ChiefsPlanet - CBS: Chiefs on verge of landing Miami cornerback Surtain

Chiefs on verge of landing Miami cornerback Surtain
April 22, 2005
By Clark Judge
CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer
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The Kansas City Chiefs were supposed to look to the draft for help at cornerback -- and they still might. They just don't have to do it in the first round.

That's because the club is on the verge of making a trade with Miami that would send disgruntled cornerback Patrick Surtain to the Chiefs for a second-round pick, the 46th overall, in Saturday's draft, NFL sources said early Friday.

The deal, which could be announced Friday, is contingent upon Surtain passing a team physical.

According to sources, this week the Chiefs reached a contractual settlement with Surtain on an extension -- clearing the way for the completion of negotiations with Miami. Surtain was entering the last year of his contract with the Dolphins and was given permission to seek a trade, with the Chiefs the most interested club.

Terms of the trade were not complete, but league sources indicated the Chiefs surrendered the second-round choice they insisted they would not trade during talks the past month. Instead, they tried offering a fourth-rounder and combination of picks, but Miami was not interested.

Until now.

Making the deal not only clears over $6 million in cap space for the Dolphins, but it puts them into the second round of Saturday's NFL Draft. The Dolphins sacrificed their second-round choice to Philadelphia a year ago when they traded for quarterback A.J. Feeley.

The Chiefs completed trade talks two days after it appeared they were slowing down.

"It may or may not happen," Chiefs' president Carl Peterson told reporters on Wednesday. "We're running out of time to get it done before this particular draft."

Surtain fills an immediate need in Kansas City, where the Chiefs were last in pass defense and 31st overall. Surtain, 28, was named to the Pro Bowl twice and missed only four games in a seven-year career.

He also joins former Miami teammate Sammy Knight in Kansas City. Knight, a safety, was acquired as a free-agent.

Surtain becomes the fourth significant addition to a defense that crippled Kansas City last year. The club also added linebacker Kendrell Bell and defensive end Carlos Hall.

His addition does not mean the Chiefs will not draft defense with the 15th choice Saturday. They almost surely will. But they don't necessarily have to draft a cornerback, with Georgia safety Thomas Davis -- who projects as an outside linebacker -- or a pass rusher now a possibility.

http://cbs.sportsline.com/nfl/story/8409027