Arrowheadlines: Kansas City Chiefs News 5/15

Dee Ford: "I Want To Leave A Lasting Impression" from The Mothership

Ford needed just two words to describe the Chiefs coaches.

"Great men," Ford said. "If you're talking about being the best role model, especially at work, they're great examples. They exemplify everything I want to be, high-energy, honest, straight-forward, hard-working and they care. It's perfect. The people who are higher-up are important in your career, so to be under these men is a blessing."

Having Dee Ford in the City of Fountains is just another reason the Chiefs are hoping to accomplish great feats, on and off-the-field, in 2014 and beyond.

Chiefs Sign Sixth-Round Pick L. Duvernay-Tardif from The Mothership

The Kansas City Chiefs announced on Wednesday that the club has signed offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. Duvernay-Tardif was the second of the team's two sixth-round picks from the 2014 NFL Draft (200th overall). He became the second of Kansas City's six selections in the draft to sign with the club.

Chiefs Weekly: NFL Draft from The Mothership

The draft is officially in the books! The Chiefs took to Twitter to welcome their newest teammates, and those drafted were sure to give a shout out to the Chiefs Kingdom.

In the first round, the Chiefs selected LB Dee Ford out of Auburn...

KCChiefs.com Photo Gallery: Operation Breakthrough With The Wide Receivers

To Win Trade, Chiefs Must Keep Alex Smith, Or Flip Him Into A QB Replacement from FS Kansas City

It doesn't get the juice of RGIII-Rams or the mother of all NFL fleeces, Walker to the Vikings in 1989, the swap that set up the last great Dallas Cowboys dynasty. But the Smith trade helped the second-best team in the loop get deeper and better, all for the price of a backup who, barring something crazy, was rarely going to see the field in the Bay.

Still, no matter how the national pundits snicker, it was a good trade for the Chiefs, short-term. Period. With 23 touchdown passes and a single-season record for rushing yards by a quarterback in his first season in Kansas City, Smith proved -- at least initially -- that he was worth it.

Kiper: Thomas Could Have Big Impact from ESPN

The Chiefs need to give him every opportunity to be their slot receiver because none of the other candidates is as fast or has his kind of big-play ability.

It's still early and the Chiefs haven't held a practice yet with any of their rookies. But as of this point, it's an upset if Thomas isn't their rookie of the year.

Sorting Through The Wide Receivers from Chiefs Spin

...[T]he Chiefs' inability to sign a free-agent wide receiver offered a hint the team could address the position during the draft, leading to numerous draft predictions of a first-round selection.

But the conclusion of last week's NFL Draft didn't produce a bona fide wide receiver. Instead, the Chiefs selected running back De'Anthony Thomas in the fourth-round (124th overall).

Like McCluster, who originally entered the league as a running back, Thomas brings versatility on special teams as a returner and projects as a slot receiver. And both areas are what Sanders or Jackson would've brought to Kansas City.

Former Southeastern Standout Devan Walker To Get Tryout With Saints from The New Orleans Advocate

Devan Walker, the former Southeastern Louisiana standout who joined the San Diego Chargers as an undrafted free-agent last year but was then hurt - will try out for the Saints at their rookie minicamp this weekend, according to an NFL source...

...Walker also has a tryout scheduled with the Kansas City Chiefs for the weekend of May 23.

Life Lessons From An Ex-NFL Player Turned Boss from Entrepreneur

Eddie Kennison was a newly minted wide receiver in the National Football League when he went to a seminar for rookies and was handed a card that read, "When the fat lady sings."

On the back were a handful of statistics: 76 percent of professional athletes are broke one year after retiring from sports; 78 percent of professional football players are broke and divorced one year after retiring from sports. But the one that Kennison remembers more than any other: 100 percent of NFL players experience job termination.

"That hit me pretty good," says Kennison, who played for the New Orleans Saints, the Chicago Bears, the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs. As much as he loved football, he did not want to end up a statistic.

Bringing Black College Football Out Of The Shadows from The New Yorker

The upstart A.F.L., in contrast, had been plucking players from black colleges since its founding, in 1960, partly owing to the coverage by journalists such as Nunn, Sam Lacey, of the BaltimoreAfro-American, and Marion Jackson, of the Atlanta Daily World. Beginning in 1950, Nunn selected the Courier's All-America team, one of the chief ways of publicizing black-college standouts to the pros.

For a long time, Nunn's home town Steelers drafted very few of the players he touted in theCourier. Nunn complained to Dan Rooney, whose family owned the team, and wound up being hired as a scout, in 1967. In that position, Nunn joined the first wave of black N.F.L. scouts, which also included Tank Younger, of the Rams, and Lloyd Wells, of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Arrowhead Art Is Not Just For Decoration from Kansas City Business Journal

The collection currently has 17 pieces, with five more at the framers and 10 more being commissioned.

The endgame is to decorate all the vacant walls of the stadium with a living art collection that the Chiefs can add to regularly, which evokes feelings of being a Midwesterner. The Chiefs also want the collection to be educational.

"We have about 30,000 kids come through our Sports Lab each year, and most of those are school field trips," said Clark Hunt. "We're now in the process of creating a curriculum to add the art program to the field trips. So students will be able to come out, learn about health and nutrition in the sports lab, and then check out the art and get a totally different educational experience."

No Flops: A Treasury Of Pro Athletes' Vanity Record Labels from Deadspin

Yep, I have no idea what "Relumae" means, either. But it is a record label, and Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Tamba Hali does rap. Not terribly, but pretty Drake/J. Cole-derivatively.

He isn't the star of the label, however. Its website reserves that status for Philly underground legend and former (alleged) Lil Wayne ghostwriter-turned-enemy Gillie da Kid, who will live forever because of the Gillie face.

There is also Starrz (or Starzz, or StarrZ; it's not very consistent). Both Relumae rappers have had mixtapes produced by the label, as well as a number of music videos. (Hey, somebody on the team watched a couple After Effects tutorials!) They may only be free projects, but at least Hali is putting something out.

Local Football Fan Wins Unforgettable Experience In Fan Fest Lotto Prize from The Chanute Tribune

Aguilar was one of 200 Powerball winners from 18 states who won the trip.

"It was an awesome time," Aguilar said. "A lot of the guys, I never watched them play, but it was fun to meet them."

As a Chiefs fan, Aguilar, her guests, and some other winners from Kansas were able to have dinner with Len Dawson. She discussed with the former Chiefs Super Bowl-winning quarterback plenty of topics involving Kansas City sports, such as the current state of the Royals, what the Chiefs should do in the draft, and what the team needs to accomplish next season.

Aguilar listed this dinner as the highlight of the trip.

AFL Players Can Teach Us A Lesson On Dealing With Racism from Mile High Report

Six months after the Civil Rights Act was passed, the AFL was set to play its All Star game in New Orleans. The city wanted to get a franchise and it promised the somewhat forward-thinking and integrated AFL that all players would be welcome.

But when taxis, restaurants and hotels refused to serve the black players, those players agreed to boycott the game.

"It was time for some men to stand up and be counted. I think that's what we did," says running back Abner Haynes in this edited clip from the documentary, Full Color Football (which was first highlighted by MHR's Jess Place in his "Remembering the Past" Horse Tracks).

Haynes was let go from the Kansas City Chiefs because of the boycott and picked up by the Denver Broncos. Though he expected some backlash and figured his career and paycheck were in jeopardy, Haynes also didn't want the people who looked up to him to think he didn't do what he could to enforce some change.