Mini Arrowhead Stadium (via erikrasmussen)

• The Kansas City Chiefs will have the highest rookie pool this year, meaning they'll have the most money with which to pay their draft picks in the 2008 salary cap year. (H/T The Football Wire)



• Cuts: WR Sean Bailey, CB Chad Johnson, OT Joe Lobdell, LB Mickey Pimentel and QB Ricky Santos. We had previously reported only Bailey and Santos were gone.

  When you hear the name Santos, does anyone else think of that Simpson's episode where Bart got a credit card in his dog's name? Santos L. Halper was the name on the card.


• Herm Edwards had some interesting thoughts on the radio yesterday.


• Remember when free agent WR DJ Hackett got a ton of hype around here? I always contended the guy wasn't that good and the Panthers seem to agree.


• Morgan St. TE Rohnie Sykes signed a free agent deal with the Chiefs yesterday. He's a former junior college transfer, developmental type of player.


• Michael Ash of WPI -- KC's defense getting an attitude adjustment.

The rookie pool is nice in theory but unsurprisingly agents and teams get around it pretty easily. Here is a good read on that from the NFL Player's Association.

A $2 million signing bonus on a five-year contract, for example, while paid in the first year, would only count $400,000 against the Rookie Pool as the full amount is spread out over the term of the contract for cap purposes. Another method to guarantee money to players is through option bonuses which allow for a club to extend the length of a player’s contract upon payment of a bonus. Clubs typically exercise this right to extend in the second year of a player’s contract and therefore the bonus paid has no effect on the first-year Rookie Pool. In 2007, 28 of the 32 first-rounders received an option bonus.

The rookie pool is yet another obstacle that draft picks have to negotiate around, no doubt contributing to longer negotiations.