Good morning. For the offseason, we have a surprisingly lot of Kansas City Chiefs stories for you this morning. Enjoy!
What Did Chiefs RB Jamaal Charles Show Us in 2014? from The Mothership
Toughness.
That should be the first way to describe what Jamaal Charles showed us during the 2014 season, a year that saw him become the Chiefs' all-time leading rusher as he passed former great Priest Holmes' (2001-07) record of 6,070 career rushing yards.
Charles finished the season with 206 carries for 1,033 yards and nine rushing touchdowns and now has 6,856 career rushing yards to lead the Chiefs.
"I was a little beat up the whole season," Charles said after the Chiefs' final game against San Diego.
Battling nagging injuries throughout the season and for the franchise-leading fifth time in his career, Charles amassed more than 1,000 rushing yards.
Chiefs Season Review: The Fourth Quarter from The Mothership
On third-and-10, Smith seemingly threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Fasano in the end zone, but it was called back because of offensive pass interference. On the next play, Smith threw an interception to linebacker Alex Okafor, and that sequence changed the entire game. Arizona QB Drew Stanton threw a touchdown pass to wide receiver Jaron Brown to take the 15-14, and a converted two-point conversion put the Cardinals up by three.
The Chiefs' best chance at tying the game came in the fourth quarter, but a questionable fumble and turnover by TE Travis Kelce undermined that effort. The call was reviewed by the officials and confirmed a fumble, and the Chiefs dropped their third game in a row, 17-14.
Cardinals RB Kerwynn Williams, who had been elevated from the practice squad the Friday before the game, had 100 yards on 19 carries against the Chiefs.
Chiefs in the Community: Health & Wellness from The Mothership
Throughout the 2014 season, the Chiefs Community Caring Team was extremely active in the Kansas City region, making an effort to give back to the Chiefs Kingdom.
One of the Chiefs main missions is to engage the fans and unite with the Kansas City community, which they accomplish week after week. The Chiefs community relations department has created a myriad of programs in order to inspire youth, connect with the community and honor those in the region.
"The programming that we have in place are really exciting because it's not only the players, or the Hunt family, but it's the cheerleaders, the Red Coaters and front office staff; everybody coming together collectively as the Chiefs Community Caring Team to help uplift our neighbors and our community throughout the year," Chuck Castellano, Chiefs community relations manager, noted.
Through this four-part series, beginning with health and wellness, we'll take a look at the impact the group made in the 2014 season.
AP source: Chief sign QB Terrelle Pryor to one-year deal from The Associated Press via FS Kansas City
The Chiefs signed Terrelle Pryor to a one-year deal Wednesday to provide competition at the backup quarterback spot, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Chiefs had not announced the deal. Pryor worked out for Kansas City earlier in the day, and later tweeted out a picture of himself carrying a notebook with the Chiefs' logo on it.
Chiefs sign QB Terrelle Pryor from ESPN
The Kansas City Chiefs have signed Terrelle Pryor to a one-year deal to provide competition at the backup quarterback spot, a league source told ESPN's Field Yates.
Da'Rick Rogers Says He's Now With Kansas City Chiefs from AllForTennessee
The Georgia native went undrafted in 2013, but was quickly signed by the Buffalo Bills. Rogers' stint with the Bills didn't last long, as he was waived before the 2013 season started.
The Indianapolis Colts picked up the former Vol after he was released by the Bills and placed him on their practice squad. Rogers made his debut late in the 2013 season for the Colts, where he instantly made an impact.
Outside LBs shine in pass rush; inside LBs struggle against run from Chiefs Digest
While the outside pass rushers enjoyed success, the inside linebacker corps experienced a major blow in Week 1 when Derrick Johnson suffered a season-ending Achilles injury.
The Chiefs also started the season with projected starting inside linebacker Joe Mays on the injured reserve list with designation to return after Mays underwent surgery in August to repair torn ligaments in his right wrist.
Josh Mauga filled in for Mays to start the season and took over the "green dot" responsibilities for Johnson. The Chiefs entrusted Mauga with the radio inside the helmet to communicate with the sideline despite him joining the team shortly before the start of training camp.
All things considered, Mauga performed admirably in his first meaningful action since the 2011 season with the New York Jets, ranking first on the Chiefs with 103 total tackles (82 solo)...
...Still, the Chiefs never got going against the run and finished 28th in the league allowing 127.2 yards rushing per game.
Alex Smith pull a Brady contract restructure? Perish the thought (Ow!) from FS Kansas City
"Tom Brady really didn't free up money for the Patriots the way many think," Jason Fitzgerald, founder of the extremely user-friendly NFL cap database site Overthecap.com, tells FOXSportsKansasCity.com. "His salary for the season actually increased by $1 million, as did his salary cap charge.
"What his restructure accomplished was keeping the Patriots from putting money in an escrow account that would cover his 2016 and 2017 salaries. The Chiefs' problems are related to salary-cap charges, so the Brady renegotiation would not really help."
Oh. Well, poopsticks.
Chiefs should have options at receiver, line in NFL Draft from KC Star via The Hays Daily News
The good news, ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay says, is that even though last year's draft produced a potentially historic crop of receivers -- first rounders Mike Evans, Sammy Watkins, Odell Beckham Jr. and Kelvin Benjamin look like potential stars -- this year's group isn't bad, either.
In fact, McShay contends the Chiefs should have no shortage of options at receiver with the 18th overall pick of the first round, should they choose to go that route.
