Former Chiefs Surfacing in the UFL Draft

Primetime told us last night about former Kansas City Chief Gary Stills being drafted by the Las Vegas UFL team. That made me curious what other Chiefs were drafted by this upstart football league.

To get some background on this league, check out their Wiki page. Here is the full UFL draft list too.

Last night was the UFL draft. Here's how this league is filling out their rosters:

Each franchise selected 24 players and now owns the rights to those players if they choose to play in the United Football League. The UFL has already begun contacting the players listed below and expects to announce signings over the next few weeks. This list may be subject to change based on further player evaluations or additional player availability.

The remaining openings on each team's roster will be partially filled in July with players who coaches had previously identified and "reserved". The last invites for the 60-man opening camp rosters will go to players who have been released by the NFL during training camp; with divisional/regional preferences assigned to each of the inaugural four franchises.

The UFL has some big time coaching names associated with it's current four franchises, including Dennis Green, Jim Haslett and Jim Fassel.

So which former Chiefs were drafted last night?

DB Oliver Celestin

The 6th year player out of Texas Southern University was strictly a special teams player for the Chiefs in his only season last year with the team. Celestin is one of the three unrestricted free agents the Chiefs did not resign this off season.

T Ramiro Pruneda

Unless you're pretty hardcore into learning about practice squad guys (And you are if you read AP), you've probably never heard of Ramiro Pruneda. Way back in January 2007, Carl Peterson signed the "Pencil" out of Monterrey Tech in Monterrey, Mexico. I think this was supposed to be sort of a The Air Up There moment, with Carl Peterson playing the role of Kevin Bacon.

With a nickname like the Pencil, how didn't he succeed in the NFL?

Pruneda made it through training camp only to be cut on August 28th, 2007, right before the season started. He went to the Philadelphia Eagles' practice squad, then the 49ers before drifting off into oblivion and now the UFL.

FB Ronnie Cruz

Mr. Cruz was supposed to be the heir to Tony Richardson's full back thrown and fill in at backup for Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson when he was signed by the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2004. Richardson left for Minnesota before the 2006 season, making Cruz the Chiefs' #1 fullback.

Five weeks into the '06 season though, Ronnie Cruz blew out his knew and was put in IR for the rest of the season. He was let go before the start of the 2007 season.

And of course we have Gary Stills, who Primetime talked about last night. Note: I left out B.J. Sams. I don't really want to talk about him anyway.

Two former Chiefs who tried out for the UFL last weekend didn't get contracts. WR Bobby Sippio and QB Quinn Gray are still waiting on those UFL coaches to call.