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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 1, 2007
CHIEFS RELEASE DE ERIC HICKS
Kansas City Chiefs President Carl Peterson announced on Tuesday that the club has released DE Eric Hicks.
“Eric has been an excellent football player for the Kansas City Chiefs and a superb representative of this organization in the community these past nine years,” President Carl Peterson stated. “Eric is one of the best college free agents that we have signed since ’89. We congratulate he and wife, Erica, for undertaking so many charity endeavors in Kansas City . We will always consider them a part of the Chiefs family.”
Hicks (6-6, 280) appeared in 128 games (104 starts) in nine seasons with the Chiefs, making him one of just 64 players in team history to start 100 or more games with the franchise. During his nine-year tenure with the club, he registered 44.5 sacks, the fifth-highest tally in Kansas City history. He also made 574 tackles (284 solo), a figure that ranks 12th in Chiefs annals. He enjoyed three seasons with 90 or more tackles, racking up a career-high 118 stops in 2003. In addition, he also registered nine forced fumbles, five fumble recoveries, 15 passes defensed, 185 QB pressures, a blocked FG and two special teams tackles. He scored his lone professional TD on a 44-yard fumble return vs. Minnesota (12/12/99).
The most prolific sack season of Hicks’ NFL career came in 2000, when he racked up a career-best 14.0 sacks (-73.0 yards), becoming just the fourth player in team history to produce 14.0 or more sacks in a single season. Hicks produced five of his 10 career multi-sack games that season, including a career-high 3.0 QB takedowns vs. Seattle (10/2/00). He registered those numbers in 2000 despite missing three games due to a knee injury.
Hicks emerged as a starter for Kansas City in ’99 when he opened all 16 games, recording 70 tackles (29 solo) and 4.0 sacks (-25.0 yards). In ’98, he appeared in three games for the Chiefs after becoming the only college free agent to make the club’s Opening Day roster.
The Erie , Pennsylvania native played collegiately at the University of Maryland , starting 22 of 41 career games. In four seasons with the Terrapins, he collected 147 tackles (107 solo), 9.5 sacks, 26 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. He saw action in all 11 contests with seven starts and posted 42 tackles (31 solo), 1.5 sacks and five tackles for a loss as a senior. He had a career-high 4.0 sacks as a sophomore in ’95. Prior to playing at Maryland , Hicks starred at Mercyhurst High School in Erie , Pennsylvania , where he collected a team-high 68 tackles and 6.0 sacks as a senior.
An active member of the Kansas City community, Hicks and his wife Erica formed “The Hicks for Hearts Foundation” in 2001 to benefit and support families of children with congential heart defects. The Hicks’ have also served as spokespersons for the American Heart Association, the Midwest Transplant Network and the March of Dimes. The Hicks’ daughter, Shayla, was born with a heart condition that required numerous surgeries after her birth in ’99.
Josh Looney
Kansas City Chiefs Public Relations
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