5. Brandon Flowers, Kansas City: You may not know much about this third-year player.  But you will. Flowers is outstanding.

8. Eric Berry, Kansas City: I wouldn’t be surprised if Berry was in the top four next year.  The No. 5 overall draft pick is a star waiting to happen.

12. Brandon Carr, Kansas City: Carr is a big reason why the Chiefs are so excited about their secondary.  He’s a feisty No. 2 corner.

17. Javier Arenas, Kansas City: I’m excited to see this second-round pick play.  I think he’ll be a playmaker.

I’m not one to usually get too tied up in these rankings, especially when they are coming from people that clearly do not watch the Chiefs ass closely as they should.  But Flowers not cracking the top 5 in the division?  You would be fair to keep him out of that group if we were talking about the entire league, but there’s no doubt in my mind he is at least third in the division.

Carr has been fantastic during his first two years in the league and carries a world of potential.  Hard to argue for a higher slot for him though when a defense is as bad as the Chiefs has been over the past couple of years.

The more curious choices here might be Berry and Arenas.  I’m as excited about these two as anyone, but is it fair to have them ranked as high as they are before taking a single snap in the NFL?

“We have never spoken to Mike Lombardi — ever, not even when he worked for the Raiders,” Feinsod told The Post.  “Where he’s getting his information I don’t know, but it’s not coming from our side.”

Revis, who finished second in the NFL Defensive Player of the Year voting to Packers cornerback Charles Woodson and started in the Pro Bowl, is likely seeking at least similar money to the $15.1 million Raiders’ cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha is making.

Asomugha signed a three-year, $45.3 million deal last offseason, a contract that makes him, based on average salary per year, the fourth-highest-paid player in the NFL.

The three players above him are Panthers defensive end Julius Peppers ($16.7 million), Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer ($16.2 million) and Giants quarterback Eli Manning ($15.3 million).  Peyton Manning, considered by many as the most valuable player in the league, makes an average of $14 million.

Only three players last season — the Giants’ Eli Manning, Chargers QB Philip Rivers and Bears QB Jay Cutler — made more than $20 million last season.

Revis last week hinted that, should he believe that the Jets are not backing up their promise to ink him to a new deal before the season, holding out of training camp, which begins Aug. 1, is not out of the question.

He won’t get $20 million a year, but Revis is going to get paid and get paid big time money.  Scott Pioli needs to pay close attention to how these negotiations progress because a new deal for his own young cornerback isn’t far behind.

I’m not saying that Flowers is as good as the man they nicknamed “Revis Island” but to say he isn’t in the next group of corners isn’t doing him justice.  Last year Flowers was a top 15 corner while playing with a bum shoulder and without any legitimate starting-caliber talent playing behind him at safety.

If he is healthy in 2010 and the Chiefs defense improves as many expect under new coordinator Romeo Crennel, Flowers will be in a position to demand a contract resembling at least the one Oakland gave to Asomugha.

The higher Revis sets the bar, the more that Flowers and his agents will be looking for before he becomes a free agent following the 2011 season.

“They’ve seen a lot more than I have,” Berry said.  “I’m coming from college, the college level, and they’ve been playing in this league for three years.   All I can do is just pick their brains and figure out what I can use.”

Berry knows he’ll have to adjust quickly.  He’s expected to begin the season as an immediate contributor and likely starter at one of the safety positions.  Berry has plenty of talent but little experience, and that’s why Thomas appeared this weekend to take a special interest in him.

Thomas worked one-on-one with Berry during part of Saturday’s afternoon workout, staying by Berry’s side while the rookie was on the sideline.

Berry said Thomas is making himself known quickly to Kansas City’s rookies, leading secondary meetings and introducing the youngsters to his style.

“Coach Thomas, he’s a very personable guy,” Berry said.  “He’s very down to earth.  He doesn’t have that big ego or whatever.  He encourages us to ask questions. Having him in the meeting room is truly a blessing.”

After all of the issues that the Chiefs had last season with their safeties, it’s huge to have a guy like Emmitt Thomas on the coaching staff.  The Falcons loss will definitely be the Chiefs gain.

It’s true that a coach can only do so much and that you need talent, but there are very few people you’d rather have guiding the career of Eric Berry than Emmitt Thomas.

