Getting To Know: Thomas Jones

Full name: Thomas Quinn Jones

Born: August 19, 1978

Hometown: Big Stone Gap, Virginia, a small town in southwest Virginia, just over the mountains from Harland County, Kentucky. It’s an area where Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina come together at various angles. The 2000 Census said the population was 4,856 folks. He also spent time while growing up in Appalachia, Virginia, a town of less than 2,000 which was across the Big Stone Gap from the town of the same name.

Family: Oldest son of Thomas and Betty Jones. Both parents worked in coal mines, as their fathers did before them. His mother spent nearly 20 years working the night shift, retiring 10 years ago with a back injury. He has five sisters: Gwen, Beatrice, Knetris, Knetta and Katrice. His younger brother Julius Jones went to Notre Dame and was drafted in the second round in 2004 by Dallas. He’s played six seasons for the Cowboys and Seahawks. Read More..

Chiefs Sign Vrabel; Tenders To RFAs

Busy times for all NFL teams as the league sprints towards the start of a new business year at 11 p.m. Central Time.

The Chiefs have worked out a new contract with OLB Mike Vrabel, keeping him from reaching unrestricted free agency. Vrabel, who came to the Chief as part of the deal for QB Matt Cassel, will be playing his 14th NFL season and will turn 35 in August. Last season he was sixth on the team in total tackles with 65, along with two sacks two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.

Last week during the NFL Combine, head coach Todd Haley said: “I think the world of Mike. I think he’s a heck of a player and he was a heck of a positive influence for me as a first-year head coach in multiple areas. He’s just a tremendous football player that is fun to be around.”

Also, the Chiefs have given tender offers to starting center Rudy Niswanger, starting RT Ryan O’Callaghan, backup tackle Ikechuku Ndukwe and S Jarrad Page; all came with a second-round draft choice as the compensation. For four-year veterans Niswanger, O’Callaghan and Page, that’s one-year deals for $1,759,000 and for three-year player Ndukwe that’s a tender worth $1,684,000.

Plus, the Chiefs have given five-year LB Derrick Johnson a first-round tender offer of $2,621,000.

OL Andy Alleman did not receive a tender offer, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Reacting To The All-Decade Team

From Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

It’s a dreary, rainy day in south Florida, so the trip to the beach was cancelled and now there’s more time to provide dispatches from Super Bowl Land.

The announcement of the NFL’s All-Decade team for the 2000s got lost in the silliness of the Pro Bowl and the hype of Super Bowl week. Or was it the hype of the Pro Bowl and silliness of Super Bowl week? Either way, the best players from the last ten seasons haven’t gotten their just due. My suggestion in the future for the league is to release this information about the middle of the off-week before the Super Bowl. As a story, it would have far more traction at that point on the calendar.

It was amazing that the Chiefs placed four players on the team. Even if someone wants to argue that Willie Roaf’s (above) career was divided between Kansas City and New Orleans, the fact is this: he played more than twice as many games in the 2000s wearing the Chiefs red and gold (58) than he did with the fleur de lis of the Saints (23). Read More..

The Historic Season of Jamaal Charles

Jamaal Charles had a remarkable run over the last half of the 2009 season. His race to 1,120 yards is all the more remarkable given the fact that nobody with fewer than his 190 carries has ever topped 1,100 yards.

Simply put, nobody in football history gained more yards on less carries than Charles. 

The fewest carries for a 1,000-yard season was done in 1934, as Beattie Feathers of the Chicago Bears ran for 1,004 yards on just 119 carries in 11 games. That was a remarkable performance from the early days of the league, an average of 8.4 yards per carry and 91.3 yards per game.

Seven other runners reached the 1,000-yard mark with fewer than the 190 carries that Charles had during the ‘09 season. But none ran for more than 1,071 yards.

That’s what makes Charles performance all the more noteworthy. Before Charles season, the fewest carries any running back had in reaching 1,100 yards or more was the 1966 performance of Leroy Kelly with the Cleveland Browns. In 14 games, Kelly ran 209 times for 1,141, at 5.5 yards per carry.

  Read More..

Another Transaction Tuesday

Tuesdays have been the busiest day of the week for roster movement around the Chiefs during this 2009 season.

Thus the day has been dubbed Transaction Tuesday.

There was another transaction for the Chiefs on Tuesday as the team released DT Kenny Smith.

Signed on October 21st, after being out of the NFL for several seasons, Smith played in six games with the Chiefs. He was credited with two tackles in those games, where he got just a handful of snaps each week spelling NT Ron Edwards.

The Chiefs did not announce who would fill the open spot on the 53-man active roster. They have three defensive linemen on the practice squad: DT Derek Lokey, DE Dion Gales and DE Bobby Greenwood.

Chiefs Sign Another Fullback

With a spot open on the active roster for four weeks due to the suspension of Dwayne Bowe, the Chiefs added FB Tim Castille to the roster.

