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On Tuesday, the Kansas City Chiefs issued jersey numbers to their rookies and No. 92 went to first round pick Dontari Poe. No. 92 also happens to be the number of now-former Chief Wallace Gilberry, who was not signed following the season and is currently a free agent.
After the news on Poe's number came down, Gilberry tweeted: "#chiefsnation y'all will be missed so maybe if ive ever in ur city again show me some love #outsidelookingin." That pretty much told us what was going on -- Gilberry's probably not coming back.
Chiefs GM Scott Pioli went on 810 WHB this week and confirmed that the Traveling Gilberries are likely traveling elsewhere.
"I would say probably accurate," Pioli said when asked by Nate Bukaty if Gilberry wasn't coming back to the Chiefs. "We had talked to Wallace a number of times during the season about an extension. We talked to him during the offseason and Wallace wasn't ready to make a move and wasn't ready to do anything. He wanted to see what the market was. We hadn't heard back from him and his people. I think both sides wanted to see what happened after the draft."
Gilberry's return is unlikely, but not impossible. Pioli says they "never say never".
"I don't know what Wallace's plans are right now," Pioli said. "Romeo and I talked about this the other day, and we're not shutting the door on him. We have to issue the player numbers, and what we weren't going to do is sit here and wait...it was a number that the player requested and if Wallace Gilberry ends up back here as a player and he wants his number, he can talk to Dontari about that. We've already watched a number of negotiations go on."
Pioli says if Gilberry wants to come back, they would talk to him. Gilberry was also on 810 WHB this week and he had nothing but good things to say about the Chiefs and his time here, but he recognized that he probably wasn't going to be back in KC.