Comeback Player of the Year – QB Brodie Croyle

Role Player of the Year – OL Wade Smith

Breakthrough Player of the Year – RB Jamaal Charles

Offensive Player of the Year – RB Jamaal Charles

Defensive Player of the Year – CB Brandon Flowers

Rookie of the Year – K Ryan Succop

Offensive Line MVP: Rudy Niswanger – This pick may come as a surprise to many, but Niswagner battled injuries to stabilize season-long injury instability up front.  He was the only player along the offensive line to start all 16 games of the season and he was generally lined up against the biggest and strongest opposing defensive lineman (particularity against 3-4 fronts).  Plus, with Waters not talking to the media, Niswanger became the off-field leader by answering most of the tough questions from the media.

For the first time out, Looney and the folks at KCChiefs.com seemed to hit the nail on the head.

My only issue could be with the Comeback Player of the Year.  I’m not sure that Croyle — or any player that only saw the field in two games — should be in line for an award, but with that being said I can’t think of anyone more deserving.  Mike Brown certainly played a ton, but he was right in the middle of big plays given up by the defense.

Outside of Charles for Breakthrough and Offensive Player, Niswanger is the most deserving of his award.  The offensive line had a ton of issues this year, but Niswanger wasn’t one of them.  He fought through injuries that would have kept lesser men on the sidelines for most of the season.  The Chiefs no doubt will re-tool along the line, but no matter the changes I hope they keep Niswanger around.

got on my lil gernie thing or however u spell it….makn that walk to the surgery room…let u know how it went in a few hours

Gotta love Twitter.

Flowers showed how tough he is the last few games of this season.  He had trouble walking upright as he headed to the defensive huddle, but still never stepped away from an oncoming running back or wide receiver.

Hopefully the surgery isn’t anything serious and he’ll be ready to go for OTAs.

You know the drill at this point…  Here are the best of the worst on offense, defense and special teams.

Offense: Jamaal Charles

The Chiefs couldn’t get much rhythm going on offense, but Charles continued to show why he is one of the best young running backs in the league.  Facing the second best rushing defenses in the league, Charles racked up 102 yards for a 4.3.  Two weeks earlier, Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson only managed 97 yards against that same Bengals defense.

While he was never able to officially break a long run, Charles did take a late first quarter hand off 42 yards to inside the Bengals 30 but it was called back due to a holding call on Branden Albert.  The Chiefs punted 4 plays later.

Charles’ streak of three 100-yard games is the longest since Larry Johnson had four straight in 2006.  He will need 139 yards in Kansas City’s final game to eclipse 1,000 yards for the season.

Defense: Brandon Flowers

When you talk about guts, you have to be talking about Flowers.  Playing in obvious pain, the Chiefs best player on defense never backed away from contact in the passing game or on the ground.  He was credited with 5 tackles but was around the ball all day long and had two very impressive plays to break up sure fire completions.

Todd Haley and everyone around the Chiefs have talked about players getting “it”.  Well, it’s pretty clear that Flowers get “it”.  No one would have held it against him if he called it a day after being helped off the field when he aggravated his shoulder injury.  But Flowers would have none of it, coming right back on the field with his shoulder re-wrapped fighting tooth and nail to help get the Chiefs their 4th victory.

Special Teams: Ryan Succop

This honor very easily could have gone to Dustin Colquitt after he added to 3 more to his team record of punts inside the 20.  Or his illegal kick of a bad Thomas Gafford snap that likely saved the Chiefs 4 points.  But all Ryan Succop has done is continue his near perfect rookie season and this week he set a record in the process.

With his 22nd FG of the season, Succop passed Jan Stenerud for the most made FGs by a rookie in Chiefs history.  He also now has 90 points, third most by a rookie kicker in team history.  If Kansas City had any sort of consistent offense, he would have already shattered all rookie kicker records.

Think about it, Succop has only missed 4 kicks this season (FG and XP) with 3 of those being field goal attempts of over 50 yards.  He currently ranks 10th in accuracy among kickers with at least 20 FG attempts.

You know the drill at this point…  Here are the best of the worst on offense, defense and special teams.

Offense: Matt Cassel

The Kansas City offense had their best outing of the season against Cleveland and Cassel was right in the middle putting together one of his better games.  You could easily put Chris Chambers or Jamaal Charles here, both players that have continued to impress since earning starting jobs for the Chiefs.

