One year ago yesterday the Kansas City Chiefs arrived in River Falls for what would turn out to be the second to last training camp at the UWRF campus.  One year ago today, there were actual football players doing actually football things.  At the time, Adam Teicher of the Kansas City Star wondered (on the then new Star's Chiefs blog) if the Chiefs would be moving home to the new practice facility.

The main proponent for the summer move north has been Carl Peterson. With two seasons left on what will probably his last contract, he's a short-timer now and may not have as much juice with Clark Hunt as he once did.

Well, looks like all the juice has been squeezed. 

Back then 42% of you wanted to stay in River Falls, 36% of you didn't and 21% of you didn't care either way.  I was opposed to the move to St. Joe at first but now I'm all for it.  I can actually see the Chiefs at training camp next year without worrying about the old Volvo breaking down on the way up to Wisconsin, staying in a hotel paid for by beer gloves and being able to sleep in my own bed.

One year ago tomorrow, the Chiefs signed first round pick Glenn Dorsey who missed just two days of camp.  We're sitting here six days before camp and half of the Chiefs picks have yet to sign, including first round pick Tyson Jackson.  Word on the street is that Eugene Parker, Jackson's agent, is trying to bring down the house on his other client Michael Crabtree's contract with the 49ers.

It's still early but draft pick signings have seemed to slow to a snail's pace in the first two rounds.  Only two three first rounders (Ed. Note: 21st overall Alex Mack signs 9:45 AM CST) and seven second rounders have inked deals (and three of those second rounders are from the Patriots).

Six more days to physical activity but just five more days until our next 'Chiefs Arrive in River Falls' post.

Shaping the Chiefs secondary

First things first.  Bob Gretz covered the Chiefs secondary heading into training camp and predicts the starters will go unchanged from 2008. 

However, while listening to NFL Sirius Satellite Radio yesterday, Alex Marvez said both Bernard Pollard and Jarrad Page should be "looking over their shoulders" with the addition of Mike Brown.  Well, let's hope so.  Brown beating out Pollard would be great if you ask me.  That just adds one more talented player to the mix.  Either way, we're going to have excellent depth at the safety position and competition brings out the best in all players.

The secondary is probably our strongest postiion group not only on defense but offense, too.  I don't buy the Pollard to linebacker talk so I'll stay away from that but I'm very interested to see how Clancy Pendergast will use the Bonecrusher.  If Adrian Wilson didn't play for the Cardinals, more of you probably would've heard of him before last season.  He's an outstanding safety and I'm wondering if Pendergast's schemes can help Pollard the same way it did Wilson, who by the way has had seasons of 8, 5 and 2.5 sacks three of the last four years.  Pollard has one sack in 31 career starts.

Gretz is talking about Pollard in the Adrian Wilson mold as well:

"It will be interesting to see how Clancy Pendergast tries to use Pollard on the pass rush; he has the speed, quickness and hitting ability to have more than the one sack he’s picked up in 31 starts."

K Connor Barth wants to fly under the radar

As a kicker, you don't want anyone to know your name.  You want to be the guy who quietly goes out there and nails every extra point and knocks down 85%+ of your field goals inside 50 yards.  That doesn't happen very often but Barth's rookie season wasn't far off.  He went 10/12 in a partial 2008 season but didn't demonstrate much leg strength (not saying he doesn't have it...just that he hasn't shown it to us yet).

Those two missed kicks aren't easy to forget though.  Both of them came in one game the Chiefs narrowly lost.

"It really just fuels the fire and makes me want to work harder to make sure that next time that does not happen, because it's not going to," Barth said.

Ah, the fickle life of an NFL kicker.  What would you do if your boss brought in a younger, higher paid employee and sat him down right next to your cubicle to compete for your job?

"You never know if you're going to have a job or not. I had a good year last year; 10 of 12. But they still drafted a guy, Ryan Succup, who is a great kicker and who will compete with me. He'll push me and that's what it's all about."

Good luck, Mr. Barth.  Though the Chiefs spent a draft pick on Succop, you gotta imagine Haley's mantra of best player wins the job no matter the draft position gives Barth a legitimate chance.  If that doesn't work out for him, the Barth family can look towards younger brother Casey, a kicker for North Carolina.

Bolts from the Blue weighs in on Matt Wilhelm

Via the FanShots we found out yesterday that the San Diego Chargers parted ways with ILB Matt Wilhelm.  Interesting, I thought.  Not a bad player to hit the market a week before camp.  I took a quick run through the archives of Bolts from the Blue and here's what I found:

June 14th: Predicting the roster

UDFA Darry Beckwith may also find a spot in the linebacker unit, possibly at the expense of Matt Wilhelm.

May 6th: 2008 winner of the Ryan Leaf Award.  Given to the most overpaid player relative to performance.

After showing flashes of talent on special teams and during sporadic time on the field, Wilhelm was named the successor to tackling-machine Donnie Edwards in 2007.  He had a good first season as the starter, collecting several interceptions and nearly 100 tackles.  High hopes of Chargers fans should've carried him into another productive year, but Wilhelm's play seemed to nosedive after a poor performance in the preseason.  In 2008 Wilhelm saw time on the field because of a lack of true depth at the inside linebacker position, but he eventually lost his job to run-stopping linebacker Tim Dobbins.  His final stat line for the season was 50 tackles, 1 int.

January 29th: Chargers inside linebackers

The Chargers run defense early was weak up the middle when Matt Wilhelm and Derek Smith were the ILBs.  Both had a tendency to get stood up and run over by powerful backs.

Wilhelm essentially lost his starting position with poor tackling and inadequate run defense.  Wilhelm is much better dropping into coverage.

While the name sounds nice, I don't think Wilhelm is worth it.  Since no one else is available right now, his value might be inflated by the competition from other teams also looking at him.