"It's a really good group of receivers this year," McShay said, generally, during a teleconference on Tuesday. "(You have) Amari Cooper from 'Bama, (DeVante) Parker from Louisville -- who was injured early in the year and came on strong -- (Michigan's) Devin Funchess, a tight end/wide receiver hybrid, (Arizona State's) Jaelen Strong, who is 6-3, 215 and had a really good year and continues to improve his ball skills ... just a lot of good receivers."
Chiefs need to find relief for DT Dontari Poe from Chiefs Digest
Defensive tackle Dontari Poe led the charge for the defensive line all season, totaling 46 tackles (38 solo) and a career-high six sacks.
He played 1,007 total snaps with 944 coming on defense, according to the NFL stat-based websiteFootballOutsiders.com.
To put Poe's snaps on defense in perspective, only five defensive linemen in the league - J.J. Watt (1,050), Rob Ninkovich (1,021), Cameron Jordan (999), Everson Griffen (967), Jason Pierre-Paul (960) - had more. Toward the end of the season, it was obvious that all the snaps started to wear on Poe.
Manbraceable, you: Celebs caught on camera in awkward dude-hugs from The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Our next awkward man hug comes courtesy of the 2012 NFL Draft. When University of Memphis nose tackle Dontari Poe was called by the Kansas City Chiefs as the 11th overall pick in the draft, it came as no surprise to football fans who had followed Poe's impressive college career. What did come as a surprise was how awkward his congratulatory hug from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell would turn out to be. While it started out as seemingly normal, the bear hug-style embrace took an extremely uncomfortable turn when the two men found themselves in a near lip lock.
Gary Gibbs won't be Jay Gruden's defensive coordinator from ProFootballTalk
Adam Schefter of ESPN reported Wednesday that the Chiefs rejected the interview request, but Terez Paylor of the Kansas City Star reports that Gibbs made the decision to pass. Either way, the result is another candidate scrubbed from consideration for Jay Gruden's staff in Washington.
Coach/GM update: Charley Casserly's take, plus latest on Todd Bowles, Frank Reich from ESPN New York
"In a perfect world, you hire the GM first and then hire the head coach, because it's critical that you have a good working relationship between the two of them," he told WDAE. "And that's the best way to get it. However, sometimes opportunities present themselves on a coach that you can get in competition with and you feel like you need to pull the trigger on the coach first -- and then come back and hire a general manager, where the head coach has input into it...
...Casserly also mentioned the Andy Reid-John Dorsey tandem with the Kansas City Chiefs, another team that hired the coach first. Of course, Carroll and Reid carried a lot more cache than anybody on the Jets' current list of head-coaching candidates.
101 interesting fantasy facts from the 2014 season from NFL.com
The highest-scoring fantasy defense in 2013 was the Kansas City Chiefs with 204 points. The Eaglesranked 14th. In 2014, Philadelphia led all defenses with 177 fantasy points. The Chiefs ranked 15th, scoring 82 fewer points than the previous campaign.
Offseason Extra: Early Top 12 for 2015 from CBS Sports
2. Jamaal Charles, Chiefs: I guess I'm just a sucker for Andy Reid running backs. I don't like how he slowed down this season, be it because he was hurt and the Chiefs wanted to be careful with him or because Reid lost his mind. But he still has lots of potential for a huge season, particularly if the Chiefs address their offensive line this summer.
Ault to speak at Youth of the Year ceremony from The Reno Gazette-Journal
Former University of Nevada football coach Chris Ault will be the keynote speaker for this year's Boys & Girls Clubs of Mason Valley Youth of the Year banquet.
Each year, Boys & Girls Clubs of Mason Valley recognizes the youth, volunteers and members of the community who go above and beyond at their Youth of the Year banquet. Ault will give the keynote address for this year's ceremony, scheduled for Jan. 24 in Yerington.
The 10 Greatest NFL Linebackers of All Time from Wall St. Cheat Sheet
10. Bobby Bell
Bobby Bell (third from left) was one of the greatest athletes to ever play professional football. At the high school and collegiate level, Bell was an award-winning halfback, quarterback, and tackle. As a University of Minnesota tackle, Bell actually finished in third place in the 1962 Heisman Trophy voting. After college, the 1963 AFL Kansas City Chiefs drafted Bobby Bell. At that time, it was somewhat of a surprise that the AFL would win out against the NFL in a bidding war for players...
...8. Willie Lanier
According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Willie Lanier (right) was the first African-American to start at middle linebacker in professional football. At middle linebacker, Willie Lanier quarterbacked the defense for his Kansas City Chiefs between 1967 and 1977. Lanier, alongside the aforementioned Bobby Bell, and Jim Lynch, formed one of the most devastating linebacking units in the history of football.
In 1969, Willie Lanier's emotional leadership sparked his defense to a goal line stand versus the Jets in the AFL Divisional Playoffs. After the Jets settled for a field goal, Lanier's Chiefs went on to a 13-6 playoff win en route to their Super Bowl IV title.
Is Watching Football Unethical? from Reason.com
It's been three years, 11 months, and 10 days since former National Football League (NFL) Pro Bowler Dave Duerson shot himself in the chest, not the head, so that his brain could be donated to science. Duerson hoped that researchers could cut it open with a scalpel and figure out what had gone wrong, what had led him to such misery he felt compelled to take his life.
It's been two years, eight months since the great Junior Seau, a 10-time All Pro linebacker, did the same.
It's been just over two years since Jovan Belcher, then a player for the Kansas City Chiefs, murdered his girlfriend and then killed himself outside the team's practice facility as his coaches pleaded with him not to do it.
And it's been more than five years since an NFL study found that its players are vastly more likely to be diagnosed with diseases like Alzheimer's than non-players, "including a rate of 19 times the normal rate for men ages 30 through 49," according to The New York Times.