Castille is 5-11,238 pounds and has played two seasons in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals. Last year he played in 14 games as the Cardinals won the NFC Championship. He did not have any rushing attempts and caught four passes for 11 yards. Castille also had 10 tackles in the kicking game. He was inactive for all 16 games of his rookie season in 2007.  The Cardinals released him on the final cutdown before the start of the ‘09 regular season.

A native of Alabama, Castille signed with Arizona as an undrafted free agent out of the University of Alabama. With the Crimson Tide, he was a short-yardage specialist, laying in 43 games with 155 carries for 524 yards and 20 TDs. He also caught 59 passes for 363 yards.

His father Jeremiah was an All-America DB with Alabama who played six seasons in the NFL with the Broncos and Buccaneers. His brother Simeon played in nine games during the 2008 season for the Bengals.

Chiefs, L.J. Reach Settlement

ESPN.com under the name of Chris Mortensen is reporting Saturday evening that the Chiefs and Larry Johnson have reached a setttlement on his suspension and his appeal will be withdrawn.

Johnson will remain suspended for two weeks, but it will cost him just one weekly paycheck, rather than two. NFL players are paid on a 17-week calendar during the season, so L.J. will be out $267,647, rather than double that amount.

His contract calls for him to receive a per-game bonus of $62,500. Since he won’t be available for the Jacksonville game, he will also lose that money, so his total ticket in money-lost for his use of slurs on his Twitter account and in the team’s locker room will be $330,147.

Under terms of the suspension, Johnson will return to the team on Monday, November 9th, the day after the Chiefs game in Jacksonville.

A settlement was sought by both the NFL and the NFL Players Association. Johnson’s suspension is new territory for the league and players and if the appeal had been heard, the decision of an arbitrator had potential pitfalls for both sides. That was especially crucial at this time when the parties are trying to reach a new collective bargaining agreement.

Darling’s Season Is Over Says Brother

The Chiefs keep a cap on all information having to do with the team, especially when it comes to injury.

Sometimes that blanket  of secrecy gets breached by family members.

The brother of Devard Darling has told the Nassau Guardian that the wide receiver’s season is done because of an ACL injury with his left knee. Here’s what the Guardian reported:

“Darling couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday, but older brother Dennis explained that it was an unfortunate incident that comes with the reality of playing in the National Football League.

“Football is a physical sport and these things just happen. It was a tough break and it was very disappointing for us and for Devard,” said Dennis. “We were looking for some big things from him this year, especially with him starting at wide receiver, but unfortunately he won’t get that opportunity now.”

Darling was injured in the second quarter of last Saturday’s pre-season game against Seattle.  With the NFL cutdown to 75 on Tuesday, expect Darling to be one of those five moves.

What’s Up With Zach?

On Tuesday, Zach Thomas will celebrate his 36th birthday.

Will he still be a member of the Chiefs when he cuts his cake?

Adam Schefter of ESPN says no, he’s gone. Thomas’ agent Drew Rosenhaus says that’s wrong, that he plans to play this year with the Chiefs.

Unknown in this story are the words and thoughts of Pioli/Haley, because they do not talk about injured players. And Thomas has been injured. He has not practiced with the team since August 6th. That as the Chiefs ninth practice of training camp, and Thomas had missed two earlier workouts.

His injury appears to be either a hamstring or a quad muscle; the Chiefs will not confirm anything. Thomas disappeared last week from the rehab team, but he was back during Monday’s practice. He was running and taking part in exercises and drills with the strength and conditioning staff and seemed to have no problems moving about. Read More..

What Does Lelie Bring To The Chiefs?

From River Falls, Wisconsin

If there were any doubts that the Chiefs have reached a desperate stage in improving their wide receiver group, the signing on Monday of Ashley Lelie should end those.

Pioli/Haley are doing anything and everything they can to increase the talent level, and that includes signing a guy that has played for four different teams in seven seasons. Lelie has been one of the great first-round draft choice under-achievers in this decade. He came out of the University of Hawaii with speed, speed, speed, supposedly running the 40-yard dash in 4.27 seconds.

Seven years later, what does the 29-year old Lelie bring the Chiefs? Does he still have his speed? Why will he succeed in Kansas City when he was inconsistent in Denver and failed in Atlanta, San Francisco and Oakland? Since he was traded away by the Broncos during a pre-season contract holdout, Lelie has played in 43 games and caught a total of 49 passes for 742 yards and three TDs for three different teams. (That’s him getting crunched last year by Brandon Carr and Bernard Pollard in a Chiefs-Raiders game.)

Not exactly the recent resume of a difference maker.

“I think he’s healthy and he’s a little different (style) than anything we have,” said Haley. “He’s a long, lean guy with some speed, with some potential top end speed. I thought it was a chance to get somebody in here that’s a little different than what we had.” Read More..

It’s Signed, It’s a Deal

The Chiefs announced Friday afternoon that they have a signed agreement with No. 1 draft  choice DE Tyson Jackson.

