Arrowheadlines: Kansas City Chiefs News 3/12

Derrick Johnson Said He Always Knew He'd Be Back in Kansas City from The Mothership

When free agency opened Wednesday afternoon, rumors regarding interest from other teams in Johnson began to circulate.

But when asked as to whether or not he was worried he'd be back during a conference call with Kansas City media late Thursday, Johnson refuted the idea.

"I don't know if I started to worry because my whole career I've been a Chief. That's all I know," he explained. "Until I actually get on a plane and go somewhere else, it actually is not the reality to me. Even though it came down to the wire, I always believed the Chiefs would get it done. I love Andy (Reid) and John Dorsey and what they believe in."

Johnson added that Dorsey had spoke to him about bringing him back at the end of the 2015 season.

New Chiefs OL Mitch Schwartz Looking Forward to Competing for Championships from The Mothership

After signing his contract, Schwartz spoke about a few of the reasons he decided to join the Chiefs, which include the understanding of the organization's place in history.

"The Hunt family name is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, in football history," Schwartz explained. "So understanding their family's contributions to the game and how that plays out in the organization - €”that was one of the overriding factors.

"The last few years, the success of just being able to compete right away for the playoffs and hopefully a championship every year - €”that was really enticing."

In his four years with the Browns, Schwartz had the opportunity to play at Arrowhead Stadium twice - €”once in 2013 and then again last season.

Those experiences resonated with him.

Chiefs Will Have No Compensatory Picks in This Year's NFL Draft from The Mothership

The NFL announced the 33 compensatory choices for the upcoming 2016 NFL Draft Friday. Although the Kansas City Chiefs will receive no additional picks in 2016, you can find out which teams will in the NFL notice below:

10 Things Chiefs Fans Should Know About the Start of Free Agency from The Mothership

8. More Chiefs coming and going

Signed

LB Frank Zombo
DL David King
LB Jonathan Massaquoi
LB Efe Obada

Departing

OL Jeff Allen (Houston Texans)
S Tyvon Branch (Arizona Cardinals)
OL Donald Stephenson (Denver Broncos)
OL Ben Grubbs (released)

Chiefs Replay: vs. the San Diego Chargers from The Mothership

Chiefs Replay: Week 14 vs. the San Diego Chargers

WHEN: Saturday, March 12 at 10:35 p.m.

CHANNEL: KCTV5 (CBS)

Even entering free agency, Chiefs' Derrick Johnson never wanted to leave KC from The Kansas City Star

So as soon as Johnson heard about Hali's new deal with the Chiefs -€” a three-year, $22 million extension Hali signed on Tuesday -€” he couldn't help but dial up Hali.

"I called him and I was like, ‘Man, congratulations, man' — I was probably happier than he was," said Johnson, who was also a pending free agent. "As soon as I said that, he said, ‘DJ, you've got to get it done, buddy. You got to. You can't leave me.' "

He didn't. On Wednesday, Johnson agreed to a three-year, $21 million pact to remain with the team that drafted him. Like the deal with Hali, Johnson's contract likely ensures he will retire a Chief.

"It was one of those old-friend moments," Johnson said of Hali's response. "And I told him, ‘Hey, whatever I have to do, we'll work together to get this done.' "

Mitchell Schwartz's arrival immediately stabilizes Chiefs' right tackle position from Chiefs Digest

What do offensive tackles Eric Fisher, Jeff Allen, Donald Stephenson, Jah Reid and Ryan Harris have in common?

Each player logged multiple starts at right tackle for the Chiefs at some point in the past three seasons.

The annual turmoil at the position, however, effectively ended when the Chiefs signed right tackle Mitchell Schwartz to a five-year contract.

Chiefs are paying Mitchell Schwartz well, but he may be worth the money from ESPN

"I think the league is starting to realize that in general,'' said Schwartz, the starting right tackle the last four seasons for the Cleveland Browns. "Back in the day, there was a lot more under-center quarterback play, the quarterback taking the drop from under center, and he really can't see over to his left. Now everything, he starts behind the line of scrimmage. In terms of vision, he can see everything, feel everything.''

Defenses have adjusted to that. Premier pass rushers often used to come solely from the right side of the defense, so they could attack a quarterback's blind side.

That isn't the case so much anymore. Justin Houston, for instance, frequently rushes from the left side of the Chiefs' defense, against the right tackle.

Source: Chiefs re-sign cornerback Jamell Fleming to new contract from The Kansas City Star

In particular, Fleming earned praise from special teams coach Dave Toub for his work as a gunner on the punt-coverage unit, which has consistently been one of the league's best in recent years.

"Combined with (punter Dustin) Colquitt hanging the ball up and putting it down on the 5 (yard line), Fleming is there, too, if the ball isn't a fair catch," Toub said during the season. "He's been consistent this year as far as beating corners in one-on-one."

Sean Smith looking forward to matching up against Jeremy Maclin from ESPN

"We've had countless battles in practice, along with the other receivers they have over there,'' Smith said on a conference call after his signing was announced by the Raiders. "It is going to be a little interesting going against him for the first time. It's all about the dark side now, Raider Nation.''

Smith played three seasons with the Chiefs after signing as a free agent in 2013. He said it was difficult for him to tell the Chiefs he would be leaving.

