansas City is presented with a lopsided trade offer they should stay at #3 and select Curry if he is still on the board.  The Chiefs are not looking for a quick fix and that is exactly how a Brown or Orakpo would be viewed even though linebackers would still be the weakest part of the defense.  Instead the team should look for a pass rusher in the later rounds or in free agency next season.

I’ve been very clear in my support for taking Aaron Curry with the #3 pick.  With that being said I just want Scott Pioli and Todd Haley to look at their big board and no matter where they pick to take the player sitting on the top, assuming that person is not a quarterback.  This team still has so many holes it’s not necessary to draft for need.  Stockpile the best players available and sort things out as the season goes along.

Earlier this week, there was a lot of speculation that the plan to move Chiefs training camp from Wisconsin to Missouri was in trouble.  But is it really? Both Missouri Western State University and the Chiefs have agreed the deal will be for at least five years, with five one-year renewal options.  But a spokesman for the Missouri Department of Economic Development said the state will not issue the $25 million in tax credits unless a full 10-year contract is signed.

But at the same time you have the President of the University, Dr. bob Vartabedian, sounding anything but worried:

“I think they’re just trying to strike the best deal for us, which I appreciate… I’m not a mind reader, but my guess is that this will not be a deal breaker (with the Chiefs).”

I’m gonna go with the President of MWSU on this one.  The money and facilities — the biggest aspects of this deal — are already agreed upon so there are no major hurdles here.  The Chiefs have said they have every intention of staying there for 10 years, so if at the end of the day the state and/or university needs the contract to officially be that long then the team will commit to that.  The team, school and state will benefit from this deal and no one will want to have egg on their face, so expect a deal to be signed shortly.

Add the folks over at Arrowhead Addict to “Don’t Draft Curry” list.  Today they are offering an arguement for trading down 5-8 places to pick up extra picks and then select WR Jeremy Maclin.  The idea would be to improve both the offense and special teams by adding the game breaking Maclin.

However, according to ProFootballTalk Maclin might not be available for the Chiefs if they trade down, as the Raiders are bringing him in for a workout tomorrow.  It could clearly be a misdirection play by Oakland, but it could at least mean they are thinking about taking a wideout with the seventh overall pick.

Maclin would be an interesting guy to play next to Dwayne Bowe, Tony Gonzalez and give Matt Cassel a similar set of weapons he got used to last season in New England.  And like I said, if Pioli is drafting from the top of his draft board, I am all for whoever he takes.  But at this point even if the Chiefs trade down, it’s hard for me to imagine them thinking offense, even with Todd Haley surely begging for more weapons.

“The Chiefs asked me how high I thought I would be drafted. I said I expected to be drafted in the first round, but I didn’t think I would go as high as the third pick overall.  They said they had the third pick right now but that things could change. They never told me I’d be a Chief, but they did say they didn’t know what draft picks they might have April 25.”

While in New England, Scott Pioli was very agressive on draft day.  During six of his nine drafts with the Patriots they made more than their original seven picks.

I haven’t talked to anyone — associated with the team or not — that thinks the Chiefs will sit on their current seven selections.  Even Scott Pioli keeps Kansas City at the top of the draft, I’ll be shocked if he doesn’t jump into the back of the first round or beginning of the second.  A guy like Barwin has “Pioli” written all over him and I’d love for the team to target him.  Laurinaitis on the other hand does nothing for me and hopefully the Chiefs stay far, far away.

Over at Pro Football Weekly, Michael Blunda explains that the Chiefs have not made a big splash in free agency, instead choosing to bring in veteran players like Mike Vrabel and Bobby Engram to serve as mentors to the younger players already on the roster.

This offseason has played out near perfect for me to this point.  Instead of completely blowing things up, Pioli and Todd Haley have slowly added pieces to the current roster.  The idea of having people like Vrabel, Engram and Mike Goff play the Tony Richardson role that this team has been lacking under Herman Edwards is brilliant.

Taking one last look at the Jay Cutler trade, Kent Babb breaks down how it affects the Chiefs and Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN dissects the entire deal.

I said it yesterday, but I mean it for real this time: hopefully we are done talking about the Broncos until the season starts.  Or at least until we see what they turn the Bears’ draft picks into.  Thankfully this situation didn’t linger on as long as last season’s Brett Favre saga and all parties involved can move forward.