Former Chiefs LB Gary Stills Drafted by Las Vegas UFL Team

The upstart United Football League is holding it's 24 round draft tonight and the yet-to-be-named Las Vegas franchise selected none other than former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker and special teams specialist (Hey, it's better than guru) Gary Stills.

Stills is a former third round draft pick of the Chiefs in the 1999 draft.  He played with the team until 2005 after which he had a two year stint in Baltimore and one year in St. Louis.

In seven seasons in Kansas City, the former West Virginia alum appeared in 88 games with just one start amassing 119 tackles and 7.5 sacks.  He managed his lone Pro Bowl appearance in 2003 based on his status as one of the best special teams coverage men in the game.

Of course, something else happened in that 2003 season.  Let me paint the picture for you if you don't remember....

[PT went a little crazy and mixed up his Chiefs memories. Fixed...Chris]

The Chiefs were sitting on a 8-0 record playing the then 3-5 Cleveland Browns.  Dante Hall, if you'll remember, was electric this season eventually tying the NFL record for kick and punt returns for touchdown. The Cleveland game gave Hall the opportunity to break the NFL record for kick returns for a touchdown in a single season.

After a Cleveland touchdown, Hall receives a kick and breaks the initial wave of defenders at which point most assumed he was gone.  The Chiefs had blockers and when Hall got into the open, no one was going to touch him.

Enter Gary Stills.

Stills is leading the way for Hall as they break mid-field.  One man to beat and Hall is gone, the Chiefs have the lead and the momentum.

Wait a minute...did Gary Stills just inexplicably just stop blocking for Dante Hall?

A celebratory and apparently moronic Gary Stills lets Cleveland defender Chris Crocker close in on Hall and makes an ankle tackle, stopping him short of the goal line.

If you'll recall (I can't find a specific YouTube video of this return but if you jump ahead to the 2:00 mark in this highlight reel you'll see the play), the missed block was blatantly obvious.  One of the best special teamers in the game and he blew it.  The Chiefs ended up killing the Browns 41 to 20 but Hall never got his single season kick return record to himself.

I did find some humorous irony to go along with this story. Here is Gary Stills talking about Dante Hall in December 2002:

"There've been any number of times we could have broken one this year. But there always seemed to be one guy who missed a block or (Hall) didn't make the right read."

Like you Gary.