"Words can't explain how much that place has meant to me the past three years,'' Smith said. "At the end of the day I had to make the best decision for me and my family, which was to come back to California.''

Chiefs have no compensatory draft picks in 2016 from Chiefs Digest

The Chiefs biggest free-agent departure in 2015 was center Rodney Hudson, who signed a five-year, $44.5 million deal with the Oakland Raiders.

But the Chiefs also signed wide receiver Jeremy Maclin to a five-year, $55 million deal and offensive lineman Paul Fanaika to a three-year, $8.1 million deal.

Friday's announcement marks the second time in three years the Chiefs won't have a compensatory pick. The last time it occurred was in 2014.

Chiefs might be interested in Jeremy Kerley more as a punt returner from ESPN

That's what makes his visit with the Kansas City Chiefs most intriguing. The Chiefs might be ready to move on from their punt returner, De'Anthony Thomas, whose 2015 season ended prematurely under mysterious and still unexplained circumstances.

The Chiefs take that role seriously. It's why they drafted Thomas two years ago after losing Dexter McCluster in free agency. It might be why they are interested in Kerley.

The Chiefs got drilled by the NFL, are angry, and have a point from ESPN

Clark vowed to "explore our options" to reverse or diminish the punishment. (As it stands now, the Chiefs will lose their third-round pick in this year's draft and a sixth-round pick in 2017. The franchise was fined $250,000, coach Andy Reid must pay $75,000 and general manager John Dorsey owes $25,000.)

In so doing, Hunt took his place next to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and others who have grown increasingly comfortable fighting a public battle over what has historically been behind-the-scenes NFL business.

So does Hunt have a point? Did the NFL hit the Chiefs too hard?

Based on a review Thursday by ESPN research specialist Vince Masi, no NFL team since at least 1980 has been punished so severely for tampering. Masi found two recent instances in which a tampering penalty included a forfeiture of draft choices:

Chiefs deserve penalty, but not the one they got from ESPN

It can't be easy for the league to decide on an appropriate penalty. Part of the problem, as Seifert noted, is that no penalties are spelled out in the tampering policy.

But the NFL has to apply some consistency to penalties for similar violations. The league punished two teams for tampering violations over the past eight years and the harshest of the two penalties was the loss of a fifth-round draft pick.

Army officer serves with NFL's Chiefs under training program from The Army Times

Rittenberg's role with the Chiefs went far beyond flag-waving - he was in the middle of a yearlong assignment as the team's Army liaison, a position made possible by the service's Training with Industry program. He's one of four information operations officers now on assignment with leading businesses - others are at divisions of Coca-Cola, German engineering company Siemens and global public relations company Hill+Knowlton.

Their goal: Take best practices from these corporate giants and put them to good use with follow-on tours in the Army, everything from developing a social-media strategy to building the Army brand.

Post-Pro Day roundup: Catching up with WSU Cougars' Kache Palacio, Ivan McLennan and Destiny Vaeao from The Seattle Times

Linebacker Kache Palacio finished his WSU career ranked No. 10 all-time with 16 total sacks and is hoping his Pro Day numbers and college stats will earn him a shot with an NFL team.

Palacio went into Pro Day as a linebacker, and some scouts were so impressed with his athleticism that they asked him to run through some drills as a fullback.

In a phone interview on Friday, Palacio said that the Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs and Indianapolis Colts all approached him at WSU's Pro Day on Thursday to inquire about how willing he would be to move from linebacker to fullback.

FORMER HUSKIES SHINE AT NIU FOOTBALL PRO DAY from NIUHuskies.com

Scouts from 12 NFL teams - Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Jets, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, Washington Redskins and Seattle Seahawks - were in attendance Friday.

As testing concluded, the players then took part in the skills portion of the day. Former NIU quarterback Chandler Harnish came back to throw to the receivers and helped the scouts throw to the defensive backs.

Chiefs get the last laugh from The Chart

As much as I respect and love me some Manning as a casual football fan, I absolutely hated his guts on many Sundays. He made plenty of my Sundays miserable on so many different levels.

In 16 match-ups, Manning was 14-2 against the Chiefs, that's including removing the Chiefs from the playoffs twice.

Now, all is good since Manning is retiring. Collectively, let's exhale together Chiefs Kingdom. No more Manning in that putrid orange & blue. Perhaps, I'm a little salty and I'm just finding a way to remove your ears and eyes away from the week long Manning retirement coverage.

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, a gentle giant filled from LeSoleil [translated from the original French]

The recent release of Ben Grubbs by the Chiefs and the departure of Jeff Allen Houston to consolidate its starting position. "These are good signs, but it's not like in the university where there are poor recruitment years. There will still be 14 guys that I will fight. "

Duvernay-Tardif realized in the middle of calendar that could compete with the best in the world."From the moment you know you're able to block the guy in front of you and you're not obsessed with it, you start to do more complex readings. This is what awaits me next year: refine my readings and read the signs [ cue ] opponent. "

This third year of the contract could propel it into the high financial spheres. "If I sign a contract extension with the Chiefs [in 2017], my life [financial] is set. But it's so big numbers! Three million over four million less ... I just bought a used Jetta for $ 8000, so I'm not there yet, "he laughs whose agent is a childhood friend Sasha Ghavami, Deux-Montagnes.