The Chiefs choke against the Jets, but it's not near as bad as THIS.
LOL DONKS. Denver blows the #1 seed, sending Cleveland to NY for the AFCCG. The Jets beat CLE, and then take out Dallas in the Super Bowl. The Chiefs feel a lot better about their divisional loss.
John Elway is so distraught over his epic playoff failure he does something rather rash...
The Chiefs lose Joe Montana and Lomas Brown to retirement. Another hole to fill at RT, great!
THE 1997 OFFSEASON
Retirements
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QB John Elway
G Nate Newton
QB Jim Kelly
RT Lomas Brown
LE Howie Long
WR Irving Fryar
LE Reggie White
OLB Darryl Talley
LG Guy McIntyre
QB Joe Montana
QB Steve Young
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Cuts
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Glyn Milburn
Tracy Rogers
Mark Collins
Tom Sims
Quinn Early
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The Chiefs choose not to offer Santo Stephens or Pellom McDaniels contracts. Stephens will be a big ticket FA on the open market, but with three starting linebacker spots filled, the Chiefs don't need him.
The Chiefs DO re-sign HB Tim Hall to a cheap 3-year deal, and then do the only logical thing with Will Shields:
Shields tag will cost only $9M. This leaves the Chiefs with $25M in cap room. Free agency is a rash of big names and the Chiefs zero in on one target who is NOT getting away.
Hell yeah, son. The deep ball is coming back to Kansas City. ROCKET signs a 5-year, 34M deal. The Chiefs also ink cheap deals with:
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TE Marcus Pollard
DE Vaughn Booker
QB ELVIS GRBAC
QB Jeff Garcia
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FREE AGENCY
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TB Michael Strahan
DAL Deon Figures
BAL Dan Marino
BAL Renaldo Turnbull
DEN Boomer Esiasion
DEN Darren Perry
CAR Santo Stephens
IND Darryl Hobbs
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The Chiefs then address their RT position with a stroke of Carl Peterson genious.
BOOM.
THE 1997 DRAFT
The Chiefs have the #25 pick and trade it for a 1998 first, plus a third and fourth in the 1997 draft.
And now they slay the draft:
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2.16 TE 74 OVR Freddie Jones
3.30 OLB 74 OVR Dwayne Rudd
4.10 SS 73 OVR Mike Minter
4.23 FS 76 OVR Darren Sharper
4.25 WR 76 OVR Albert Connell
6.25 CB 72 OVR Denard Walker
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Sharper in the 4th! What a steal. The Chiefs have an opportunity to draft Tony Gonzalez but picked the wrong tight end. They also passed on Trevor Pryce. Such is life.
THE TOP 11
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1 Danny Wuerffel
2 Ronde Barber
3 Jason Ferguson
4 Jason Taylor
5 James Farrior
6 Mike Vrabel
7 Derrick Mason
8 Ike Hilliard
9 Renaldo Wynn
10 Dan Neil
11 Jake Plummer
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Plummer goes to the Texans, who also get Gonzalez. Best draft hauls:
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MIA
DT Darrell Russell, OLB Mike Vrabel, MLB Derek Smith, WR Keith Poole
NYG
Orlando Pace, James Farrior
NE
Corey Dillon, Shawn Springs, Frank Middleton, Sam Garnes
BAL
Bryant Westbrook, Ross Verba, Duce Staley, Dan Neil
TEX
Tony Gonzalez, Jake Plummer
SD
Sam Madison, Marcus Robinson, Reidel Anthony
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With training camp about to start, the Chiefs have a decision to make at QB. And then, with the news of Rocket Ismail in Kansas City changing the winds, THE UNTHINKABLE HAPPENS:
LET'S DO THIS.