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WATERS FINALIST FOR WALTER PAYTON MAN OF THE YEAR AWARD
January 24th – 6:44 PM

Three community-minded NFL players will be recognized during Super Bowl week as finalists for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, it was announced Sunday. Washington Redskins LB London Fletcher, Cleveland Browns WR Mike Furrey and Kansas City Chiefs G Brian Waters are the top candidates for this year’s award, named for the legendary Chicago Bears running back who died in 1999.

The Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award is the only league award that recognizes a player’s off-the-field community service as well as his playing excellence.

The winner of the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award will be announced live on CBS before Super Bowl XLIV on February 7. Fletcher, Furrey, and Waters will be in South Florida during Super Bowl week and participate in a press conference on Friday, February 5, with the late Walter Payton’s family.

Congrats Brian!

TURN TO THE WEST
January 22nd – 4:22 PM

On the same radio program that Romeo Crennel appeared on this morning (WNST 1570 AM - Baltimore), former Chiefs head coach Marty Schottenheimer followed. As we know, Schottenheimer’s West squad is facing Crennel’s East team in the Shrine Game tomorrow at 2:00 PM on ESPN2.

(sidenote…the host, Drew Forrester, made another head-scratching comment to begin the show by asking Schottenheimer if he was upset to see the Chargers lose to the Jets. Scottemheimer’s son, Brian, is the Jets offensive coordinator).

Just like Crennel, Schottenheimer has the advantage of seeing the game’s pro prospects up close and personal this week. Unlike Crennel, Schottenheimer doesn’t have to keep his hand hidden. Since he’s not employed by an NFL team, Schottenheimer spoke of players on the West team that have impressed him the most thus far.

First of all, Schottenheimer is impressed with all three of his quarterbacks, but he specifically made comments about two of the three.

QB Matt Nichols, Eastern Washington: 6-3, 220
“He’s a young guy out of Eastern Washington who I think has pretty good talent.“

QB Todd Reising, Kansas: 5-11, 200
“The one that may surprise them all is Reesing from Kansas,” Schottenheimer said. “Todd has a terrific competitiveness about him.“

He went on to say that he thinks each of his West quarterbacks (the third is Max Hall of BYU) have a chance to play in the NFL.

Another player that Schottenheimer specifically mentioned is a relatively little-known prospect out of Fresno State, WR Seyi Ajirotutu. Ajirotutu isn’t listed among the top 25 senior receivers by most “expert” rankings.

“There is a young man by the name of Ajirotutu,” Schottenheimer said. “He is a big kid and can run like the wind. I’ve been very impressed by him. For those fans that are watching the game, he’s #17 and he reminds me a lot of Vincent Jackson or Malcolm Floyd in San Diego.

If you want to listen to the entire interview, follow the link at the bottom of the below post.

ROMEO THE MENTOR
January 22nd – 1:30 PM

The Chiefs aren’t the only ones benefiting from defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel serving as head coach of the East team in tomorrow’s East-West Shrine Game. Future NFLers are using Crennel’s vast experience as a tool of mentorship and information this week down in Orlando.

“A couple of them have come up and asked me about life in the NFL,” Crennel said of his East players. ”(They want to know) what’s the difference between the NFL and the college game and what they can do to better themselves.

“You always like to see that in a player,” Crennel continued. “One that’s thinking about ways to improve, because if you can get better than you can help your team.“

All 32 NFL teams are out watching Crennel’s team prepare to take on former Chiefs head coach Marty Schottenheimer’s West squad, but Crennel (and the Chiefs for that matter) is getting a much better look at the Shrine talent.

“Being able to work with them on a one-on-one basis, be in meetings with them and be in practice with them, you get an insight that some of the teams are not able to get even though they’re all here watching them,” Crennel explained. “There has been a great turnout by the NFL this week, but they are on the sideline. We are on the field dealing with them and in the meetings with them, so you find out a little bit about who will push themselves, how much a player knows as far as if he prepares and tries to do his job.

“Those insights are golden,” Crennel continued. “We’ll be able to take that back and hopefully help us to make some decisions in the draft.“

Crennel’s comments today came courtesy of a morning interview with Drew Forrester on WNST 1570 AM in Baltimore. The interview was pretty good, except for Forrester’s comment about the Chiefs needing to find someone capable of running the football offensively in 2010. Really? Oh well, we can’t ask everyone to be up to date with Chiefs news. Forrester must not play fantasy football either.

If you want to listen to the interview in its entirety, you can find it here - http://wnst.net/wordpress/

CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND PICKS
January 22nd – 11:26 AM

The debates have waged on at the bottom of this blog and in the Chiefs 365 forums…who ya got?

Here are my predictions for this weekend.

AFC Championship
Indianapolis 24, N.Y. Jets 13

NFC Championship
New Orleans 33, Minnesota 30

Analysis can be found in today’s “Break IT Down” Video

PIOLI ON CHIEFS 2010 STAFF
January 22nd – 10:31 AM

We’ve been referring to the recent changes in the Chiefs coaching staff as “Phase I” of the 2010 offseason program. “Phase II” would represent player acquisitions to supplement the coaching hires. As head coach Todd Haley said several weeks ago, a program must have both good players and good coaches to compliment each other in order to be successful. The Chiefs are working to build upon their core of each this offseason.

Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli talked in length about the makeup of the new Chiefs front office this morning on Sirius Radio 123.

“We went into this situations knowing what was good and what we needed to be concerned with,” Pioli said. “We talked about all of these things, not only with Todd and myself, but with Todd and Romeo, Todd and Charlie, myself Todd and Romeo, myself Todd and Charlie…there’s a lot of history among this group of people.“

Pioli went on to explain that just because the addition of Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel receiving national recognition, doesn’t mean that there aren’t other vital parts on the 2010 coaching staff piecing together the Chiefs puzzle.

