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Greener pastures Kansas City confident pre-draft trade was right move
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It was only every day. For the past seven weeks, Trent Green has closed his eyes and tried every day to picture himself in Kansas City red. So much so that it was beginning to color his every thought. Trapped in trade-bait limbo, Green wondered and waited for the call that finally came Friday evening. Long after he had stopped picturing himself in the St. Louis Rams' future, he officially became part of their past. "It's been tough, and it's been tough now for over a year," Green said Saturday, beaming from behind a microphone at his first news conference as the Chiefs new starting quarterback. "Because my whole intention going to St. Louis was to be the starter and have a team to call my own. ... As long as these last [seven] weeks are gone, it's all erased because what happened here in the last 24 hours." What happened here in the last 24 hours is the further Rams-ization of the Kansas City Chiefs. Welcome to St. Louis West. Dick Vermeil, Al Saunders, Trent Green, Tony Horne. What's next? Mark McGwire in Royals blue? The Arch relocated to the Plaza? Not since Don Denkinger blew that ninth-inning, Game 6 call at first base in the 1985 World Series have the folks at the opposite end of I-70 been so closely linked in the national sports consciousness.
And in the middle of it all this weekend was Green, whose trade to Kansas City was the centerpiece of a memorable and busy Friday at the Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium offices. In the span of a few hours, Kansas City obtained four new offensive players, filling holes at quarterback (Green and veteran backup candidate Bubby Brister), running back (Priest Holmes), receiver (Horne) and return specialist (ditto). Make no mistake, Green is no savior. He's 30 years old, has a questionable left knee, has started just 19 games in seven NFL seasons, and is about to suit up with his fourth different team. But he saved the Chiefs the trouble of remaining the only NFL team still in search of a starting quarterback, and kept them from delving into the Trent Dilfer or Steve Beuerlein market. As for the jump start he gave his own career, Green couldn't be happier. He finally escapes the long shadow cast by Rams starter Kurt Warner, the man who turned him into the NFL's version of Wally Pipp. "I knew where [Rams head coach Mike Martz] were coming from in terms of wanting to keep me," Green said. "But the fact that he knew I deserved an opportunity to start, and that wasn't going to happen in St. Louis, I'm sure that came into play into his mind. I'm just glad it all worked out." Martz and the Rams were fond of Green, and without a doubt they did right by him. After much posturing on both sides since late February, the Chiefs got the better of this deal, receiving Green, a fifth-round pick, and Horne in exchange for their first-rounder, No. 12 overall. Once upon a time, the Rams had hopes of turning Green into a package of picks including a first, second and third-rounder. By sending Green westward, they paroled him from having to spend another year in a backup role. That possibility, Green admitted Saturday, was almost too much for him to bear in recent weeks. "It would have been extremely difficult [to stay in St. Louis], especially knowing the situation here in Kansas City," Green said. "Knowing my situation and my relationship with Coach Vermeil and the fact that [offensive coordinator] Al [Saunders] and I get along so well, and I knew what his offense was going to be, it would have been really tough to deal with if it hadn't happened. I knew I could step right in here and I knew there was a starting job out there." And as soon as Green can step anything but lightly on his still balky left knee, he'll walk right into that No. 1 job. While the Chiefs weren't prepared to mortgage their future on Green, there was no one else on their radar screen that even remotely fit their offense as well as he does. The real winners should be NFL fans in the state of Missouri and everywhere. Besides the Martz versus Vermeil sub-plot to keep track of, we now have Warner versus Green to keep an eye on. Should be fun. "We think he can make this thing go," said Saunders, the former Rams offensive coordinator who followed Vermeil to K.C. "I think the best-case scenario for this football organization was to have Trent Green here. "If that had not materialized, we would have gone in a different direction and we would have made it work that way. But it's a lot easier when you have someone who you know fits. And Trent not only fits, he can also be the director. He'll help every other player on the offensive side of the ball." The new-look Chiefs trotted all the props out Saturday. Vermeil and Green wore their gaudy Super Bowl rings, won two seasons ago with the Rams. K.C. general manager Carl Peterson wore his equally gaudy Joe Montana /Chiefs tie, which he received as a gift the last time he swapped a first-round pick for a starting quarterback, in 1993. Even little T.J. Green, Trent's young son, was decked out in a tiny, No. 10 Chiefs jersey, with his surname freshly stitched on the back. He sat quietly on his mother's lap during the news conference, before climbing into dad's arms mid-way through the proceedings. For Vermeil, it was second time in three years that he had shared an introductory news conference with Green, whom he recruited to St. Louis as a free agent signee in 1999. Only this time, Vermeil said, Green has answered so many more questions than he had two years ago. "It's more exciting now because I better know what he can do and what he brings," Vermeil said. "I know what he'll mean to our city. I know what he'll mean to our roster. I know what he'll mean to our coaching staff and our ownership, because I've been with him through a year of battles. "I've been with him through the lowest time of his career. I've helped him come off the field with a terrible injury and I've watched him battle back to the point where you're willing to give up a first-round pick to watch him play again." Given that Green's left knee may not be ready until as late as the middle of training camp, the Chiefs were taking a calculated risk in sending their first-rounder to St. Louis. But after losing starter Elvis Grbac somewhat unexpectedly this offseason, Kansas City had no better option than to bring another former Ram to town. "I think the Chiefs have gotten better very quickly by the acquisition of Trent Green," Peterson said. "From what I've seen, this young man has the abilities and capabilities to hopefully take us, with a supporting cast, where this franchise would like to go. He was a piece of the puzzle we wanted to finally get into place." For Green, it was a piece seven weeks and a million anxious moments in the making. Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com
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