KC Chiefs Blog

The Kansas City Chiefs have signed WR Jerheme Urban, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Terms of the deal were not immediately known.

Urban played for Chiefs coach Todd Haley when he was an assistant for the Arizona Cardinals.

This is an interesting move by Kansas City.

Haley first crossed paths with Urban in Dallas when the Cowboys signed him to their practice squad in 2006.  He was cut before the 2007 season, but the next year became a member of the Arizona Cardinals.

Playing under Haley in 2008 he had the best season of his career.  He played in all 16 games and caught 34 passes for 448 yards and 4 touchdowns.

Before entering the NFL as an undrafted free agent, Urban was a two-sport star at Trinity University in Texas.

He holds the Trinity record for touchdowns and kick return yardage and was also named SCAC Track & Field Athlete of the Year each of his four years.

There’s no way to tell how much tread he has left on his tires, but at 6-3 he can be a factor even if he has lost a few steps in the vertical game.  Urban’s numbers won’t blow anyone away though playing behind Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin will keep anyone’s stats down.

Unlike another former Cardinals receiver — Lance Long — Urban produced during his time under Haley and has legitimate NFL size.

The Kansas City Chiefs have lost their first unrestricted free agent of 2010 after OL Wade Smith signed a four-year, $12 million contract with the Houston Texans.

Smith, who started nine games last season and 16 in his two seasons with the Chiefs, visited Buffalo and Arizona before choosing the Texans.  He’ll compete for a starting job at center and guard.

“We think he has a legitimate chance to start inside,” coach Gary Kubiak said.  “We didn’t guarantee him anything about a starting job, but if he plays well enough to be one of our three-best interior linemen, then he’ll start.”

Smith, 6-4, 296, turns 29 next month.  He played at Memphis.  He spent four seasons with Miami and two with the New York Jets before signing with the Chiefs.

The emails I received overnight were a good 70/30 questioning why the Chiefs didn’t make a stronger play (or any play at all for that matter) to keep Smith in Kansas City.  While I agree Smith did everything asked of him last year, it’s hard to give a backup lineman that kind of money.

With that being said, there’s no way he is going to Houston to sit on the bench.  The Texans will be giving Smith more time and money than the Chiefs were willing to offer.

There are reports out there saying Kansas City was interested in bringing Smith back, but they had more than ample opportunity to do so and never stepped up to the plate.  If they truly wanted to keep him with the Chiefs they could have made an effort to sign Smith before he became an unrestricted free agent.  Even if Scott Pioli initially underestimated the market for a backup guard, his almost-signing in Buffalo would have served as a wake up call.

ESPN.com has taken a new approach for their latest mock draft, they have set up Todd McShay and Mel Kiper’s selections next to each other.  While the two draft gurus disagree on many picks throughout the first round, they agree on who the Kansas City Chiefs will target at No. 5: Tennessee safety Eric Berry.

Kiper

The Chiefs will race to the podium when Berry is still there at this position.  He’s a clear need fit and is exceptional value here, and Berry showed in Indy that his physical capabilities match his outstanding film.  The Ed Reed comparisons are legit.

McShay

The Chiefs have bigger needs, including offensive tackle, but Berry is clearly the best available player in this scenario.  Berry’s range and ball skills would significantly upgrade a safety group that comes up short in both areas.

You can add me to the list of agreeing with this selection.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, behind Ndamukong Suh I believe Berry has the most potential of any player in this draft.  His impressive numbers at the scouting combine only reinforce what his stellar play at Tennessee established.

Where I disagree with McShay is that somehow offensive tackle is a bigger need than safety.  Once the line had a real running back on the field and settled into the offense they were average at worst.  Meanwhile, every single game there were at least one or two major mistakes coming from the safety position.  Along with linebacker, safety is the Chiefs biggest need and Berry would go a long way to making sure it’s not a problem again for another decade.

Former Chiefs running back Larry Johnson is scheduled to visit with the Washington Redskins, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Two days after former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Willie Parker visited with Washington, the Redskins are scheduled to host a visit Thursday with Johnson.

The Redskins have made it known around the league that they would like to sign a veteran back.

Johnson, whose production has declined in recent years, appeared in seven games last season for both the Chiefs and Bengals, carrying the ball 178 times for 581 yards.

NFL.com’s Jason La Confora is reporting Johnson will also visit Oakland this week.

Just like the Bengals did last year, someone is going to give LJ a chance to carry the ball.  I almost wonder if he would be better off with a team that has an young, established back instead of a veteran like Portis.

Not that a coach should feel all that comfortable having Johnson around to influence his younger players, but at this point in his career he can’t be counted on to carry the load for a team.  Portis has missed half of a season twice in the last four year and there’s no way to know how he will respond to the concussion that put him on the shelf last year.

