Cottam is now free to continue rehabbing with the Chiefs, but will not count against the 80-man roster as the club opens training camp.  We’ll likely see him active in the “rehab zone” located on the sidelines of practice sessions.

Essentially, Cottam is in the same boat as RB Kolby Smith was at the beginning of training camp last season.  By being placed on Reserve/PUP, Cottam is not eligible to play for the first six weeks of the season.

Once Week Six passes, Cottam will then have a three-week window to practice with the team.  During that time frame, the club must make a decision to either waive the player, place the player on injured reserve or activate the player to the 53-man roster.

And it all works out for the best.  Both in my first guess at the 53-man roster and when Cottam was waived, I hoped that he would try and work through his neck injury on PUP.  This will force Cottam to take his time coming back, because he will no doubt be in a hurry to get back on the field and prove that he’s healthy.

At age 31, Jones had a career year in ’09, rushing for a personal-best 1,402 yards and a personal-best 14 touchdowns.  But he slowed down in the playoffs, and the Jets actually cut him in the offseason to save several million dollars.  Jones landed in Kansas City, where he will team with Jamaal Charles in the backfield.

In this situation, there’s no way that Jones gets 331 carries as he did last year, and he may not get half that total.  That means that Jones’ numbers are headed downward.  The question is how far.

We learned last year not to doubt Jones’ abilities, but our hunch is that Charles’ explosiveness will earn enough carries that Jones ends up in the 800-yard range.  He has the potential to be the goal-line back, which could put him near double-digit touchdowns again, but Jones is still a better bet atop Tier 4 than among starters on Tier 3.

In our Chiefs Fantasy Preview, I ranked Jones as a starting running back and I’ll stick by that until Todd Haley or Charlie Weis show us otherwise in their game plan.

Don’t expect another 1,400 yards unless something were to happen to Charles, but he will no doubt poach enough touchdowns to make him worthy of your second running back slot.  If you feel the Chiefs will put up numbers on the ground similar to the end of last season, then it wouldn’t be crazy to start both Charles and Jones together.

Fraud?  Hardly.

Asamoah (6-4, 305) was the first of Kansas City’s two third-round picks (68th overall) in the 2010 NFL Draft.  He played in 42 games (37 starts) at Illinois, opening every contest during his final three seasons.  He was a second-team All-Big Ten selection as a senior and also received the 2010 Big Ten Conference Medal of Honor for his achievements on the football field and in the classroom.

And then there was one.

All eyes are on you, Eric Berry.  We’ve all heard the typical “this is a business” lines, but Berry, his agent and Scott Pioli need to make this happen.  Get the man signed, into camp for the (hopefully easy) conditioning test and then off to practice.

McCluster (5-8, 170) was the first of the Chiefs two second-round selections (36th overall) in the 2010 NFL Draft.  He appeared in 40 games (28 starts) at Mississippi, catching 130 passes for 1,703 yards (13.1 avg.) with seven TDs, while rushing 304 times for 1,955 yards (6.4 avg.) with 15 TDs.  He also returned 19 kickoffs for 374 yards (19.7 avg.) and eight punts for 57 yards.  He compiled 1,717 all-purpose yards as a senior, the second-highest seasonal total in school history.

Arenas (5-9, 197) joined the Chiefs as the second of the club’s two second-round selections (50th overall) in the 2010 NFL Draft.  He played in 52 games (28 starts) at Alabama, registering 154 tackles (104 solo), 17.5 tackles for loss, 7.0 sacks (-74.0 yards), six INTs with one touchdown, 14 passes defensed and nine QB pressures.  He also returned 125 punts for 1,752 yards (14.0 avg.) with seven TDs and 90 kickoffs for 2,166 yards (24.1 avg.).  He ranks second in NCAA history with eight career return TDs (seven punt returns, one INT).

That leaves (officially anyway) first-round pick Eric Berry and third-round selection Jon Asamoah as the only unsigned picks.  However, there are several reports that Asamoah has already been signed so that means it’s a waiting game on the fifth overall pick.

With more and more first-rounders coming on board seemingly by the hour, the chances that Berry shows up on time is looking a lot better than just a couple days ago.  You never want a player to hold out, but last year the Chiefs were going to experience growing pains with Tyson Jackson no matter if he signed on time or not.  But in Berry’s case, he needs to step in right away and be a defensive leader, something that is more difficult to do the more practices that he misses.

I’d like to thank Javier Arenas for the inspiration for the post title.

According to Adam Caplan the Chiefs have waived Brad Cottam after a failed physical, though the team has yet to confirm the move.  He will be replaced on the roster by UDFA Leroy Banks.

Banks (6-3, 243, Southern Mississippi) was signed as an undrafted free agent with the Falcons before being awarded to Kansas City via a waiver claim in May.  He was then waived by the Chiefs in June.  He played 23 games in two seasons at Southern Mississippi, catching 34 passes for 462 yards with four TDs.

It really is a shame that Cottam won’t be sticking around in Kansas City.  I was hoping that he would hang on via the Physically Unable to Perform list and recover during the first half of the season, but that doesn’t appear to be the case here.  He’ll go home with a paycheck, but it’s a sad end to Cottam’s disappointing Chiefs career.

Banks is a guy that impressed during his short time with the Chiefs during OTAs and looked like he would be in the running to be a part of the final 53, but was then waived last month so Kansas City could get their roster down to the required 80 players.  Clearly Todd Haley and Scott Pioli have thought twice about that decision and Banks will try to recreate the impressive showing he had during OTAs except this time in pads.

