CHIEFS SIGN 12 UNDRAFTED FREE AGENTS, JAMARCUS SOON TO BE HISTORY & SOME DRAFT LOOSE ENDS
The Chiefs signed 12 undrafted free agents today. They are:
Garrett Brown--NT--Minnesota
Micheal Johnson--ILB--Northern Alabama
Justin Cole--LB--San Jose State
Tevarris Johnson--RB--Miami
T.C. Drake--TE--Kentucky
Rich Gunnell--WR--Boston College
Jeremy Honre-Murdock--WR--Massachusetts
Andrew Lewis--C--Oklahoma State
Lemuel Jeanpierre--G--South Carolina
Nick Landry--OT--Tulane
Tyler Eastman--OL--Maine
Austin Signor--PK--Eastern Illinois
The Chiefs roster is littered with undrafted free agents, so expect a few of these to replace some of the 'warm bodies' already on the roster. Does it bother anyone that our Chiefs, by my count, have only 20 players currently on their roster they drafted(not counting the 7 they just drafted this weekend). They have 25 undrafted free agents, not counting the 12 listed above & 14 more free agents who were drafted by other teams now on Kansas City's roster. Twenty five undrafted players, when I used the term 'warm bodies', that's exactly what it is. Yes, the entire interior of the offensive line are undrafted free agents. Can you give me one other truly productive undrafted free agent currently on the roster? Every team has a number of undrafted free agents playing on special teams, even a few starting, but not in numbers like the Chiefs.
Out of the 20 current Chiefs obtained thru the draft by Kansas City, one-quarter of them don't have a place on this team. Either they have no business in the NFL(Jake O'Connell & Barry Richardson), are on the wrong team for their skill set(Dorsey & Colin Brown) or can't shake the injury tag they were drafted with(Cottam).
Of the undrafted free agents I was interested in, every one of them was snatched up today. A few I wasn't interested in were signed as well. Oregon's Legarrette Blount signed with Tennessee as did USC RB Stafon Jonson(the young man who almost died after a weight-lifting accident) & Texas A&M's Kevin Mathews. He's the son of Hall of Fame, Houston & Tennessee lineman Bruce Mathews. Mizzou's DT Jaron Baston, of Blue Springs High, signed with Denver today & Tiger guard Kurtis Gregory signed with Carolina. But Danario Alexander & Jared Perry haven't caught on with anyone. KU's Jake Sharp & Oklahoma State's Keith Tosten haven't signed with anyone either.
A tight end I suggested be signed as an undrafted free agent, New Hampshire's Scott Sicko(honest) has made it known he won't continue his football career because he wasn't drafted. His reasoning was by not being drafted, it was unlikely he would have a long NFL career. Being signed as an undrafted free agent is a better opportunity many times over being a 7th round pick. As a draft pick, you are obligated to the team that drafted you but as an undrafted free agent, a prospect can pick & choose who he wants to play for, often giving a kid a chance with a team that lacks depth at his position. A short-sided decision in my opinion.
How shocking was the fall of Kansas wide receiver Dez Briscoe? Thought to be a 2nd rounder before the beginning of last season, he fell all the way into the 6th round yesterday before being selected by Cincinnati with the 191st overall pick. Making things even worse for Briscoe was his teammate Kerry Meier was picked 26 slots ahead of him by the Atlanta Falcons. I had Briscoe falling into the 4th round & Meier a late-6th, early 7th round selection. Briscoe didn't finish the year strong, his combine workout was lousy, he looked like he didn't even care. Plus he had off-field issues with the now departed Mark Mangino.
Being drafted yesterday was bittersweet for Meier, his family is still mourning the loss of his older brother, Dylan, who died from a fall 9 days ago while on a family hike. Dylan was a starting quarterback at K-State in 2006.
The trade of former first-round draft pick Jason Campbell to the Raiders signals the end of JaMarcus Russell's free ride in Oakland. He's due $9.5 million in salary this season. The Raiders have already worked out a contract extension for Campbell & he will be their starting quarterback in 2010. Russell can pack up his million-dollar bling collection & put his his ass in his Bentley convertible & ride on back to Louisiana. Don't look for anyone to sign this kid unless he's willing to work for the league minimum. I don't see that happening, he didn't work hard for $9.5 million a year, do you expect him to bust his ass for $525,000? This guy is the poster child for the proposed rookie salary cap. Somewhere Ryan Leaf is sitting on his couch, thinking he's just weeks away from no longer being the biggest bust in draft history. JaMarcus will ascend to the throne.
LaDainian Tomlinson continues to amaze me with his ego. He said over the weekend he couldn't retire as a Charger as long as general manager A. J. Smith is with the team. He said that might prevent him from possibly going into the Hall of Fame as a Charger. L.T. needs to get over himself already.
