Arrowheadlines: Kansas City Chiefs News 1/26

LB Derrick Johnson Named to 2016 Pro Bowl from The Mothership

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson has been named to the 2016 NFL Pro Bowl after the Carolina Panthers advanced to the Super Bowl. Johnson will replace Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly.

After suffering a season-ending ruptured Achilles injury in Week 1 of 2014, Johnson rebounded in 2015 to lead the Chiefs with 116 tackles (95 solo) and became the Chiefs all-time leading tackler in Week 3. He also had 4.0 sacks and 2 forced fumbles.

2016 Reese's Senior Bowl: Top Prospects to Watch from The Mothership

Over the past three years, there have been 22 players selected in the first round of the NFL Draft, and 254 players altogether, who played in the Senior Bowl.

Two of those first-round picks were by the Kansas City Chiefs - left tackle Eric Fisher (2013) and outside linebacker Dee Ford (2014). Simply put, it's a who's who of draft prospects.

The Senior Bowl Hall of Fame includes former Kansas City greats Marty Schottenheimer, Dale Carter, Albert Lewis, Derrick Thomas, Christian Okoye, Larry Johnson and Tony Richardson.

It's an opportunity for some of the best draft prospects to go up against each other one on one in the most important interview of their draft-prep season to this point.

Chiefs.com Poll: Chiefs 2015 Top Plays Fan Vote

Chiefs' John Dorsey optimistic team can take the next step in 2016 from The Kansas City Star

Only a few days after the Chiefs' season came to screeching halt with a divisional-round loss to New England on a cold afternoon in Foxborough, Mass., Dorsey and his team of scouts found themselves interviewing potential draftees at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl last week in sunny Los Angeles.

This week will offer more of the same, Dorsey and his men will attack the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., in their ongoing effort to nail down their free-agency and draft plans.

"Our season of personnel starts now," Dorsey said.

And it is only beginning.

Rating which teams are closest to being Super Bowl contenders from ESPN

7: Talented but missing critical pieces...

...Kansas City Chiefs: The Chiefs almost won their first division championship in five years this season, and with 11 wins were just a game behind the pacesetters in the AFC. But they were exposed in their playoff loss to the Patriots, a game that showed how far the Chiefs are from being elite. -- Adam Teicher

Chiefs' Derrick Johnson named to Pro Bowl as alternate from Chiefs Digest

Johnson will appear in his fourth career Pro Bowl and joins safety Eric Berry, outside linebacker Justin Houston, outside linebacker Tamba Hali, rookie cornerback Marcus Peters and tight end Travis Kelce in Honolulu.

Derrick Johnson makes it six Chiefs players going to Pro Bowl from ESPN

Johnson, Hali and Berry are among the 15 Kansas City players scheduled to become unrestricted free agents. That makes it possible that at least for one of the three, it's the last time he represents the Chiefs on a football field.

Pending free agent Donald Stephenson shifts focus to offseason with desire to start from Chiefs Digest

"He's matured, he understands what it takes to fulfill his role with the offense," Dorsey said. "It allows him to mature and nurture and develop. I think when he stepped in at various roles, either at guard or at tackle, he played very well.

"I mean, he did what he was expected to do, and that's what we talk about, the next man up. When it was time for him to step up when he was needed, he stepped up and fulfilled his job."

Meanwhile, the Chiefs will have an estimated $32 million in available salary cap space and have 14 pending free agents: Stephenson, safety Eric Berry, linebacker Derrick Johnson, cornerback Sean Smith, guard Jeff Allen, defensive end Jaye Howard, quarterback Chase Daniel, wide receiver Jason Avant, safety Husain Abdullah, safety Tyvon Branch, defensive end Mike DeVito, linebacker Frank Zombo, cornerback Jamell Fleming and linebacker Dezman Moses.

Stephenson, a native of Blue Springs, Mo., wouldn't mind staying home when considering he grew up in the greater Kansas City area.

Season could have been different without Jamaal Charles fumble vs. Broncos from ESPN

It was the worst nightmare for the Chiefs and happened so quickly it left a lot of their fans wondering whether the fumble and return indeed happened.

They did, and they wound up playing a big part in Kansas City's postseason path. If the Chiefs had beaten the Broncos that night and everything else fell exactly as it did this season, Kansas City would have wound up winning the AFC West championship. At 12-4, they would have had a first-round bye in the playoffs, so Jeremy Maclin doesn't get hurt down in Houston in the wild-card game. And the Chiefs would have hosted a divisional-round game at Arrowhead in January instead of having to make the trip to Foxborough.

Charcandrick West's run against Steelers showed Chiefs there was hope after Jamaal Charles' injury from ESPN

They continued to feed the ball to Charles' replacement, Charcandrick West, who in one running play from near midfield showed the burst to get through a hole, the power to break an attempted tackle by linebacker Sean Spence and the speed to get down the field to complete a 36-yard run.