Early indications are that the deal with Jackson is for five years, and somewhere just short of $60 million, with $31 million in guaranteed dollars. If accurate, the guaranteed money is the most any player has received in franchise history.

On top of the $28 million guarantee that went to QB Matt Cassel, that’s $59 million in Hunt Family money that GM Scott Pioli has committed for a pair of players that have never worn the Chiefs uniform in a game, and between them have only Cassel’s 15 NFL starts that came last year in New England. 

On Thursday evening both the National Football Post website and 610 Sports in Kansas City reported that an agreement had been reached with the young man out of Louisiana State. The details of the contract and Jackson’s signature went down Friday morning. He was on his way to River Falls, but it’s highly unlikely Jackson will see the practice field until Monday morning. That’s if he passes Todd Haley’s conditioning test.

And that might be tough to do with all that money in his wallet.

L.J.: “Hit Them Like A Bullet … Not A Tank”

From River Falls, Wisconsin

After spending nearly 30 minutes signing autographs for fans at the Chiefs first training camp practice, a smiling Larry Johnson took some time to talk.

L.J. is slim and trim and says he’s in the best football shape of his life. Todd Haley asked him to lose some weight and it’s obvious Johnson followed through. He said he was 223 Saturday morning and figures he’ll be at 220 by the time camp is over.  Over his career with the Chiefs, Johnson has played at 230 to 235 pounds.

“I’m going to hit them like a bullet with some speed and not a tank,” Johnson said. “I really feel good and I do feel faster.”

He certainly looks faster and showed that speed during the morning workout. In a goal-line drill, Johnson was forced to run outside and he was able to beat the defense to the corner of the end zone. “I don’t want to get caught from behind anymore,” Johnson said with a smile. Against the Broncos last year, L.J. had a 65-yard run where he was caught from behind before he got into the end zone.

It’s his torso and upper body where Johnson is slimmer and trimmer. From the waist down, he’s still got the big powerful legs. “Nothing I can do about those …  they came from my Dad,” Johnson said with a laugh.

More on L.J. coming tomorrow morning from River Falls.

Position Overview: Quarterbacks

With this overview of the quarterbacks, we conclude our series on the Chiefs 2009 roster and the nine main position groups as the team begins training camp.

There is no question that when they hit the practice field on Saturday morning for the first workout of the 2009 season that the Chiefs now belong to Matt Cassel (left).

Trading a second-round pick was evidence alone, but there’s no doubt after his six-year, $63 million deal got done with the team.

Cassel is the present and future of the Chiefs offense and he can now go about the process of elevating his game and that of his teammates. Todd Haley can talk about competition for jobs, but barring injury there’s no question that Cassel will start the opener against Baltimore.

Tyler Thigpen can only continue to work and be ready. It’s a similar situation for Brodie Croyle as he tries to come back from his knee injury. If Croyle falters in any fashion because of his knee or rustiness then Ingle Martin is still around to grab an opportunity.

Here’s how the position breaks down: Read More..

Position Review: Tight End

Until the start of training camp late next week, we will take a look at the Chiefs 2009 roster and break down the 80 players based on the nine position groups. We’ll also provide perspective on what each position has done in this decade of Chiefs football.

When the Chiefs traded Tony Gonzalez to the Atlanta Falcons back in April, they removed from their roster 916 catches, 10,940 receiving yards and 76 touchdown catches.

As they head to training camp, they have five tight ends on the roster, with three TEs that have played in the NFL. Combined that trio – Brad Cottam (right), Tony Curtis and Sean Ryan – have 20 starts in the league, with 30 catches for 218 yards and three TDs.

Gonzalez had those numbers before the end of his first season.

No NFL team builds an offense or even a passing game around a tight end. But over the last 10 years, Gonzalez was the most reliable receiver in the Chiefs offense year-after-year and the best security blanket available for the team’s quarterbacks.

He’s gone and there’s a big hole at tight end. None of the five on the roster has the skills or background to become the next Tony Gonzalez. That doesn’t mean they can’t make contributions and catch passes for the Chiefs offense in ‘09. They just have very big shoes to fill.

Here’s a look at the tight ends on the roster. Read More..

Position Overview: Special Teams

Until the start of training camp late next week, we will take a look at the Chiefs 2009 roster and break down the 80 players based on the nine position groups. We’ll also provide perspective on what each position has done in this decade of Chiefs football.

With the exception of punter Dustin Colquitt (right) and coverage man Jon McGraw, the Chiefs special teams struggled during the 2008 season. Snapper, kicker, returner … they all left much to be desired in helping the Chiefs win games.

Thus, the 2-14 record thanks to one of the worst FG percentages in the league and no returns for touchdowns, something the Chiefs haven’t seen at all since the 2006 season.

For any chance to turn around the team’s record this season, Todd Haley and his coaching staff must come up with more plays out of the kicking game. They must get consistent kicking, consistent coverage and some spark in the return game.

But do they have the players to get those things done?

Here’s the breakdown of the key positions in the kicking game. Read More..