If there was one position where the Chiefs may be active on the waiver wire the day after the final...

If there was one position where the Chiefs may be active on the waiver wire the day after the final NFL cutdown, it will be at linebacker.

Position Review: Linebackers | Chiefs Football at BobGretz.com

4 months ago Chris Comment 25 comments 0 recs |

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Considering what Gretz has said, here’s my depth chart (total 7 linebackers):

1. DJ
2. Williams
3. Thomas
4. Edwards
5. Dacus
6. Hoyte
7. Rumph

?. Harris

Practice squad contender: Octavien
International player: Durde

Out: Kuale

by Direckshun on Aug 21, 2008 1:52 PM CDT 0 recs

For some reason

I read “final NFL cutdown” as “Final Countdown.”
Were heading for Venus and still we stand tall…

by HIV 2 Elway on Aug 21, 2008 2:01 PM CDT 0 recs

Europe!

by Eric Allen on Aug 21, 2008 2:32 PM CDT up 0 recs

Can we get anything for Harris?

by Lanier63 on Aug 21, 2008 2:06 PM CDT 0 recs

Extremely unlikely.

He’s a wanderer.

At best he’d warrant a low, low pick.

by Direckshun on Aug 21, 2008 2:15 PM CDT up 0 recs

And

He’s got a sizeable bonus and a lot of years remaining on that contract, so we’d be taking a sizeable cap hit next year if we cut him.

AAAAARRRGH!!! Yet another bad free agent contract that insures we’re stuck with a terrible player well past the time we realize he’s terrible. Thanks, King Carl.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Aug 21, 2008 3:20 PM CDT up 0 recs

we should probably stop signing FA linebackers

Bell, Harris…actually, maybe third time is the charm =)

by PVChiefsfan on Aug 21, 2008 3:30 PM CDT up 0 recs

Actually, I think the key is simply not to sign mediocre linebackers (Harris, Williams) or players at any other position to long-term contracts with the expectation that they’re suddenly going to figure out how to be really good when they come here, and not to sign guys coming off serious injuries (Bell) to deals with a lot of guaranteed money without knowing for certain that they’ve recovered completely. Basically don’t take stupid risks that could handcuff your team for years and don’t overpay for mediocrity would be my mantras…if Peterson would just do that, the only real bad contract he’d have stuck us with would have been Chester McGlockton (which turned out to be a bad deal, but was a reasonable risk to take at the time).

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Aug 21, 2008 3:43 PM CDT up 0 recs

Williams will be ok

I don’t think it will set him back much, and he’s been solid so far.

I mean, he finished practice after breaking the hand initially… he didn’t find out it was busted until afterward. If he could continue to play without it bandaged/protected, I think he will be able to manage come week 1 in a cast/brace/heavy tape. The only question is whether a cast will impede his performance, and I think it only would on interceptions.

Harris led the team in tackles last year, but his lack of availability has hurt him a lot this year. Plus I think when Gun started coaching the LB’s, Harris didn’t fit what he wanted to do as well as the other guys. The Harris deal wouldn’t look so bad if we had only signed him for a year or two, instead of 5 or whatever we did.

Bell was a bust. He was coming off injury and wasn’t a fit for our scheme. He played a 3-4 in Pittsburgh and was an attacker. We were putting a square peg in a circle-shaped hole. Add his injury issues to the mix and it was a disaster waiting to happen. It’s a shame because when I watched him play as a rookie, I thought he was going to be something special. I was excited when I heard we picked him up… that was obviously before I knew better.

Speaking of good LB’s coming off injury, I’ll be curious to see how Johathan Vilma does in NO this year. I’ve liked him for a while but was glad we didn’t try to pick him up. I thought we might considering he was one of Herm’s boys in NY.

by Ochophosphate on Aug 21, 2008 9:19 PM CDT up 0 recs

Williams Will Probably Be Okay

Not great, but okay. Just like he’s been pretty much his entire career (1 season with over 100 tackles). But I can deal with “okay” since they gave him a decent deal ($16 million over 5 years, about $5 million guaranteed).

Bell was a bust. He was coming off injury and wasn’t a fit for our scheme.

No kidding. The dude played three games the year before and Peterson handed him a huge multiyear deal. I have no clue what that jackass was thinking. And we had to carry Bell for years afterwards, where he added nothing to our team, so we didn’t take the cap hit. Just drives me nuts listening to Peterson try to trumpet how he keeps us out of salary cap hell when what he’s really doing is sticking us with bad players for years so he doesn’t have to admit his mistakes. Given a choice, I’d rather have had one rough year without much salary cap space instead of three years with Kendrell Bell.

