“He’s an impressive guy.  We can’t have enough guys like Thomas,” Haley said.  “It’s one thing to be a leader and another to have the ability to back it up.  Thomas does that and is excited to continue to show that.

“He had his best year last year.  And I’m excited he wants to be here.”

“He fits what we’re looking for,” Haley said.  “He’s a good player, loves the game and is an excellent preparation guy and a good teammate.

“He’s been a part of other teams turning it in the right direction and he’s excited to be a part of this.”

“If we have a chance to add good football players, we’re going to do it,” Haley said.  “This was a great example of a good fit, no different than what we’ve been able to do coaching staff wise.  We need to because we only won four games last year and we’ve got to be better this year.”

I’m sure we are going to hear from Haley all offseason once again how every position is an open competition, but I hope this offense is put together to feature Jamaal Charles and his big-play ability.

Jones will allow the Chiefs to keep Charles fresh and feature him more in the passing game, but there should be no doubt about who is the starting running back.

The Kansas City Chiefs have signed former New York Jets running back Thomas Jones to a two year deal.

Jones was released by the Jets last week after being due a $3 million roster bonus on top of a $2.8 million base salary this season.  He and the Jets failed to reach a compromise on restructuring his contract; the team wanted him to take a pay cut.

Jones wasn’t the only running back on Kansas City’s radar.  After spending Tuesday with the Washington Redskins, Pittsburgh Steelers free-agent running back Willie Parker was scheduled to visit the Chiefs on Thursday, but the trip was canceled when Jones entered the fold.

The 31-year-old is coming off a season in which he set career highs by rushing for 1,402 yards and 14 touchdowns while helping the Jets reach the AFC Championship Game against Indianapolis.  He was also a popular presence in the locker room, twice being voted the team’s most inspirational player by his teammates.

Jones had a career-high 331 carries in the regular season and appeared to wear down a bit down the stretch as rookie Shonn Greene got the majority of carries.  Still, with the game on the line against San Diego and the Jets facing fourth-and-1 late, coach Rex Ryan put the ball in Jones’ hands to make a first down that clinched a trip to Indianapolis.

He’ll make $3 million the first year and $2 million the second in Kansas City.  There are also $500,000 in incentives built into the deal.

Great pickup for the Chiefs.  I wasn’t sure that he would be willing to take a back seat to Jamaal Charles, but whatever he and the team talked about over the past two days was enough to convince all parties that this was a marriage that could work.

It’s impossible to overlook the leadership qualities that he brings to the table.  As impressive as being voted the most inspirational player is, the more important role was that of mentor to rookie quarterback Mark Sanchez.  Jones owned the locker next to Sanchez and was there all year to guide the young signal caller through an up-and-down first year in the league.

I would love to see Scott Pioli go out and bring Jones’ lead blocker back to Kansas City: Tony Richardson.  He has to have at least one quality season left in that body and every Chiefs fan knows how important T-Rich can be to a team on and off the field.

Welcome to Kansas City, it’s always good to have another Jones around.

There’s enough evidence after 17 years to show us that diving head first into the UFA waters generally brings with it a major headache.  More evidence of that came down on Monday, when the Raiders released WR Javon Walker.

He was part of a four-player class that the Raiders dropped big money on in 2008. Walker got a six-year $55 million deal with $14 million guaranteed.  Oakland re-signed DE Tommy Kelly to a seven-year, $50.5 million contract with $18 million guaranteed.  They made a trade with Atlanta, giving up a second and fifth-round picks for CB DeAngelo Hall; part of the deal was a new contract for Hall at seven years, $68 million with $24.5 million guaranteed.  Safety Gibril Wilson left the New York Giants and signed as a UFA with the Raiders for six years, $39 million, with $16 million guaranteed.

That was four players, some $212 million in total value and more than $72 million in guaranteed dollars.

I don’t know that it’s ever fair to use the Raiders as a comparison since they are the ultimate example of a train wreck, but hopefully their failures will help to talk down some Chiefs fans that are standing on the edge due to the lack of money spent by Clark Hunt (and for the record, I’m there with you).

Julius Peppers, Antrel Rolle, Dunta Robinson or Karlos Dansby would have been great additions to a Chiefs defense that is still full of holes.  But what I’m trying to talk myself into is that the huge contract that one of those players commanded will instead help pay for 3 or 4 starters.  Where exactly those players are coming from I’m not sure yet, but it’s always good for Chiefs fans as a whole to remind themselves that the season is a long ways away from starting.

“All along, I wanted to be here,” Chambers said.  “I knew how I felt and I knew how the team felt and that eventually we were going to get something done.”