For all of you who have sent in questions regarding 9-time pro bowl guard, Alan Faneca, who was released by the Jets, here's my response on the subject. Faneca is 33 years old & even tho the Jets are on the hook for over $5 million, he's going to want a pretty sizable deal. The Chiefs already have Brian Waters, also 33, Ryan Lilja & new draftee, Jon Asamoah at the guard position, it's highly unlikely they would be interested in Faneca. As to all the questions regarding Baltimore Raven left tackle Jared Gaither, said to be available in trade over the past two weeks, the Ravens admitted today, they never had a single call about Gaither. The asking price was a 2nd round draft pick or "make an offer." Gaither isn't really popular with the Raven coaching staff as well as some of his teammates, he's said to be less than a hard worker. This is probably the main reason Kansas City wasn't interested, like the rest of the league.
Baltimore should be the team to beat in the AFC North. After acquiring WR Anquan Boldin & resigning WR Derrick Mason, the Ravens had a particularly good draft. They traded out of the 1st round but still picked up OLB Sergio Kindle, NT Terrence Cody, 2 fine TE prospects, Dennis Pitta & Ed Dickson, DT Arthur Jones & behemoth OT Ramone Harewood. GM Ozzie Newsome & coach John Harbaugh have a team that can challenge Indy, San Diego, New England & the Jets for AFC supremacy. Without Ben Roethlisberger for 4-6 games due to his suspension, Pittsburgh looks to be third best in their division.
For all the trumped up drama regarding Jimmy Clausen & his so-called fall from grace, he's going to come out of all this stress & strain in pretty good shape. Picked by Carolina, he goes to a team with a very good offensive line, an awesome backfield tandem of DeAngelo Williams & Jonathan Stewart, wide receiver Steve Smith plus 2 draftees to join him. All he has to do is learn the offense & compete with starter Matt Moore for the job. Sam Bradford goes to an awful team & the pressure will be on him to produce with much less to work with than Clausen will have in Carolina.
I don't believe in giving grades for each team. I look at what each team needs, who was available when they drafted & who they ended up taking. Here are the teams that impressed me, teams that used the system to their advantage, filled many of their most pressing needs & some that received future draft picks for next year.
Baltimore--I outlined why I liked their draft above.
Seattle--Blue chippers aplenty, Okung, Earl Thomas, Golden Tate, rcvd LenDale White & Leon Washington in trades.
Philadelphia--Needed an upgrade on defense, they got it, 8 defensive picks, 3 DE's, 2 OLB's a corner & 2 safeties. Plus TE Clay Harbour, WR Riley Cooper & QB Mike Kafka.
Tampa Bay--Biggest needs were defensive tackle & wide receivers, they got 2 good ones at each position plus a good corner prospect, an OLB & a good punter.
New England--Traded up & down, got a fine corner, 2 great TE prospects, 2 DE's, Brandon Spikes at ILB & the best punter in the draft. Belichick is loaded for 2011 too, two #1's & two #2's.
Detroit & Arizona did pretty well too. The teams that didn't do as well were:
Jacksonville--Reached about 30 spots to select DE Alualu with the 10th overall pick & it didn't get a lot better after that. Definitely my least favorite.
Minnesota--traded out of round one, selected a corner(Chris Cook) I don't like at all, took RB Toby Gerhart, who I really like, but they needed to replace Chester Taylor, an excellent receiver & Gerhart falls short catching the ball. Wondered why they passed on a QB & a defensive tackle, both their starters could be suspended for 4 games in the StarCaps debacle.
Washington--Traded most of their picks prior to this draft, they only had 4, but they moved down gaining a couple more. Still didn't like their picks other than OT Trent Williams.
Denver--Josh McDaniels really stuck his neck out passing on WR Dez Bryant to select Damaryius Thomas & then traded back into the first round to take QB Tim Tebow. They surrendered 3 picks for their chance to get the Florida QB. Took 2 offensive linemen about a round too high each, then selected Perrish Cox, a talented corner with discipline issues. This pick confused me. He passes on Dez & his bad reputation, drafts choirboy Tebow when 2 better QB's were available then he takes Cox.
Kansas City--Berry should become a great player, McCluster could be a Wes Welker-type slot receiver, Arenas was picked a round too high, Moeaki's extensive injury history is a concern, especially with better TE's still on the board. The league's 2nd worst run defense wasn't addressed. The league's 2nd worst sack total wasn't addressed. The offensive line has only one guy capable of playing left tackle, Brandon Albert. No depth for Albert was secured in the draft. The players they drafted, for the most part, should be excellent additions, but they don't offer immediate help where it was needed most.