Four plays later, the Chiefs scored a touchdown to take a 23-13 lead, and that's how the game would end. The victory started a winning streak that would grow to 10 by the end of the regular season and 11 after a first-round playoff win over the Houston Texans before it was stopped in a divisional round loss to the New England Patriots.

Phil Savage: Top-10 NFL draft pick buzz on QB Carson Wentz from NFL.com

2. Ragland working outside. Alabama LB Reggie Ragland will play some outside linebacker this week rather than the inside position that made him one of college football's dominant defenders, giving him a better chance to show NFL scouts his ability to play in space and on the perimeter. Ragland met with multiple clubs Sunday night, including the Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers and others. Multiple Oakland Raiders scouts spoke with Ragland at length.

UA's Ragland testing himself during Senior Bowl week from The Montgomery Advertiser

According to Savage, Ragland called him last week and requested to work out exclusively at outside linebacker, where he can show off his speed and athleticism, while also displaying his versatility to both cover in space and rush the passer — the two things he didn't do a lot of at Alabama.

"I just want to show that I can cover, rush the passer, I want to show I can do multiple things at the next level," said Ragland, who spoke to the Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, Oakland Raiders and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, among others. "I know I can play inside, but I also want to show I can play outside too."

Along with working a different position, Ragland is also hopeful of shedding some weight to increase his speed and athleticism, going from his playing weight of roughly 255-plus pounds to a goal of 245 by the NFL combine.

Ragland hopes this weekend's game will show his versatility from Tuscaloosa News

He's only been in Mobile for a day, but he has already met with a few NFL teams, including the Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers and Oakland Raiders.

Playing at Alabama under head coach Nick Saban, Ragland said he's used to a professional organization.

"Everything we do is NFL style," Ragland said. "Meetings, you have to pay attention. Every little thing possible, (Saban) knows about everything that is going on in his program. He doesn't take a day off."

Picking the best team ever for all 32 NFL franchises from ESPN

Kansas City Chiefs
Best team: 1969

The Chiefs finished in second place in the Western Division in the AFL's final season but won a pair of playoff games on the road and then dominated the Vikings in the Super Bowl. They've chased this kind of success ever since, but with meager results: four playoff wins, one AFC Championship Game and zero appearances in the Super Bowl. -- Adam Teicher

The time John Candy tried to bring 49ers' Joe Montana to Canada from The San Jose Mercury-News

The Toronto native was an enthusiastic sports fans and ardent supporter of the Canadian sports. Besides being part of the Argonauts ownership group from 1991 until his death, he served as an unofficial ambassador for the CFL.

"Huge. Huge. I mean, John did more for that franchise than anybody," McNall said. "He loved football. He loved the CFL. Having grown up in the Toronto area, he was a real nut.

"Not only would he go to our home games and go out in the stands and shake hands and encourage people, he would do the same thing at road games. He would bend over backward to go anywhere. If the CFL asked him to go to Winnepeg, he'd get on a plane to Winnipeg. He was a huge fan."

No spoiler alert here: Montana somehow resisted the lure of the CFL and finished his career in the USA. The 49ers traded him to Kansas City after the '92 season, and he had to strong seasons for the Chiefs before retiring at age 38.

Add 'Rivera' to 'Flores' to Super Bowl history from ESPN

In his playing career, Flores broke new ground in 1960 as the first-ever Hispanic starting quarterback in professional football with the Raiders. Though Flores also claims a Super Bowl win as a player (while on the roster of the Kansas City Chiefs), he served as a backup quarterback in the championship game and did not play.

Why Is It Super Bowl 50 And Not Super Bowl L? from Newsy

ESPN's Darren Rovell spoke to the NFL VP of Brand and Creative Jaime Weston, who said: "When we developed the Super Bowl XL logo, that was the first time we looked at the letter L. Up until that point, we had only worked with X's, V's and I's."

Weston's team had reportedly been working on the Super Bowl 50 logo since April 2013 and the "L" just didn't look good. Weston said they went through 73 different versions of the logo before ultimately deciding on the 5-0. (Video via KEYC)

Super Bowl 50 is the first deviation from Roman numerals, which were adopted in 1971 with Super Bowl V.

Clock is already ticking on new Eagles coach Doug Pederson from Philly Voice

At Pederson's introductory news conference, he revealed that it was he, not Reid, calling the plays in the second half of that game, and he saw no problem with the clock management. The new Eagles coach actually said the Chiefs thought they had a better chance at executing an onside kick after scoring than stopping Tom Brady.

If Pederson were a Broadway play, he would have closed after his first performance. Eagles fans were so livid over that explanation that I did something I had never done in my 26 years on WIP radio. I begged Pederson to lie to us the next day, to distance himself from such a stupid rationale.

He found a solid middle ground when he appeared on my show, acknowledging that the strategy had failed and referring to it as a "learning experience." Fans chose to blame the mess on Reid - who is still defending the strategy, by the way - and all they can do now is hope Pederson is a quicker thinker than his mentor.