He played in nine games for Kansas City and wound up tied for third with 36 catches, four of them for touchdowns.

“I got a chance to know the team last year, the players, the coaches and everyone,” Chambers said.  “They all embraced me as soon as I came in.  I was able to be successful.  Matt Cassel and I built a relationship over the past three months, which I never had with a quarterback.  He’s a guy I wanted to play with.  He was definitely a huge part in me wanting to return.

“I felt like the team had a great nucleus of guys.  We were fighting and scrapping and trying to win games.  No one ever gave up.  Everybody practiced really hard.  Those are the type of guys you want to play football with.  Eventually, things are going to turn around.”

No player is going to rip a team that just guaranteed him $5.9 million, but there’s also no need to praise the teams as much as Chambers did.  I think that speaks volumes about the program that Todd Haley and Scott Pioli have installed over the past year.

There were rumors bouncing around during the season about how the “veteran players” on the Chiefs were not happy about all of the hard work they had to go through.  If things were so bad, Chambers would have jumped at the chance to play for Cincinnati or any other team in need of help at wide receiver.

The writers that only want to talk about how bad the Haley/Pioli regime is will no doubt say that Chambers had no choice but to return to Kansas City.  Yet if you look at the unrestricted free agent wide receivers available, once you get past Terrell Owens and Antonio Bryant the pickings are slim.

KC re-signed WR Chris Chambers to a three-year deal worth up to $15 million that includes $5.9 million in gtd money.

Great deal for both sides.  Chambers continues to earn a decent paycheck and the Chiefs get to keep one of the few playmakers they had on offense last season.  Assuming that they draft a young receiver to develop and Dwayne Bowe keeps his head on straight, that has the potential to be a nice arsenal for Matt Cassel to work with.

In only 9 games with Kansas City last season, Chambers had 4 touchdowns along with over 600 yards receiving.  Add in a better offensive line and a full season of Jamaal Charles in the game plan and we could see — dare I say it — a true offense in Kansas City once again.

The club announced the agreement Sunday and will hold a news conference to discuss the deal at the team’s Surrey training facility this morning.

It was a much different scenario than one which faced the 28-year-old quarterback nearly three seasons ago.

A beneficiary of a bidding war which involved the Montreal Alouettes, Printers flew from Houston bound for Burlington, Vt.  But the Als returned without their prize when a contract agreement had been reached in mid-flight instead with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who had staffers waiting to pick up Printers in Buffalo.

The deal he signed with Hamilton was worth considerably more than the one which will keep him with the Lions at minimum through the 2011 season, which should pay him close to the $300,000 range annually similar to other starters around the league.

Printers’ career path might have been up in the air at that point.  It isn’t any longer.

“The whole Hamilton thing was a blur.  I had just been released [from the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs].  I was frustrated and I didn’t have the right mindset,” Printers recalled Sunday.

“What makes me comfortable now is that we have the right organization, starting from the top.”

“He showed last season he can excite a team, and he can excite a city,” Lions coach/GM Wally Buono said Sunday.

I never thought I’d read the words “excite a city” in any sentence talking about Printers.  He’s come a long way from “chicken salad out of chicken —-”.

Because players don’t begin collecting on their salary until the first week of the regular season, Cromartie needed money now to make the payments he needs to make.

During a Friday conference call with reporters, Cromartie spoke of how he had to clear up his paternity issues before he can report to the start of the offseason program on March 22.

“I have seven kids in five different states,” Cromartie said.  “I made some wrong decisions my first two years in the NFL, and now I have to take that responsibility to be a father.

“I need to deal with my kids and child-support issues,” he added.  “Those things are being taken care of.  I’m going to be the best father to them that I can.”

Cromartie has a court date in California later this month.

“It won’t impact my focus on the field,” he said. “I can separate my personal life and off-field issues from football.”

The Jets had an amazing run last season, but one of their biggest strengths was their chemistry and they are playing with fire right now.  First they bring in a guy like Cromartie that has a ton on his plate off-the-field.  Then they release one of their locker room leaders in Thomas Jones.

I understand you have to watch your bottom line, but Jones had 1,400 yards last year all while owning the locker next to Mark Sanchez, helping the rookie get through an up-and-down season.

Fujita, 30, was an unrestricted free agent.  He started at outside linebacker the last four seasons.  The Saints did not believe he would leave them because of his strong ties to the New Orleans community.

“Scott possesses tremendous size for a linebacker, and this will allow him to play inside or outside in our 3-4 defense,” Browns general manager Tom Heckert said.  “He has been a starter throughout his career, has been exposed to several different defensive schemes and has been successful in all of them.  He is a great leader and played a big part in the success that the Saints achieved last year.”

