KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The retirement of guard Brian Waters shouldn't pass without reflection. Waters played 11 outstanding seasons for the Kansas City Chiefs and was so good he should eventually be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Waters might not get into the Hall, as he was overshadowed in many of those seasons with the Chiefs by Willie Roaf and Will Shields. But ask some of the opponents who played against those great Chiefs offensive lines. Many will tell you Waters was the best of the bunch.
If Waters is never honored in Canton, it shouldn’t diminish his achievements with the Chiefs. Whether he was their best lineman or not, Waters was truly an incredible player and deserving of more than the six Pro Bowls he eventually played in.
He was also a huge reason the Chiefs were so good on offense during the Dick Vermeil seasons. How many times did the Chiefs run a sweep with Priest Holmes and lead blockers such as Casey Wiegmann, John Tait and Tony Richardson had nobody to clear from his path because Waters and the others had already taken care of all resistance?
The Chiefs were scorched publicly on the eve of training camp in 2011 when they released Waters, but in reality they were merely doing what he asked. Waters was fed up playing for coach Todd Haley and wasn’t going to play for the Chiefs anymore.
The Chiefs freed him up to play one season for the New England Patriots, who reached the Super Bowl that year, and one for his hometown team, the Dallas Cowboys.
His best seasons, though, were played in Kansas City. That’s where his career should truly be celebrated whether Canton gets around to it or not.