The Raiders signing Johnson makes sense on many different levels.  First is obviously that they rarely — if ever — show they care about a player’s character.  Secondly, they have two young runners in Darren McFadden and Michael Bush.

LJ was born to be a Raider.

The Kansas City Chiefs have signed NT Shaun Smith, according to…  Well, Shaun Smith.

It’s a officiical am a Kansas city chief

Smith was not tendered a contract by the Bengals last week.  He’s played with 3 teams in six seasons, including two stints with Cincinnati.

After Ron Edwards, the Chiefs have nothing at NT so Smith will have a chance to come in and (obviously depending on what happens during the draft) contribute immediately.

He only played in three games for the Bengals last season, but during their season finale against the Jets he had 7 tackles.

Smith’s best season as a pro was in 2007 playing for Romeo Crennel in Cleveland.  That season he recorded 62 tackles and 2 sacks while playing in 15 games.

For those wondering, Josh Looney @ KCChiefs.com has confirmed the news.

The Kansas City Chiefs were one of only two teams to attend Western Michigan’s pro day yesterday.  Oddly enough, one of the players they were there to see isn’t draft-eligible at all.  As Graham Couch of the Kalamazoo Gazette reports, Jamarko Simmons was a senior in 2009, went undrafted and signed with the Green Bay Packers.

Last summer, shortly before training camp, Simmons suffered an LF-s1 herniated disc in his back.  The back itself wasn’t as much a problem as the nerve being pinched running down his right leg.  If Simmons was hit the wrong way, he was told, he could be paralyzed.

Released by the Packers in early August, Simmons quickly underwent surgery in New York, hoping to be healthy by late in the season.

But an early December workout with the Detroit Lions ended when he broke a bone in his foot with “three routes left.”

“For about 15 years of my life playing football there wasn’t more than a sprain or a dislocated finger, nothing that would keep me out from playing,” Simmons said.

At 250 pounds, the 6-foot-2 wideout ran the 40-yard dash… in 4.66 seconds, a little more than a second off his time a year ago, when he weighed 231.

He caught every pass thrown his way by Hiller but one, showing the same vise-grip hands that made his bruising frame and deceptive speed all the more effective in college.

“I felt I had a pretty good showing, 20 pounds overweight,” said Simmons, who plans to lose 10-15 more pounds in the next month.  “I’m thinking about playing a lot of H-back or tight end.  It’s all what teams want, what teams need.  I just want to show myself and get my name back on the radar so I can have another chance.”

If he can get himself in shape between now and the summer, Simmons could be an intriguing player at training camp.  Besides the obvious “injury prone” tag, there will always be the people unwilling to see him as anything but a system wide receiver.  While he is a completely different player, there were the same things being said about Greg Jennings after his time at Western Michigan.

Simmons has played running back, wide receiver and if he can play at 6-2/235 he could be helpful as a hybrid H-back-tight end.

Earlier today, the Chiefs signed RB Thomas Jones to a two-year contract.  Kansas City head coach is very excited to now have Jones in the fold going forward.

“He’s an impressive guy.  We can’t have enough guys like Thomas,” Haley said.  “It’s one thing to be a leader and another to have the ability to back it up.  Thomas does that and is excited to continue to show that.

“He had his best year last year.  And I’m excited he wants to be here.”

“He fits what we’re looking for,” Haley said.  “He’s a good player, loves the game and is an excellent preparation guy and a good teammate.

“He’s been a part of other teams turning it in the right direction and he’s excited to be a part of this.”

“If we have a chance to add good football players, we’re going to do it,” Haley said.  “This was a great example of a good fit, no different than what we’ve been able to do coaching staff wise.  We need to because we only won four games last year and we’ve got to be better this year.”

I’m sure we are going to hear from Haley all offseason once again how every position is an open competition, but I hope this offense is put together to feature Jamaal Charles and his big-play ability.

Jones will allow the Chiefs to keep Charles fresh and feature him more in the passing game, but there should be no doubt about who is the starting running back.

The Kansas City Chiefs have signed former New York Jets running back Thomas Jones to a two year deal.

Jones was released by the Jets last week after being due a $3 million roster bonus on top of a $2.8 million base salary this season.  He and the Jets failed to reach a compromise on restructuring his contract; the team wanted him to take a pay cut.

Jones wasn’t the only running back on Kansas City’s radar.  After spending Tuesday with the Washington Redskins, Pittsburgh Steelers free-agent running back Willie Parker was scheduled to visit the Chiefs on Thursday, but the trip was canceled when Jones entered the fold.