Cassel gets the nod here for his unflappable approach even as his receivers continued to drop passes at an alarming rate.  He was 22 of 40 for 331 yards, but could have easily had 5 or 6 more completions for another 75 yards.  Considering how poorly he had been playing, it was that much more impressive to see him make only one truly terrible decision all day — an incompletion that should have been picked off –  that luckily did not hurt the Chiefs.

As another losing Kansas City Chiefs season comes to a close, a strong finish from Cassel over the final month will go a long way towards easing nerves going into the offseason.

Defense: Brandon Flowers

After the embarrassing performance of the Chiefs defense against the run, there wasn’t any player along the front seven that belongs here.  Sure, Demorrio Williams had 13 tackles but he was caught out of position on Jerome Harrison’s 71-yard touchdown run only offering only a weak arm tackle.  Flowers, on the other hand, with the Chiefs down three in the third quarter made an athletic interception inside the Kansas City 10 yard line.

Flowers has been nursing a sore shoulder the past few weeks but has yet to let the injury hurt his play on the field.

Special Teams: Dustin Colquitt

Dusty sure knows how to put a bad day in his rear view mirror.  After suffering through possibly the worst game of his career against Buffalo, Colquitt had a typically solid all around game.  On a day where the Chiefs special teams were anything but special, he was a bright spot.

Colquitt added to his team record of punts inside the 20 with 3 more.  And most important was that he made sure the always dangerous Josh Cribbs didn’t hurt the Chiefs on a return, something the kickoff coverage team couldn’t accomplish.

The Kansas City Chiefs defense has been giving up yards in huge chunks, but it’s impossible not to notice the constant effort no matter the situation.  Bob Gretz asked cornerback Brandon Flowers about the team’s defensive hustle even though the playoffs were thrown out the window long ago.

“We are doing it for ourselves.  We are doing it for each other.  We don’t want to let the other guys down.  We’ve got a good mix, a bunch of guys that care about getting something done.  We don’t always get the offense stopped, but it’s not because we aren’t trying.  We want to stop every play and we want to help each other.”

Help for each other needs to be increased against the running game, because the Chiefs already slim chances of winning disappear if they can’t stop the other team’s running game.  The front-seven needs to raise its efficiency level.  The gaps need to be filled as designed by coordinator Clancy Pendergast.  That impressive pursuit needs to be tempered from guys like OLB Tamba Hali, who comes off the edge like a missile and sometimes isn’t able to stop his trajectory as a running back blows past the area he just vacated.

Tackles need to be made, not missed.  Undrafted rookie DE Dion Gales got his first taste of NFL action against Buffalo.  Twice, Gales blew up the blocker across from him and got his hands on the Bills ball carrier.  Both times he couldn’t finish the play and the back gained yardage, when he could have lost yardage.

“We’ve got to do a better job of executing the defense – missed tackles being the other culprit in reviewing the tape,” said Haley.  “But I thought the defense gave us a chance to win and kept us in the game throughout.”

It isn’t seen in the final result, but it is refreshing to see this team hasn’t rolled over.  Too often (including around here last season) players will just go through the motions on game day when a team is long forgotten from the playoff picture.  That hasn’t been the case with this team on either side of the ball.

When you see those killer plays from Gales, it’s clear the Chiefs just don’t have enough talent yet.  If things go according to plan, those plays next season will be a 4 or 5 yard loss instead of a big gain.

If the effort of a 3-10 win team is this high, what will things look like when they are in the hunt for a playoff spot.  Say what you want about Haley — and many of you have — he has these guys playing hard every week.

Now that the Chiefs “sold out” last week’s game against the Bills now the focus turns to the home finale this Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.

Last week, the Chiefs needed to sell 3,500 non-club seats to avoid a local television blackout of their game against the Buffalo Bills.

This week, the magic number is higher.

The Chiefs said Tuesday they need to sell 5,500 remaining tickets for Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns by noon Thursday.  Otherwise, the club’s streak of 156 consecutive sellouts will end and the final regular-season home game will be blacked out within a 75-mile radius of Kansas City, including Topeka and sports bars with satellites.

Last week, the Chiefs received a 24-hour extension from the league until Friday to sell the remaining tickets.  But with 5,500 left this week, an extension is unlikely.

