The Chiefs have now agreed to terms with 10 of their 12 draft picks from the 2008 draft class.

Albert joined the Chiefs as the club’s second of two first-round selections (15th overall) in the 2008 NFL Draft.

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The Chiefs still did not have agreements with either of their first-round picks, defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey and offensive lineman Branden Albert. The Chiefs were optimistic they could strike a deal with Albert before they leave for Wisconsin on Thursday, but an agreement with Dorsey could be far off.

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Joachim played for the University of Central Florida, tallying 19 receptions for 236 yards during his 2007 senior season.

Marshall joins the Chiefs after starring for the Los Angeles Avengers and the Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League. He also joined the Chicago Bears for training camp a year ago.

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Thanks for all your support,
RH

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Agent Drew Rosenhaus said Wesley was happy to remain in the AFC West and looked forward to playing against the Chiefs twice this season.

Wesley gives the Raiders depth at safety behind starters Gibril Wilson and Michael Huff.

Wesley, a third-round pick out of Arkansas-Pine Bluff in 2000, was a starter for his first seven seasons before being relegated to a backup role last season.

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They wanted Flowers, who will replace Ty Law in the lineup, in training camp on time, and there were signs Tuesday that a contract agreement was near.

“We’re getting close,” said Flowers’ agent, Andy Ross. “We’ve been talking. I think we’ll be able to finish it up (today).”

The Chiefs drafted Flowers early in the second round. He and Patrick Surtain are the starters, but another rookie, fifth-round pick Brandon Carr, could eventually push Surtain for a starting spot.

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Durde will be Kansas City’s international development practice squad player in 2008. Under the terms of this program, Durde cannot be promoted to the 53-man roster once the regular season starts in 2008.

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The Chiefs have now agreed to terms with eight of their 12 draft picks from the 2008 draft class.

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Among the six still unsigned rookies are both first-round picks, LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey and Virginia tackle Branden Albert, and their second-round choice, cornerback Brandon Flowers.

The others are third-round running back Jamaal Charles of Texas, third-round tight end Brad Cottam of Tennessee and seventh-round tight end Michael Merritt of Central Florida.

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His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said he was already fielding calls from teams interested in Wesley, a starter for seven seasons before he was replaced last year.

The Chiefs have tried for more than a year to trade Wesley and almost had a deal in place with Denver last season.

Jarrad Page and Bernard Pollard are set as the starting safeties. Jon McGraw and rookie DaJuan Morgan, a third-round pick, are the backups.

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Robinson has the better chance of contributing as a rookie. The Chiefs will give him a long look in their search for a new kickoff and punt returner. Robinson returned four punts and four kickoffs for touchdowns at Utah State.

The Chiefs previously signed three draft picks, fourth-round wide receiver Will Franklin of Missouri, fifth-round cornerback Brandon Carr of Grand Valley State and sixth-round tackle Barry Richardson of Clemson.

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Vermeil handed Herm a 10-6 team with a top offense and an already improved defense (29th to 16th in points allowed from 2004 to 2005). Not a bad situation for a new head coach to walk into. Usually it’s much worse. So to the first company line, which goes something like this:

“Vermeil left us with an old team and had poor drafts”.

Well, as I argued in a previous commentary (”They Say it’s Vermeil’s Fault”), Vermeil’s drafts and draft-trades left the team no worse than the five drafts before Vermeil (1996-2000), yet somehow Vermeil was able to build a very strong team within one year. So that leaves us with the “old” team Vermeil left behind. This must have been a real geriatric ward around here at the end of 2005. In fact, here’s the average age of the 2005 starting lineup on January 1st, 2006:

28.8 years

By the logic “the company” tells us, this must be an exceptionally old age for a team. Judging by Vermeil’s success, he must have inherited a much younger team, right? Venture to guess how old the 2000 Chiefs starting lineup was on January 1st, 2001? That’s right, it’s:

28.5 years

Wait a minute, that’s less than four months difference? So Vermeil inherited just as good/bad drafts as Herm AND inherited just as old of a team, yet he helped turn the team in the positive and competitive direction in just one year?

