In the first seven games of the 2009 season while with the San Diego Chargers, WR Chris Chambers had just nine catches and was seemingly being phased out of the offense. Chambers was released by the Chargers putting him on the waiver wire for the Chiefs to pick him up in Week 9.
Now Chambers is six games into the season with the Chiefs -- he's been active for just four -- and he has just seven receptions. He's seemingly being phased out of the offense as Todd Haley indicated this week that Chambers' lack of contributions on special teams was part of the decision to place him on the inactive list for the second straight week.
The two situations look familiar and Chambers tells Kent Babb of the Kansas City Star that it does feel like last year before he was released by the Chargers. We'll defer to Babb on the details but Chambers probably isn't the only one that's frustrated.
The Chiefs last year signed him to a three-year contract that reportedly guarantees him nearly $6 million. Alex Magee's release a couple weeks ago shows that the Chiefs aren't afraid to cut bait early if something isn't working out with them.
The Chiefs have been winning without much contribution from Chambers so he's clearly not an integral piece of the puzzle at this point. Haley suggested this week that Chambers would be returning "sooner rather than later", possibly as soon as Sunday.
We'll see if Chambers' role increases as time goes on or if this really is another situation like San Diego.