Chiefs bring in new offensive coaches

By Mike Ash  |   Thursday, January 24, 2008  |  Comments( 1 )

Kansas City Chiefs
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With the addition of a few new position coaches, the Kansas City Chiefs finalized their offensive staff this week. Here's a look at the new hires, coaches who will be counted on to help rebuild the NFL's 31st-first ranked offense.

Eric Price - wide receivers:

In what must be considered something of a coup for the Chiefs, the team was able to hire Price to the staff even after passing him over for its offensive coordinator position. Price, who had been running the offense at the University of Texas at El-Paso over the past four years, has been instructing wide receivers for much of his coaching career.

He got his start as a WR coach with the Miami Hurricanes in the early 1990s, and continued working with receivers until switching to quarterbacks when he joined his father's staff at Washington State in 1998. From there, Price spent two years with the New York Jets as an offensive assistant before becoming his father's coordinator at Alabama and UTEP. In addition to running the Miners' offense, Price coached the UTEP receivers for three of his four years in Texas.

Originally, the Chiefs offered the position to former UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell, but Dorrell took a similar job with the Miami Dolphins with the apparent understanding that he'll be groomed as their next coordinator. There was no such promise for Dorrell in Kansas City, but one can't help but wonder if Herm Edwards might have a similar thought in mind for Price.

Had Dorrell become Kansas City's receivers coach, it was reported that the team still wanted to add Price to its staff, perhaps replacing Dick Curl as QB coach. That not only speaks to how much Edwards values having Price on his staff, but the fact that their top choices were younger coaches fresh from the college ranks may show that the Chiefs plan to rely heavily on young receivers in the coming seasons.

Price will be expected to continue the development of rookie standout Dwayne Bowe, and ideally he'll be able to help make Jeff Webb and "Hard Knocks" fan favorite Bobby Sippio into solid NFL performers.

Curtis Modkins - running backs:

Modkins coming to the Chiefs is obviously the result of Chan Gailey's hiring, as Modkins spent the last five years coaching the running backs at Georgia Tech, where Gailey was the head coach. After the Yellow Jackets fired Gailey, Modkins was hired as the offensive coordinator at Colorado State, but he left to follow his mentor to Kansas City.

The relationship between the two goes back to Gailey's days as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, with whom Modkins served a summer internship back in 1999. Gailey is clearly confident in Modkins' abilities and the hire shows that the Chiefs are letting their new coordinator have a say in his staff.

Bob Bicknell - offensive line:

After rumors of the Chiefs having interest in famed line coach Alex Gibbs, the hire of Bicknell is probably a disappointment to most. Bicknell worked as the Chiefs' assistant line coach during the 2007 season, and considering the state of the Chiefs' O-line, his promotion has been criticized by some.

It seems rather unlikely, though, that an assistant coach in his first year with an NFL team had much to do with the state of the line. Clearly, the problems that surfaced in 2007 - namely the lack of young players ready to step in for Willie Roaf and Will Shields, as well as the age of the remaining linemen - are issues that were building well before Bicknell was hired.

Prior to coming to the Chiefs, Bicknell was a successful coordinator in NFL Europa, running the offense of the three-time World Bowl champion Berlin Thunder.

Joe D'Alessandris - offensive line assistant:

Another of Gailey's staffers from Georgia Tech, D'Alessandris - a coach with nearly 30 years' experience - oversaw the offensive line for the Yellow Jackets for the past six seasons. Given his history with Gailey and his wealth of experience, perhaps adding him to the staff explains why they felt confident in promoting Bicknell, who is relatively inexperienced at the NFL level.

Georgia Tech has boasted a strong running game over the last few years, and with the addition of Modkins and D'Alessandris, the Chiefs have added the coaches most responsible for that success.
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