Does that mean we’re being lied to? In a sense, yes. In reality, it’s just people covering their butts, just as anyone would do. Many mistakes were made by the CURRENT administration and blame needs to be diverted to save jobs. I imagine the continued fan support for Herm comes mostly from optimism for what we’re stuck with, which is something I can understand. But Herm has proved to have few NFL head coach qualities, while proving to be deficient in many areas (e.g. game management, game planning, adaptability, etc). He seems to believe that most things are out of his control, walking the middle of the road while waiting for good things to happen, opposed to proactively MAKING them happen. This brings us to the second company line/excuse:

“Bad seasons/teams happen to every team eventually”.

This sentiment reverberated through the Chiefs community following the 2007 season, with similar statements made by management, their lackeys at kcchiefs.com, and the soft-hitting journalists at The Star. Yes, it’s true, every team goes through a lull given enough time. But it’s not out of their control, as if handed down by God or luck, as they’d leave you to believe. No, it’s because given enough time, any team will make enough serious mistakes that lead to a poor performance. For example, some teams make the mistake of hiring a bad head coach who in turn makes a series of bad decisions and can’t mange a game or team (hint, hint). In the past, other teams have been dismantled because of salary cap mismanagement and bad contracts. Other teams hold on to past glory too long and do nothing while the team falls apart around them (hint, hint).

This is not Vermeil’s fault. If it were, we should consider taking Super Bowl rings away from Bill Belichick, Tom Coughlin, and Tony Dungy and give them to Pete Carroll, Jim Fassel, and Jim Mora, respectively. Perhaps those teams should even fire their current coaches and bring back the “true” architects. Ridiculous. All great coaches make it their team the day they take the job and start building from day one. If Herm can’t do that and would rather walk in the middle of the road, then just chalk it up as another item on the laundry list of his bad head coaching attributes.

It’s the lack of accountability from the current administration that is, perhaps, the least palatable of all this mess. At least Vermeil always tried (not always successfully) to fix the problems his team had. Herm just watched the problems grow, hoped they fixed themselves, and denied responsibility.

But it’s been a long offseason, which always breeds renewed optimism. We all hope this gamble of mortgaging the present for the future actually pays off (even though dumping 26/27 year olds seems extreme and hypocritical to me). I look forward to this year and have one simple expectation: improvement, including the coaching staff.

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First, during the month of July players can and will get hurt in a variety of ways, and it can change the dynamics of a football team instantly and dramatically. The question is mute, and all we can do is pray to the football gods that the Chiefs remain healthy not just this summer, but all year.

The second reason for biting your nails is the greed that is born when the rookies have the opportunity to acquire a large sum of money. Contract holdouts, usually suffer from an injury, or just don’t catch on to the fast pace of a National Football League game.

Moving forward, those of you who read my articles know that the two Chiefs rookies that I have discussed in my list of 25 happen to be the ONLY two Chiefs’ that have signed on the dotted line already to lead this year’s pack of young whipper snappers. Sleepers, here are numbers 11 thru 20.

11. Glenn Dorsey, DT, Louisiana State University, Senior, drafted (1st Round – 5th Pick) by the Kansas City Chiefs.

12. Limas Sweed, WR, University of Texas, 6’4”, 222 lbs., Senior, drafted (2nd Round – 22nd Pick) by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Plaxico Burress II is back in Steeler country. Sweed is a deep ball receiver; however he could use some improvement in his route running.
a) 4.48 in the 40 yard dash
b) 355 lbs. bench press
c) 440 lbs. squat
d) 34.5” vertical jump

13. Ryan Clady, OT

14. Jamaal Charles, RB, University of Texas, 6’1”, 208 lbs., Junior, drafted (3rd Round – 73rd Pick) by the Kansas City Chiefs. In my opinion, now that we have Kolby Smith, and Jamaal Charles, Larry Johnson can’t put the full court press on the front office of the Chiefs like he has in the past. Jamaal Charles has blazing speed (4-Time All-American in Track and Field), and has the ability to break the long one. However, Charles needs to gain weight and get stronger, if he plans on making a career in the NFL because he is a fumbler; and he will need that size and strength to keep defenses from stripping the ball from him. Personally, if he was bigger, I would like him more than Larry Johnson and Kolby Smith. I know that I extended myself, and went out on a limb by making that statement, but I believe that he has it in him to do what Priest Holmes used to do.
a) 4.38 in the 40 yard dash.
b) 30.5” vertical jump
d) 6.80 3-Cones Drill