Buffalo, who never expended a pick on a left tackle, their most pressing need, was very puzzling. Indianapolis, selecting LB Pat Angerer in the 2nd & oft-injured CB Kevin Thomas in the 3rd were both big reaches.
Garrett Brown--NT--Minnesota
Micheal Johnson--ILB--Northern Alabama
Justin Cole--LB--San Jose State
Tevarris Johnson--RB--Miami
T.C. Drake--TE--Kentucky
Rich Gunnell--WR--Boston College
Jeremy Honre-Murdock--WR--Massachusetts
Andrew Lewis--C--Oklahoma State
Lemuel Jeanpierre--G--South Carolina
Nick Landry--OT--Tulane
Tyler Eastman--OL--Maine
Austin Signor--PK--Eastern Illinois
The Chiefs roster is littered with undrafted free agents, so expect a few of these to replace some of the 'warm bodies' already on the roster. Does it bother anyone that our Chiefs, by my count, have only 20 players currently on their roster they drafted(not counting the 7 they just drafted this weekend). They have 25 undrafted free agents, not counting the 12 listed above & 14 more free agents who were drafted by other teams now on Kansas City's roster. Twenty five undrafted players, when I used the term 'warm bodies', that's exactly what it is. Yes, the entire interior of the offensive line are undrafted free agents. Can you give me one other truly productive undrafted free agent currently on the roster? Every team has a number of undrafted free agents playing on special teams, even a few starting, but not in numbers like the Chiefs.
Out of the 20 current Chiefs obtained thru the draft by Kansas City, one-quarter of them don't have a place on this team. Either they have no business in the NFL(Jake O'Connell & Barry Richardson), are on the wrong team for their skill set(Dorsey & Colin Brown) or can't shake the injury tag they were drafted with(Cottam).
Of the undrafted free agents I was interested in, every one of them was snatched up today. A few I wasn't interested in were signed as well. Oregon's Legarrette Blount signed with Tennessee as did USC RB Stafon Jonson(the young man who almost died after a weight-lifting accident) & Texas A&M's Kevin Mathews. He's the son of Hall of Fame, Houston & Tennessee lineman Bruce Mathews. Mizzou's DT Jaron Baston, of Blue Springs High, signed with Denver today & Tiger guard Kurtis Gregory signed with Carolina. But Danario Alexander & Jared Perry haven't caught on with anyone. KU's Jake Sharp & Oklahoma State's Keith Tosten haven't signed with anyone either.
A tight end I suggested be signed as an undrafted free agent, New Hampshire's Scott Sicko(honest) has made it known he won't continue his football career because he wasn't drafted. His reasoning was by not being drafted, it was unlikely he would have a long NFL career. Being signed as an undrafted free agent is a better opportunity many times over being a 7th round pick. As a draft pick, you are obligated to the team that drafted you but as an undrafted free agent, a prospect can pick & choose who he wants to play for, often giving a kid a chance with a team that lacks depth at his position. A short-sided decision in my opinion.
How shocking was the fall of Kansas wide receiver Dez Briscoe? Thought to be a 2nd rounder before the beginning of last season, he fell all the way into the 6th round yesterday before being selected by Cincinnati with the 191st overall pick. Making things even worse for Briscoe was his teammate Kerry Meier was picked 26 slots ahead of him by the Atlanta Falcons. I had Briscoe falling into the 4th round & Meier a late-6th, early 7th round selection. Briscoe didn't finish the year strong, his combine workout was lousy, he looked like he didn't even care. Plus he had off-field issues with the now departed Mark Mangino.
Being drafted yesterday was bittersweet for Meier, his family is still mourning the loss of his older brother, Dylan, who died from a fall 9 days ago while on a family hike. Dylan was a starting quarterback at K-State in 2006.
The trade of former first-round draft pick Jason Campbell to the Raiders signals the end of JaMarcus Russell's free ride in Oakland. He's due $9.5 million in salary this season. The Raiders have already worked out a contract extension for Campbell & he will be their starting quarterback in 2010. Russell can pack up his million-dollar bling collection & put his his ass in his Bentley convertible & ride on back to Louisiana. Don't look for anyone to sign this kid unless he's willing to work for the league minimum. I don't see that happening, he didn't work hard for $9.5 million a year, do you expect him to bust his ass for $525,000? This guy is the poster child for the proposed rookie salary cap. Somewhere Ryan Leaf is sitting on his couch, thinking he's just weeks away from no longer being the biggest bust in draft history. JaMarcus will ascend to the throne.
LaDainian Tomlinson continues to amaze me with his ego. He said over the weekend he couldn't retire as a Charger as long as general manager A. J. Smith is with the team. He said that might prevent him from possibly going into the Hall of Fame as a Charger. L.T. needs to get over himself already.