The 6-5, 250-pound Fujita was picked by the Kansas City Chiefs in the fifth round of the 2002 draft out of California.  He played three years with the Chiefs and one with the Dallas Cowboys before going to New Orleans.

That’s going to be a tough transition for Fujita.  From winning a Super Bowl with a great team like New Orleans that has an offense capable of always bailing out a defense to Cleveland where they still don’t know who the quarterback will be next season.

The Chiefs have been one of the least active teams during the first two days of free agency, but according to Adam Schefter they will try to change that early next week.

Chiefs scheduled former Jets RB Thomas Jones to visit KC on Monday.

Jones would be a great addition to the Chiefs offense.  During the playoffs, the New York Jets utilized rookie Shonn Greene more than Jones and he would have to be happy playing that same role in Kansas City.

Don’t think that he served simply as a backup in the playoffs.  Even when Greene was the featured back during the first two rounds of the playoffs, Jones still averaged over 14 carries a game.

He won’t get quite that many backing up Jamaal Charles, but if Todd Haley Charlie Weis gave Jamaal Charles 17-20 carries instead of the 25 he was getting down the stretch and right off the bat Jones could run the ball nearly 10 times a game.  Jones would also allow the Chiefs to use Charles more in the passing game where he was nearly as explosive as he was on the ground.

There is also the fumbling issue.

Charles only officially lost 2 fumbles after he took over for Larry Johnson, but there were several other exchange fumbles credited to Matt Casel that he had a hand in.  Jones, on the other hand, has been one of the most sure handed running backs in the NFL.  Over the past three years he has lost a grand total of 1 fumble and that was in 2008.

Jones was due to get a $4 million bonus and any contract will have to start with that money up front.  He is a 31-year old running back, meaning this is he last chance to get paid.  If the Chiefs want to get a deal done they will have to make sure they don’t try to nickel-and-dime Jones with their contract offer on Monday.

The 40th member of this prestigious group, Schottenheimer will be enshrined into the Chiefs Hall of Fame during festivities at Chiefs Alumni Weekend this fall.  He will also be honored in a ceremony at halftime of that weekend’s game.  Schottenheimer registered a 101-58-1 (.634) regular season record as Kansas City’s head coach, giving him the highest winning percentage of any head coach in franchise history.

“On behalf of our family and the entire Chiefs organization, we are extremely pleased with Marty Schottenheimer’s election to the Chiefs Hall of Fame,” Chiefs Chairman Clark Hunt said.  “Marty maintains the best career winning percentage of any Chiefs head coach, and he led the club to more postseason appearances than anyone in our history.  He is certainly very deserving of this honor, and I know our fans will be excited to welcome him to the New Arrowhead as a member of the Chiefs Hall of Fame when he is officially inducted this fall.”

Schottenheimer joins Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinee Hank Stram as the only other coach to be inducted into the Chiefs Hall of Fame.  During Schottenheimer’s 10-year run as Chiefs head coach from ’89-98, Kansas City compiled 101 regular season victories, the highest total during any 10-year span in the franchise’s storied 50-year history.  Schottenheimer guided the club to seven playoff appearances and coached in 10 postseason contests, the highest totals of any Chiefs head coach.

More than just an outstanding teacher and motivator, Schottenheimer was a tremendous mentor for numerous aspiring coaches.  Schottenheimer’s legacy includes nine former or current NFL head coaches who worked for him at some point during their pro careers.  In addition, eight current coordinators around the league have worked on a Marty Schottenheimer coaching staff, including his son, Brian, who serves as the offensive coordinator of the N.Y. Jets.  The younger Schottenheimer began his NFL coaching career as an offensive assistant with the Chiefs in ’98.

Schottenheimer has always possessed a keen appreciation of the opportunities created by Chiefs Founder Lamar Hunt and his American Football League. A seventh-round selection of Buffalo in the ’65 AFL Draft, Schottenheimer spent six seasons in the AFL with Buffalo (’65-68) and Boston (’69-70) after serving as an All-America linebacker at the University of Pittsburgh. He began his NFL coaching career as an assistant on Bill Arnsparger’s staff with the N.Y. Giants in ’75.

Congratulations, Coach Schottenheimer!

I know there isn’t any Chiefs fan that would have an issue with Todd Haley matching Schottenheimer’s 101 victories over the next 10 seasons.

The honor is well deserved and with the amount of former Chiefs that will no doubt be in attendance to see him inducted, the game that weekend will be a must-see event.