4.4 forty and 41.5 inch vert

Yesterday, Chiefs GM Scott Pioli told 810 WHB the team was not interested in Alexander.

“He’s not a player we’re focused on right now.  There are a lot of players in different areas that have strong followings and strong beliefs.  It has nothing to do with the guy or who he is as a person.  He’s a wonderful guy. He’s just not…I’m going to be getting this question for years aren’t I?”

If Alexander weren’t healthy enough to put up such impressive numbers (figure the 40 is closer to a still-impressive 4.5) then there wouldn’t be nearly the amount of people asking about him.  But you have a kid that dominated in your backyard and is now showing he’s ready to come to camp and compete.  How do you not consider giving him a shot over the likes of David Grimes, Rich Gunnell or any of the other equally unproven talent coming to camp?

His history of injuries is absolutely something that would give you pause, but when you’re talking about the 80th guy on the roster what do you have to lose?

The one way Pioli can guarantee being hounded by Alexander for the next decade is if he signs with the Rams and turns out being Sam Bradford’s favorite target.

Businesses in the Kansas Chiefs’ new training camp home of St. Joseph are hoping the teams arrival will mean an influx of dollars into the town.

“If you multiply day trips by the region we can, you can do St. Louis, Joplin, Omaha, Lincoln,” St. Joseph spokeswoman Mary Robertson said.  “I think we can get so much more of an impact on the day trips.”

At the Frederick Inn restaurant and steakhouse, Dara Alsbury is pulling for the Chiefs while hoping to pull in some business.

“Normally, sometimes right before school starts, things can be a little bit slow because people are trying to get ready for school and people go on vacations, last minute vacations,” Alsbury said.  “But I think this will also give people a reason to come to town, stay in town and not go anywhere.”

St. Joseph officials said they don’t want to put a dollar amount on what they expect to pull in from the camp being here, but they said any money is good money.

I’m not going to try and put a dollar amount on what the Chiefs will be bringing to town either, but I can guarantee you it will include a lot of zeros.  Go and ask the people of River Falls the hit they are going to take this Summer and that’s all you will need to know about how much new cash is going to be infused into the St. Joseph community.

There was plenty of back and forth with the Chiefs, Missouri Western and local politicians, but it will become apparent very quickly this weekend why this is such a huge deal for Missouri.

The safety position has changed in the NFL and is viewed as a position of playmakers.  The instincts, awareness and ball skills Berry possesses are that of a cornerback, and those talents will be a welcomed addition to a Kansas City Chiefs secondary that made only 15 interceptions last year.  A three-year starter at Tennessee, Berry had only two interceptions this past season, but in his first two years as a starter, he totaled 12.

Chiefs CB Brandon Flowers said of Berry’s playmaking skills: “He had success at the college level.  We’re just excited to see what he can do for us in the secondary.  When you add a playmaker to the team, I think the whole team steps up, and they want to rise to the occasion.”

He’ll make his mark at safety, but look for Romeo Crennel to move Berry around throughout the season if the Chiefs can establish some depth in the defensive backfield.  Berry does bring the ability to play corner and can be used as one with a more physical receiver if Jarrad Page ever signs and Kendrick Lewis continues to impress.

It’s easy to scoff at a rookie leading the league in interceptions, but last year it only took 9 to take the top spot.  Is it crazy to think Berry could reel in 10 this season?  I don’t think it is.

The Chiefs ticket will feature cash prizes as well as a second chance prize drawing in which fans will have the opportunity to win unique prizes and experiences that money can’t buy.  Some of the prizes include an invitation to the Founder’s Suite, a viewing of the Chiefs Insider TV Show taping, a meet-and-greet with “Voice of the Chiefs” Mitch Holthus, season tickets, a tour of the New Arrowhead, as well as cash prizes and much more!

“We are excited to bring a Chiefs branded lottery ticket to the state of Kansas through a partnership with the Kansas Lottery,” Kansas City Chiefs COO Mark Donovan said.  “This partnership gives our enormous fan base in the region the opportunity to win unique prizes only available through the Kansas City Chiefs ticket.”

Hey, it won’t take the place of the (alleged) excitement when you have money riding on the game, but if you are going to go the scratch off route it’s always good to have a Chiefs option.

I have one question though: Where’s the Missouri Lottery?  They have 8 draw games and too many scratch tickets to count and they can’t get involved here?  C’mon folks, get in the game.

Update:

My question was quickly answered by a representative from the MO Lottery. They will be in the Chiefs gaming business as well:

The Missouri Lottery will be offering a Chiefs Scratchers ticket, complete with great experiential prizes, a $70,000 top cash prize and a related promotion involving three drawings.  The game officially starts on Aug. 28.

So once the season starts you’ll be able to “gamble with the Chiefs” in Kansas, Nebraska and Missouri.

@BCARR39

Too busy to work out during the day but it had to get done. 2 more days!!!!!!!!!

That means if Carr is in KC, he was out running somewhere between midnight and one in the morning.  Heck, even if he is in California he was out after 10:00 PM.

It would have been easy for Carr to just call it a night and workout the next day.

Awesome to see a young player taking the initiative to make sure and get a workout in even though life got in the way during the day.  Just a great job by Carr as he prepares for year 2 under Todd Haley.

If I can nitpick though, I hope that he took the picture attached to the tweet on his way from a 24 hour gym to his car because the last thing we need is Chiefs players running through any streets after midnight.  I run in the middle of the day and it takes a lot of extra effort to avoid idiot drivers, it’s scary to think what it must be like that late at night.