I would say the reaction to the sellout streak is close to 70-30 on the side of “who cares”.  After seeing the stadium “sold out” but half empty last week I can completely understand that sentiment, I can.  I also would never blame someone for not wanting to spend their hard earned money on a 3 win team.  But at the same time I do think it’s important to keep the streak going into next season.

Like it was for the Chiefs, beating the Pittsburgh Steelers was the biggest win of the season for the Browns.  Cleveland consultant Bernie Kosar thinks the win will help Mangini keep his job.

“I think it’s showing that (Mangini) can coach, and if he gets the scheme and gets the players right, that things aren’t as bleak as people said,” Kosar said on WKNR.  “Especially the defensive scheme in the game and the Browns offensive line, the toughness. . . So I think it was something that definitely helped Coach Mangini show that the system’s working … could work.”

I wonder how many people have used that same reasoning for Todd Haley.  The obvious main difference is that there was (is) a real chance that Mangini is fired after this season, but Haley would have to physically assault someone to find his way to the unemployment line.

As has become custom this season, here are the best of the worst on offense, defense and special teams.

Offense: Jamaal Charles

Another fantastic day at the office for the second year running back out of Texas.  Charles not only set a career high with 143 yards on the ground, but also caught 7 passes for 38 yards as he was once again virtually the entire Chiefs offense.  His numbers don’t even do his day justice.  Charles had a 7 yard catch for a first down called back due to an illegal motion by Branden Albert and a huge 14 yard run in the 4th quarter erased by a completely unnecessary hold by Chris Chambers.

There was also the play of the game that wasn’t from Charles.  During a Buffalo return of a Matt Cassel interception, Charles busted it down the field to make the tackle and stripped Bills linebacker Paul Posluszny of the football.  Unfortunately Posluszny was ruled down by contact, but it sure seemed clear that he knee wasn’t yet down when the ball came out and Charles came up with the fumble.

My only problem with Charles’ day had nothing to do with anything the running back did.  It has to do with what he wasn’t allowed to do.  For some reason, Charles only carried the ball 20 times against a team that cannot stop the run.  He easily should have been given 5-7 more carries to give Charles more chances to break a big play the way he did in the 3rd quarter when he ripped off a 76-yard touchdown.  If you keep him away from kickoff returns, you have to fully use him in the running game.

Defense: Brandon Flowers

A question mark leading up to kickoff due to a shoulder injury, Flowers played his usual solid game in the defensive backfield.  He was credited with 6 tackles (his season high is 7) and made the key defensive play of the game.  After a Cassel interception gave Buffalo the ball deep in Kansas City territory and the Bills drove down the the five yard line, Flowers made a great read on a scrambling Ryan Fitzpatrick, stepped back and picked off a pass in the end zone.

Special Teams: Ryan Succop

The Chiefs were virtually invisible on special teams today.  Dustin Colquitt had his worst game of the season, including a punt from the Bills 37 yard line that he put into the end zone for a net of 17.  Lance Long showed he was not built to return kicks at this level, showing zero burst or ability to break tackles.  And on punts Bobby Wade let two balls go that he should have at least fair caught — if not attempted a return — with one of those ending up going 72 yards down to the Kansas City 7.

Succop, on the other hand, did his job even if it wasn’t a difficult one.  He made his only field goal and extra point attempts he was given and was adequate on kickoffs.  The Chiefs kicker was even in on the tackle that brought down Fred Jackson at the end of his longest return of the game.  Not a great performance from Succop, but considering what the rest of the Chiefs special teamers did — or didn’t do — he’s the winner here.

• QB Matt Gutierrez (Inactive 3rd QB)
• WR Quinten Lawrence
• RB Dantrell Savage
• LB Justin Rogers
• OL Ike Ndukwe
• TE Jack O’Connell
• TE Sean Ryan
• LB Pierre Walters

Good to see Brandon Flowers active and ready to go.  He hadn’t practiced Thursday or Friday and would have been a major blow to the Chiefs hopes of trying to contain TO and Lee Evans.

The other surprise for me is Quinten Lawrence.  With both he and Savage out who returns kicks?  I’ll be the first one to tell you that Jamaal Charles is the team’s best option there but how many hits can he survive?  If Charles has to carry the ball 25+ times and return 4-5 kicks, he might not survive much longer.  The team needs to find out if he can handle being a feature back, but does that mean he should have to prove he can also be your best returner at the same time?