Arrowheadlines: Kansas City Chiefs News 7/9

Chiefs CB Phillip Gaines Will Seek an Expanded Role This Season from The Mothership

Gaines came back to 2015 offseason workouts six pounds heavier, weighing in at 188, and the strength he returned with caught the eye of some of the Chiefs most important individuals.

"You saw him continue to get better every week last year during the season," head coach Andy Reid said. "He's gotten bigger and stronger, he's lived in there with (strength and conditioning coach) Barry (Rubin) and so it's paying off for him."

The manner in which he played even made an impression on Chiefs cornerback Sean Smith.

"Now, he's just seeing the game more," Smith explained, "route concepts, things of that nature, learning splits, releases and stems, just being a student of the game. He's starting to pick that thing up really well."

As Smith noted, the positive hasn't been just his on-the-field feats in the offseason, but his general understanding of the game as a whole, an understanding of where to be at what time.

Chiefs Positional Preview: Examining the Quarterbacks, Running Backs from The Mothership

Alex Smith is coming off back-to-back seasons with at least 3,000 yards passing for the first time in his career. He proved to be one of the best in the NFL last year when teams tried to bring pressure, completing 63 percent of his passes with 10 touchdowns to just one interception against the blitz.

Smith's passer rating of 109.3 against the blitz ranked fifth in the NFL among starters.

With some new faces along the offensive line and new weapons on the outside, Smith should be looking at even more success in 2015.

Here are three storylines to follow throughout training camp with the quarterbacks and running backs:

Chapter Five: The Chiefs get their M(e)n from The Mothership

Quarterback Jack Thompson, "The Throwin' Samoan" out of Washington State and the local fan favorite, went to Cincinnati as the third pick and the Giants used their seventh pick to take Phil Simms. The Bills had taken Tom Cousineau and, as expected — and desired by Levy — the Chiefs had grabbed Bell.

By the time the first round wound down, the Chiefs believed Clemson's Steve Fuller would be gone to the 49ers, who had the first pick in the second round. It was shaping up to be the 1978 draft all over again when Kansas City had hoped to take quarterback Matt Cavanaugh and in 1977 Glen Carano, losing both to teams selecting just ahead of them.

But in a move that caught everyone off guard in Kansas City and elsewhere around the league, Chiefs GM Jim Schaaf swung a deal with Houston which put the team in position to draft Fuller later in the first round.

Chiefs' Jamaal Charles continues to anchor running back corps from Chiefs Digest

The running back position has been one of the more stable positions over the three-year span since coach Andy Reid arrived.

The Chiefs have a solid group of running backs, but need to find the heir-apparent to Jamaal Charles. In the meantime, the current group will likely not see much of an alteration.

Of note, the Chiefs list second-year pro De'Anthony Thomas as a running back/wide receiver on the offseason roster. Thomas, however, spent a majority of the offseason working with the wide receivers and will not be a part of this assessment.

Chiefs among teams to inquire about UConn TE Sean McQuillan from Chiefs Digest

The 2015 NFL Supplemental Draft is scheduled for Thursday and at least one declared entrant could be on the Chiefs' radar.

The Chiefs are one of 14 teams to inquire about Connecticut tight end Sean McQuillan in recent days, a source familiar with the situation confirmed Wednesday with ChiefsDigest.com. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity because the Chiefs have not made public the inquiry.

New York Knicks Waste More Money Than Any Other Team In U.S. Sports, Analysis Finds from The Huffington Post

When it comes to spending money on players to win games -- the most basic and most important component of professional sports -- the Knicks are statistically the least-efficient spenders compared to franchises across the NFL, MLB and NBA, according to NerdWallet, an online financial planning company. (The NHL and MLS weren't included in the study. But, come on, no one is worse than the Knicks.)...

...To nobody's surprise, the New England Patriots and San Antonio Spurs, winners of basically everything, were the two most efficient U.S. teams of the 21st century.

NFL's decision to add second venue for London games could impact Jaguars from The Florida Times-Union

Last year, three games were played in the U.K. for the first time. Oakland, Atlanta and the Jaguars were the "home" teams. This year, Miami, Kansas City and the Jaguars will be the "home" teams.

Under NFL rules, any team that hosts a Super Bowl must play a "home" game overseas within five years.

Kansas City Chiefs chairman and chief executive officer Clark Hunt said his aim in moving his team's game against Detroit to London this year was to get a head start on bidding for a Super Bowl at Arrowhead Stadium.

What a Nick Foles contract extension with the Rams could look like from ESPN

Kansas City's Alex Smith might offer a fair comparison here. Smith signed a bigger deal than Dalton, garnering a four-year deal averaging $18 million per season with a guarantee of $45 million. But again, that guarantee is a bit misleading. Smith got an $18 million signing bonus up front and his $11 million base salary in 2015 is guaranteed. Beyond that, his $14 million base salary in 2016 is guaranteed only for injury (or if he's still on the roster on the fifth day of the 2016 league year). So after this season, the Chiefs could theoretically part ways with Smith and only owe the remainder of his prorated signing bonus for the rest of his deal against the cap.

The Heist of La'el Collins: An "Inconvenient Truth" of Today's NFL from SportsBlog

As a player who left the game having suffered several of the injuries for which I knew I was at risk when I first donned the shoulder pads and helmet as a bright-eyed 5 year old, I'm here to say that a Rookie Salary cap is NOT the answer to the failure of the NFL owners to take care of their past employees.  For these are the men who set the groundwork to make the industry what it is today... During my NFL career I persevered through a knee reconstruction (ACL, MCL, and meniscus); a broken leg; many ankle sprains; chronic hamstring pulls; several (unreported) concussions; and finally a fracture to my C5 & C6 vertebrae that forced me to retire under the ridiculously inferior "Line-of-duty" disability benefit.  My signing bonus as a 6th Round draft pick (#156 overall) in the 1993 draft was $36,000.  The salaries that followed for the next four years were $100,000; $135,000; $178,000; and $215,000 respectively.  Therein, besides my share of playoff money during my rookie year in which I was able to enjoy a trip with the Kansas City Chiefs to the AFC Championship game, that signing bonus was the largest single check that I received.