Babb: Chiefs’ players brace for changes to come

[Tribal Warfare]

Chiefs’ players brace for changes to come
BY KENT BABB
The Kansas City Star

All that time on the campaign trail had an effect on Rocky Boiman. He went door to door this last autumn, smiling and shaking hands and telling everyone who’d listen why they should vote for a Republican congressman from Cincinnati.

Boiman’s man lost, but he learned something about politicking during those weeks between NFL teams — when Boiman had begun to think football might be in his past, and maybe a job in politics was in his future.

Now, he’s on the campaign trail again, and this time it’s his football career that might come to a vote. And in case anyone is willing to listen …

“I think I’ve played well,” Boiman, a Chiefs linebacker, said this week, throwing his shoulders back and holding eye contact like a polished politician. “I’m still young but also have experience. I’m healthy; I haven’t missed a game due to injury in four years. I would hope — I think they would see that.”

Boiman wants to run for office someday. But now that his NFL career has been rejuvenated, he wants to stick around for as long as the league will have him. In the final weeks before the election, Boiman got a call from the Chiefs, who were ready to take a chance on the linebacker that four other teams gave up on.

Boiman has since started eight games, moving back and forth among the linebacker spots and emerging as one of a few pleasant surprises on the Chiefs’ patchwork defense.

But Boiman knows that after Sunday’s game against his hometown Bengals, few things in the Chiefs’ organization are certain. Changes will be made, from the top of the front office to the bottom of next year’s roster. It will start Monday, and some players already are lobbying to be a part of the discussion.

“Change is happening,” left guard Brian Waters said. “Every guy should prepare himself for that.”

With such transition coming to Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs are faced with preparing for all this:

•Carl Peterson’s jobs will be split, and for the first time in two decades, the general manager and team president will not work from the same office. It could have a trickle-down effect that could shake up the Chiefs’ front office.

•The coaching staff has yet to receive a vote of confidence from chairman Clark Hunt. Head coach Herm Edwards and defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham have faced the most fire, but every coach on the Chiefs staff could be at risk after the team’s worst season in 30 years.

•Not only are the Chiefs still not certain about Tyler Thigpen’s viability as their starting quarterback and what that means for next year’s NFL draft, but Kansas City hasn’t even committed to an offensive style in 2009.

•Some veterans, such as cornerback Patrick Surtain, already are bracing for the offseason, when they might be phased out or let go.

•And fringe players such as Boiman, the players Edwards has said the Chiefs signed from “off the street,” have no idea what the future might hold. Boiman doesn’t want to hear that the Chiefs — and in particular, players without big guaranteed dollars in their contracts — have nothing to play for.

“I’m like a lot of guys,” Boiman said. “You’ve got to put a high-level product out on that field, or you’ll find yourself back on the street.”

Edwards said this week that he’ll meet with players to discuss their future here. Some will not be guaranteed a spot on next year’s team, and one of the players whose future is in doubt is veteran cornerback David Macklin. He said he wants to return, but just in case, he said he’s now glad he rented that apartment near Arrowhead instead of buying a home.

“You just never know,” Macklin said.

Some will begin 2009 in more secure standing. Edwards praised wide receiver Mark Bradley this week, saying he had impressed the staff enough that Bradley, a former Chicago Bears castoff, would figure into next year’s plans. Coaches might even see Bradley as a starter.

Bradley admitted this week that changes above him could affect his own future. If Edwards and the Chiefs’ offensive staff is let go, Bradley would have to impress a new batch of coaches instead of the group that gave him a chance, slipped him into the starting lineup and have reserved a spot for him next season.

“They’re the guys who brought me here,” Bradley said. “I really would like to have them around.”

Surtain does not have the luxury of confidence. He said he has no idea what coaches have planned for him next season, if anything. Surtain, a three-time Pro Bowl cornerback, will complete his 11th NFL season Sunday, and injuries and Surtain’s age, 32, already have worked against him this season.

Coaches see rookies Brandon Flowers, Brandon Carr and Maurice Leggett as the Chiefs’ top three corners entering next season, and that leaves Surtain — and one of Kansas City’s highest-paid players — in a precarious situation.

“I know how this business works,” Surtain said. “I definitely want to play this game for a few more years.”

He paused a moment and thought about it.

“But if something happens,” he said with a smile, “do it early.”

Surtain said he would not be surprised if he’s let go this offseason. And Waters, another veteran but one with a firm grip on his starting job, said that’s the right mind-set. Waters said smart players enter each offseason with anxiety, particularly one with as much change as the Chiefs will face in the coming months.

He said no one, whether that’s players or coaches or executives, should be surprised if they receive a disappointing telephone call or are summoned in to receive bad news. That’s why players such as Boiman have gotten an early start on lobbying for their place in the Chiefs’ future.

Still, Waters said, the NFL is a cruel business. The ones who last in it are the men who have braced themselves when change is inevitable.

“Nobody should be taken by surprise,” Waters said. “You have to re-evaluate your situation as a football player. You just do. It’s a very short-lived career. No matter how much we love it, you never get to play it as much as we want to.

“Being smart and having preparation is something we do every week for a game. And it shouldn’t be any different for our lives.”

@ Go to KansasCity.com for Adam Teicher’s vlog on why the Chiefs owe Herm Edwards and video of the Chiefs’ coach talking about his 2-13 team.

[DaKCMan AP]

Originally Posted by the_spatula

do u guys honestly have no love for an underdog like boiman? he's one of my favorite chiefs currently

He's a dumbass republican.

[Red Beans]

Originally Posted by DaKCMan AP

He's a dumbass republican.

[milkman]

Originally Posted by DaKCMan AP

He's a dumbass republican.

[DT58HOF]I don't care about his religion.[/DT58HOF]

[blueballs]

I wouldn't mind a bit if there was a Macklin on this team next season
but hell
I didn't know there was one on the team this season

[StcChief]

Originally Posted by blueballs

I wouldn't mind a bit if there was a Macklin on this team next season
but hell
I didn't know there was one on the team this season

Franklin and Maclin together again.... butts in the seats /King Carl

[Deberg_1990]

Whats the big deal? Some of these players should be cut and they know it deep down. Good riddance.