Holliday hoping to make Chiefs forget about failure to sign Douglas
ADAM TEICHER, The Kansas City Star
RIVER FALLS, Wis. - Defensive end Vonnie Holliday has plenty of positive qualities, but there's one thing missing from his game that gives the Chiefs a touch of regret:
He's not Hugh Douglas.
Douglas was the premier pass-rushing end available in this year's free-agent market and would have filled the Chiefs' most pressing need. But he signed with Jacksonville, so the Chiefs took Holliday, a superior all-round player, as a consolation prize.
Taking no slight in this was Holliday. Rushing the passer wasn't his strength in his five seasons with Green Bay, but since he's only 27, there's plenty of time for him to make the Chiefs eventually regard their failure to sign Douglas as a stroke of luck.
"At the time, Hugh was considered the No. 1 defensive end on the market and I was considered No. 2," Holliday said. "That's the way the game works. It works off sacks. Hugh certainly has the sacks to back that up.
"My game is an all-round game. I'm a run-stopper. My pass-rush game is certainly something that has to come along. It's something I'm working on, and I have no doubts that it will come along."
Rather than pin their pass-rush hopes on one player, as they would have done with Douglas, the Chiefs plan to also get sacks from linemen Eric Hicks and Ryan Sims and linebackers Shawn Barber and Scott Fujita.
But, as the right end who attacks the quarterback's blind side, Holliday will need to produce.
"All he needs to do is get (three) sacks, and it's a 50-percent gain," Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil said, referring to last year's right end Duane Clemons and his two sacks. "I'm not being sarcastic, but we didn't get any production out of that position. We haven't got a lot out of it for two years because Duane Clemons was always coming off injury."
Holliday also hasn't been the most durable of players. He missed significant portions of three seasons with the Packers, including last year, when he sat out six games because of pectoral muscle and knee injuries.
When he played, Holliday was a consistent producer, particularly against the run.
"When you play against him, you've got to be ready on every down," said Chiefs tackle Willie Roaf, a former opponent of Holliday's. "Some guys I play against, in the running game they really can't do a lot. You don't have to worry about them on a running play. He's not that kind of player. He's strong against the run, but he's a good pass rusher, too. He can get upfield on you, or he's got the power to bull-rush you."
That wasn't necessarily the type of end the Chiefs wanted when free-agency began, which is why Douglas, 31, was their first choice.
"He's a more defined pass rusher, and that was our first thought," Vermeil said. "But it didn't work out, and we ended up with a good replacement and a younger football player -- maybe one with potential to grow."
The Chiefs initially dismissed Holliday as a candidate to replace Clemons. But after losing the chance to sign Douglas, they studied Holliday intently and found more to like.
Although Holliday has never been a top pass rusher, he averaged more than six sacks per season for the Packers. He sacked Buffalo's Drew Bledsoe five times in a game last year.
"Buffalo was one of those days when I was in a zone," Holliday said. "It was unbelievable. The guys in the secondary were covering their receivers and the guys in the defensive front -- it was a race to the quarterback that day. Bledsoe was holding the ball, and that helped, too.
"It was just one of those dream days."
The Chiefs took that game as evidence of Holliday's pass-rush potential. They liked Holliday's history as a winner, and, as Roaf noted, his reputation for giving maximum effort on every play.
"I see a consistent work ethic on every snap," Vermeil said. "I see a guy that finishes plays even though it's not a full scrimmage, going from one side of the field to the other to touch the ball carrier 25 yards away, sprinting."
Holliday's best season as a pass rusher came as a rookie in 1998, when he had eight sacks playing the end opposite future Hall of Famer Reggie White.
The Chiefs have nobody like White, but in Hicks, Sims and John Browning, they suddenly have a wealth of linemen with pass-rushing ability. Hicks had a career-high 14 sacks in 2000 and nine last season.
And that has Holliday dreaming of some Hugh Douglaslike numbers.
"This is the first time in my career since Reggie White that I've played opposite a high-quality defensive end," Holliday said. "In Green Bay, Joe Johnson came in last year, but it took time for him to learn the defense and then he got hurt. So that's certainly an advantage in coming here.
"I should be around the double-digit mark in sacks. In this defense, playing right end, that's something I'm capable of. That's expected of me."
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