15. Jake Long, OT, University of Michigan, 6’7”, 315 lbs., Senior, drafted (1st Round – 1st Pick) by the Miami Dolphins.

16. Vernon Gholson, LB, Ohio State University, 6’3”, 264 lbs., Junior, drafted (1st Round – 6th Pick) by the New York Jets. Born in Detroit, Michigan, this young man is special. He tied the bench press score at the 2008 NFL Combine with 37 reps of 225 lbs., and ended in a tie with the 1st Pick of the 2008 NFL Draft, OT Jake Long of rival University of Michigan. We all know how intense that rivalry is, and always will be.
a) 4.6 in the 40 yard dash
b) 225 lbs. bench press 37 times!!
c) 35.5” vertical jump

17. Brandon Albert, OT, University of Virginia, 6’7”, 315 lbs., Senior, drafted (1st Round – 15th Pick) by the Kansas City Chiefs.

18. Matt Forte, RB, Tulane University, 6’2”, 222 lbs., drafted (2nd Round – 13th Pick) by the Chicago Bears. A creative open-field runner, Forte’ has drawn comparisons to Arizona Cardinals standout Edgerrin James, as he shows the same balance, body control and burst to gain valid yardage after the initial hit. He ranks second on the school’s career-record lists with 808 rushing attempts for 4,145 yards on the ground, while his 38 scoring runs established the Tulane all-time record. Forte’ also became the 11th player in NCAA Subdivision (1-A) history to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season during his senior year. Does a good job hitting the hole and reading his blocks, but isn’t the type of player who can suddenly explode past the smaller defenders (better moving the pile than trying to elude. Does have the hip swerve to quickly redirect to the cutback lanes)…Lacks the sudden burst to hit the corner, but builds his acceleration nicely, using his power rather than a second gear to break long runs…Has very good hands as a receiver, but the system does not call for him to be split out, nor is he expected to run wide-out routes, but you can see on film that he has the vision and hand extension to catch outside his frame.
a) 4.46 in the 40 yard dash
b) 6.84 in 3 Cone Drill
c) 355 lbs. bench press

19. Mario Manningham, WR, Michigan University, 6’0”, 178 lbs., Junior, drafted (3rd Round – 32nd Pick ) by the New York Giants.

20. Ray Rice, RB, Rutgers University, 5’9”, 200 lbs., Junior, drafted (2nd Round – 24th Pick) by the Baltimore Ravens.

GOD BLESS! AND GO CHIEFS!

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Hunter, a long time Charger Fan, said he will be “forever grateful to Tony and will now be rooting for him and his team in the upcoming season”. “Me and my girlfriend couldn’t thank him enough, he saved my life”.

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There has been a buzz on the Internet recently about a certain item within the Chiefs “Fan Code of Conduct,” which is posted on the team’s Web site. That item had stated that the Arrowhead Stadium staff this season will proactively intervene with fans who are “standing and/or obstructing the view of other fans.”

Of course, that’s not exactly what the Chiefs meant, and upon further review, the language of the policy was changed last week to read “continuous standing and/or obstructing the view of other fans.”

“It was never our intent to try and legislate when fans can stand or not,” Chiefs director of public relations Bob Moore said. “We want fans on their feet and cheering. That’s what Arrowhead is all about, and that’s what has given us a home-field advantage.

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Thomas will be enshrined as part of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2008 in Canton, Ohio on Sunday, August 3rd. Thomas will be the ninth player in franchise history to have his jersey retired.

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Richardson joined the Chiefs as the club’s first of two sixth-round picks (170th overall) in the 2008 NFL Draft. He played in 49 games during his four-year career at Clemson. Richardson started every game over his final three seasons for the Tigers, earning first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors in 2006 and 2007.

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Franklin is the second Chiefs draft choice to agree to contract terms, joining fifth-round selection CB Brandon Carr (140th overall).

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Johnson, a 6-foot-5, 260-pounder, played last year for the St. Louis Rams. He’s also played for the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets.

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