For all of you who have sent in questions regarding 9-time pro bowl guard, Alan Faneca, who was released by the Jets, here's my response on the subject. Faneca is 33 years old & even tho the Jets are on the hook for over $5 million, he's going to want a pretty sizable deal. The Chiefs already have Brian Waters, also 33, Ryan Lilja & new draftee, Jon Asamoah at the guard position, it's highly unlikely they would be interested in Faneca. As to all the questions regarding Baltimore Raven left tackle Jared Gaither, said to be available in trade over the past two weeks, the Ravens admitted today, they never had a single call about Gaither. The asking price was a 2nd round draft pick or "make an offer." Gaither isn't really popular with the Raven coaching staff as well as some of his teammates, he's said to be less than a hard worker. This is probably the main reason Kansas City wasn't interested, like the rest of the league.
Baltimore should be the team to beat in the AFC North. After acquiring WR Anquan Boldin & resigning WR Derrick Mason, the Ravens had a particularly good draft. They traded out of the 1st round but still picked up OLB Sergio Kindle, NT Terrence Cody, 2 fine TE prospects, Dennis Pitta & Ed Dickson, DT Arthur Jones & behemoth OT Ramone Harewood. GM Ozzie Newsome & coach John Harbaugh have a team that can challenge Indy, San Diego, New England & the Jets for AFC supremacy. Without Ben Roethlisberger for 4-6 games due to his suspension, Pittsburgh looks to be third best in their division.
For all the trumped up drama regarding Jimmy Clausen & his so-called fall from grace, he's going to come out of all this stress & strain in pretty good shape. Picked by Carolina, he goes to a team with a very good offensive line, an awesome backfield tandem of DeAngelo Williams & Jonathan Stewart, wide receiver Steve Smith plus 2 draftees to join him. All he has to do is learn the offense & compete with starter Matt Moore for the job. Sam Bradford goes to an awful team & the pressure will be on him to produce with much less to work with than Clausen will have in Carolina.
I don't believe in giving grades for each team. I look at what each team needs, who was available when they drafted & who they ended up taking. Here are the teams that impressed me, teams that used the system to their advantage, filled many of their most pressing needs & some that received future draft picks for next year.
Baltimore--I outlined why I liked their draft above.
Seattle--Blue chippers aplenty, Okung, Earl Thomas, Golden Tate, rcvd LenDale White & Leon Washington in trades.
Philadelphia--Needed an upgrade on defense, they got it, 8 defensive picks, 3 DE's, 2 OLB's a corner & 2 safeties. Plus TE Clay Harbour, WR Riley Cooper & QB Mike Kafka.
Tampa Bay--Biggest needs were defensive tackle & wide receivers, they got 2 good ones at each position plus a good corner prospect, an OLB & a good punter.
New England--Traded up & down, got a fine corner, 2 great TE prospects, 2 DE's, Brandon Spikes at ILB & the best punter in the draft. Belichick is loaded for 2011 too, two #1's & two #2's.
Detroit & Arizona did pretty well too. The teams that didn't do as well were:
Jacksonville--Reached about 30 spots to select DE Alualu with the 10th overall pick & it didn't get a lot better after that. Definitely my least favorite.
Minnesota--traded out of round one, selected a corner(Chris Cook) I don't like at all, took RB Toby Gerhart, who I really like, but they needed to replace Chester Taylor, an excellent receiver & Gerhart falls short catching the ball. Wondered why they passed on a QB & a defensive tackle, both their starters could be suspended for 4 games in the StarCaps debacle.
Washington--Traded most of their picks prior to this draft, they only had 4, but they moved down gaining a couple more. Still didn't like their picks other than OT Trent Williams.
Denver--Josh McDaniels really stuck his neck out passing on WR Dez Bryant to select Damaryius Thomas & then traded back into the first round to take QB Tim Tebow. They surrendered 3 picks for their chance to get the Florida QB. Took 2 offensive linemen about a round too high each, then selected Perrish Cox, a talented corner with discipline issues. This pick confused me. He passes on Dez & his bad reputation, drafts choirboy Tebow when 2 better QB's were available then he takes Cox.
Kansas City--Berry should become a great player, McCluster could be a Wes Welker-type slot receiver, Arenas was picked a round too high, Moeaki's extensive injury history is a concern, especially with better TE's still on the board. The league's 2nd worst run defense wasn't addressed. The league's 2nd worst sack total wasn't addressed. The offensive line has only one guy capable of playing left tackle, Brandon Albert. No depth for Albert was secured in the draft. The players they drafted, for the most part, should be excellent additions, but they don't offer immediate help where it was needed most.
Buffalo, who never expended a pick on a left tackle, their most pressing need, was very puzzling. Indianapolis, selecting LB Pat Angerer in the 2nd & oft-injured CB Kevin Thomas in the 3rd were both big reaches.
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