Way back in 2004, the Kansas City Chiefs signed G Ryan Lilja as an undrafted free agent. Lilja had played high school in Kansas City (Shawnee Mission Northwest) and college ball at Kansas State so there were quite a few folks in Kansas City who wanted to see him succeed.
During the cutdowns after training camp, the Chiefs tried pass him through waivers and sign him to the practice squad.
The Indianapolis Colts saw what was going on and snagged Lilja. Since then he's excelled protecting Peyton Manning in Indianapolis. He missed the 2008 campaign with injury but came back and started every game for the Colts in their Super Bowl run last season.
Chiefs fans still cringe when they hear his name so here's a chance to fix it.
The Colts released Lilja today, according to FOXSports.com, reportedly because he was due a $1.73 million roster bonus soon. Some teams are cutting players with higher salaries because there's no salary cap hit.
The move is a little surprising because he was just signed to a five year contract in 2008.
He's played left guard -- and so does Brian Waters -- but the Chiefs brass has said the bottomline is that they need good football players.
Ryan Lilja is a good football player.