“I don’t want (people) to think that there are just these few people here involved,” Pioli went on to say. “There is a guy like (assistant head coach/RBs coach) Maurice Carthon who has a significant voice withing this organization. Maurice is not only an outstanding coach, but he does a great job of presenting things in such a way and giving great feedback.

”(Offensive line coach) Bill Muir is another great coach who has had a tremendous amount of experience,” Pioli continued. “A guy like (linebackers coach) Gary Gibbs, who has been coaching forever. He’s been a coordinator and a head coach at Oklahoma, who I think had a bigger salary cap than a bunch of teams at one point (laughs). I love to kid Gary about that.“

Pioli says that adding the two new high-profile assistants to the Chiefs staff only makes discussion and debate more effective.

“The focus right now is on Charlie and Romeo, but there are some other really strong coaches here and some really confident personalities,” Pioli said. “The more people you can get like that within an organization involved in a leadership group leads to more questions and better answers. That’s what we hope.“

The hiring of both Crennel and Weis, along with the experience currently on the Chiefs coaching staff, points to Kansas City’s front office valuing a diversified opinion in all major team matters. Two voices are better than one. The Chiefs look like they have more than that in focusing towards 2010 and the future.

PIOLI ADDRESSES THE UNCAPPED YEAR
January 22nd – 8:35 AM

If there is isn’t a further extension of the CBA, the “Final League Year” will begin on March 5, 2010. If this occurs (which seems more than likely), we’ll officially enter an uncapped year in 2010.

An uncapped year is an entirely new ballgame, with an entirely different set of rules. A different strategy must be in place for teams dealing with free agency.

This morning on Sirius Radio 123, Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli addressed the Chiefs strategy heading in what appears to be an uncapped year in 2010.

“I think its one of those situations in which every team has to figure out what’s right for themselves and do what they need to do,” Pioli said. “I know that we have a plan in place in how we’re going to try to do things. How the other 31 teams are going to do things, I’m not sure. I think everyone is finding out and still getting educated as to what this is all going to me this year.“

As a result of a possible year with no salary cap, and uncertainty for 2011, many around the league believe that there will be a team (or teams) which will make a one-year play for a certain special player. Pioli was asked if he assumes that an opponent will make a one-year grab at free agency for something special.

“I don’t assume anything, but I think that history has shown that there have been people who have done that,” Pioli said. “It seems to be every year that something like that happens. I really don’t know what other teams are going to do, because there have been a number of teams with changes in their front office and in their coaching staffs, who have done business a certain way for a certain amount of time.

“It’s so difficult to project and be able to predict what is gong to happen within another building,” Pioli continued. “I’ve heard people try to predict and project what we’re going to to do. Unless you are in that building, you really don’t know what is going to happen or how they are going to do business.“

Pioli talked about a number of different things on Sirius 123 this morning. We’ll hear what the Chiefs general manager has to say about the Chiefs 2010 coaching staff next…

PICKING SIDES
January 22nd – 5:46 AM

When navigating your way to the 2010 Asset Protect East-West Shrine Game (www.shrinegame.com), a giant banner appears at the top of the page which asks, “Which side are you on?”

That’s a good question to ask Chiefs fans.

On one sideline we’ve got our current defensive coordinator, Romeo Crennel, serving as head coach of the East team. On the other sideline stands the man with the best winning percentage of any head coach in franchise history - former Chiefs head man Marty Schottenheimer.

The 85th Annual East-West Shrine Game kicks off on Saturday and a week of collegiate all-star action follows. Many of tomorrow’s NFL stars will battle in Orlando, FL against one another, while the 2010 Under Armour Senior Bowl will offer a second glimpse at top college talent just seven days later. NFL scouts have been (and will be) there to see it all.

The practice sessions are more important than the game themselves. Watching the game’s best battle against one another in practice drills is a great tool for NFL talent evaluators. Even more importantly, it gives the prospects’ future coaches an opportunity to watch these young players practice. During the college season, that aspect of evaluation is performed solely by the scouting staff as NFL coaches are worked to the core breaking down and scheming opponents.

So, we revert back to the original question. Which side are you on?

Does it really matter? Let’s just hope that Crennel and Co. have found a few diamonds in the rough to bring to Kansas City in 2010.

Here is a look at East-West Shine Game alumni who have been drafted by Kansas City since 2004:

RB Javarris Williams, 2009 (7th round, 212th overall)
*WR Will Franklin, 2008 (4th round, 105th overall)
WR Kevin Robinson, 2008 (6th round, 182nd overall)
K Justin Medlock, 2007 (5th round, 160th overall)
T Herb Taylor, 2007 (6th round, 196th overall)
TE Michael Allan, 2007 (7th round, 231st overall)
WR Jeff Webb, 2006 (6th round, 190th overall)
LB/FB Boomer Grigsby, 2005 (5th round, 138th overall)
DE Will Svitek, 2005 (6th round, 187th overall)
WR Samie Parker, 2004 (4th round, 105th overall)
DE Jared Allen, 2004 (4th round, 126th overall)
*Invited, but missed game due to injury

Digging a bit deeper, the following Shrine Bowl alums (since 2004) were in training camp with Kansas City in 2009:

WR Taurus Johnson, 2009 alumnus
DT Derek Lokey, 2008 alumnus
FB Jed Collins, 2008 alumnus
RB Dantrell Savage, 2008 alumnus
QB Matt Gutierrez, 2007 alumnus

History shows that at least one of the 108 players involved in this year’s game is likely to be a mid-to-late round draft pick of Kansas City in 2010. Kickoff is slated for 2:00 PM (CST), televised live on ESPN2.