And don’t even get me started on Priest Holmes…

Speaking of good LB’s coming off injury, I’ll be curious to see how Johathan Vilma does in NO this year. I’ve liked him for a while but was glad we didn’t try to pick him up.

Ditto. Last thing I’d want is to see us grab another linebacker with a bum knee and have that blow up in our face. Nothing against Vilma because injuries just happen, but one Bell-type situation was enough for this decade.

Speaking of linebackers with bad knees, I started seeing some rumors about Shawne Merriman possibly being through because of his knee, which would be pretty shocking since it seems to have come out of nowhere.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Aug 21, 2008 9:53 PM CDT up 0 recs

Wow on Merriman

I hadn’t heard that news, but yeah, looks like he went to have it checked out yesterday. That would be a pretty big loss for SD.

phrases like “persistent pain” don’t sound good when it comes to knees.

by Ochophosphate on Aug 22, 2008 12:07 AM CDT up 0 recs

I hope his damn leg falls off

not really…but seriously, Merriman is among my most hated players ever.

by PVChiefsfan on Aug 22, 2008 7:24 AM CDT up 0 recs

+1

Same here.
I hate that stupid dance.

by Mully on Aug 22, 2008 8:13 AM CDT up 0 recs

Apparently He Tore His PCL

And did a bunch of other damage, most of it seems to have happened last year. The docs were supposedly shocked that he could even play on it.

I’m not a big Merriman fan either, but I don’t hope his career ends because of this injury, same as I wouldn’t want fans from other teams to wish our players’ career-ending injuries. After all, it’s not like the guy’s done anything to any of us personally.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Aug 22, 2008 10:56 AM CDT up 0 recs

I don't wish a career-ending injury upon him

but I think the growth of his giant melon over a span of 6 months ought to have ended his career =)

by PVChiefsfan on Aug 22, 2008 12:22 PM CDT up 0 recs

One season his profile photo looked normal

and the next season, it was like he was 4 feet closer to the camera than everyone else…

by PVChiefsfan on Aug 22, 2008 12:23 PM CDT up 0 recs

That Was Photoshopped :)

Merriman wasn’t available for team photos the day in 2006 that they were doing them, so one of the Chargers employees photoshopped the previous year’s photo onto the body of Jamal Williams, the nose tackle and widened the head so it looked proportional to the body. That was the year he got busted for steroids, so in 2007, when Merriman did show for the team picture, everyone saw the 2006 picture and assumed it must have meant that the disparity was steroid-related. If you look at the 2006 photo, though, you’ll notice that the number on the jersey he’s wearing isn’t Merriman’s number, but Jamal Williams’ :)

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Aug 22, 2008 12:49 PM CDT up 0 recs

are you serious?

that’s effing hilarious if so.

by Ochophosphate on Aug 22, 2008 11:02 PM CDT up 0 recs

guess I should have checked your links below

still hilarious

by Ochophosphate on Aug 22, 2008 11:04 PM CDT up 0 recs

HGH

That’s the stuff that makes the head bigger, and the effect is usually permanent, so if Merriman had been using that stuff it wouldn’t have shrunk back down.

Here’s a couple of stories about the photo incident that explain what happened (turned out my dates were a year off)…

http://www.fanhouse.com/2007/11/19/shawne-merriman-failed-a-steroid-test-fails-the-eyeball-test/

http://www.fanhouse.com/2007/11/19/body-in-2005-shawne-merriman-photo-was-jamal-williams/

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Aug 22, 2008 12:55 PM CDT up 0 recs

Harris

The Harris deal wouldn’t look so bad if we had only signed him for a year or two, instead of 5 or whatever we did.

Six years. Six. With over a million per year in bonus money, so if we cut him this season we’ll be taking a $5+ million cap hit next year.

Carl Peterson is such a moron when it comes to free agents.

Supporting the lesser of two evils is still supporting something evil.

by UCrawford on Aug 21, 2008 9:55 PM CDT up 0 recs

barf

that’s all I have to say about that.

by Ochophosphate on Aug 22, 2008 12:11 AM CDT up 0 recs

Drafting Linebackers is the way to go, don't sign FA Oldtimers

Drafting FA Linebackers is almost always a mistake. Patrick Willis, D.J. Williams, Jon Beason, Ernie Sims, Nick Barnett. Top 5 tacklers last year, all drafted by the teams they play for all under 6 years in the league, all had at least 100 tackles their rookie season. Good rookie linebackers are the way to go( Derrick Johnson ring a bell).

by bamakcfan on Aug 21, 2008 3:55 PM CDT 0 recs