The 31-year-old is coming off a season in which he set career highs by rushing for 1,402 yards and 14 touchdowns while helping the Jets reach the AFC Championship Game against Indianapolis.  He was also a popular presence in the locker room, twice being voted the team’s most inspirational player by his teammates.

Jones had a career-high 331 carries in the regular season and appeared to wear down a bit down the stretch as rookie Shonn Greene got the majority of carries.  Still, with the game on the line against San Diego and the Jets facing fourth-and-1 late, coach Rex Ryan put the ball in Jones’ hands to make a first down that clinched a trip to Indianapolis.

He’ll make $3 million the first year and $2 million the second in Kansas City.  There are also $500,000 in incentives built into the deal.

Great pickup for the Chiefs.  I wasn’t sure that he would be willing to take a back seat to Jamaal Charles, but whatever he and the team talked about over the past two days was enough to convince all parties that this was a marriage that could work.

It’s impossible to overlook the leadership qualities that he brings to the table.  As impressive as being voted the most inspirational player is, the more important role was that of mentor to rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez.  Jones owned the locker next to Sanchez and was there all year to guide the young signal caller through an up-and-down first year in the league.

I would love to see Scott Pioli go out and bring Jones’ lead blocker back to Kansas City: Tony Richardson.  He has to have at least one quality season left in that body and every Chiefs fan knows how important T-Rich can be to a team on and off the field.

Welcome to Kansas City, it’s always good to have another Jones around.

Even though they re-signed WR Chris Chambers yesterday, the Kansas City Chiefs have been one of the least active teams in the first week of free agency.  While the lack of action can be frustrating, Bob Gretz is quick to point out that you only need to look across the division to see the down falls of a free agent spending spree.

There’s enough evidence after 17 years to show us that diving head first into the UFA waters generally brings with it a major headache.  More evidence of that came down on Monday, when the Raiders released WR Javon Walker.

He was part of a four-player class that the Raiders dropped big money on in 2008. Walker got a six-year $55 million deal with $14 million guaranteed.  Oakland re-signed DE Tommy Kelly to a seven-year, $50.5 million contract with $18 million guaranteed.  They made a trade with Atlanta, giving up a second and fifth-round picks for CB DeAngelo Hall; part of the deal was a new contract for Hall at seven years, $68 million with $24.5 million guaranteed.  Safety Gibril Wilson left the New York Giants and signed as a UFA with the Raiders for six years, $39 million, with $16 million guaranteed.

That was four players, some $212 million in total value and more than $72 million in guaranteed dollars.

I don’t know that it’s ever fair to use the Raiders as a comparison since they are the ultimate example of a train wreck, but hopefully their failures will help to talk down some Chiefs fans that are standing on the edge due to the lack of money spent by Clark Hunt (and for the record, I’m there with you).

Julius Peppers, Antrel Rolle, Dunta Robinson or Karlos Dansby would have been great additions to a Chiefs defense that is still full of holes.  But what I’m trying to talk myself into is that the huge contract that one of those players commanded will instead help pay for 3 or 4 starters.  Where exactly those players are coming from I’m not sure yet, but it’s always good for Chiefs fans as a whole to remind themselves that the season is a long ways away from starting.

The Kansas City Chiefs allowed Chris Chambers to test free agency before re-signing him but, according to the receiver, he never wanted to play anywhere else.

“All along, I wanted to be here,” Chambers said.  “I knew how I felt and I knew how the team felt and that eventually we were going to get something done.”

He played in nine games for Kansas City and wound up tied for third with 36 catches, four of them for touchdowns.

“I got a chance to know the team last year, the players, the coaches and everyone,” Chambers said.  “They all embraced me as soon as I came in.  I was able to be successful.  Matt Cassel and I built a relationship over the past three months, which I never had with a quarterback.  He’s a guy I wanted to play with.  He was definitely a huge part in me wanting to return.

“I felt like the team had a great nucleus of guys.  We were fighting and scrapping and trying to win games.  No one ever gave up.  Everybody practiced really hard.  Those are the type of guys you want to play football with.  Eventually, things are going to turn around.”

No player is going to rip a team that just guaranteed him $5.9 million, but there’s also no need to praise the teams as much as Chambers did.  I think that speaks volumes about the program that Todd Haley and Scott Pioli have installed over the past year.

There were rumors bouncing around during the season about how the “veteran players” on the Chiefs were not happy about all of the hard work they had to go through.  If things were so bad, Chambers would have jumped at the chance to play for Cincinnati or any other team in need of help at wide receiver.

The writers that only want to talk about how bad the Haley/Pioli regime is will no doubt say that Chambers had no choice but to return to Kansas City.  Yet if you look at the unrestricted free agent wide receivers available, once you get past Terrell Owens and Antonio Bryant the pickings are slim.