I just like full explanations. Can't stand it when people give me half answers to shit I want to know.

Any opportunity I can take as a Chiefs fan to breed other Chiefs fans into a proper broth of football madness, I'm there. :)

Chicks who love football = Ubersexy

Very cool information to know. History is very important to fully understanding the game. I appreciate it.

I cant wait to actually have some active football to talk about, camp, pre-season...anything.

Even to just be able to hear about Kyle Turley spouting off about how BAD-ASS he looked in practice... :rolleyes:

Bring it on.

I want to let you in on something really quick while we're on the topic of offensive backs. Give you a real quick rundown of the backs we have on our offense:

Larry Johnson RB

You're well familiar with this gent. He's one of the NFL's elite runners, a true power back. However, for all his talent running, he's only an "okay" receiver out of the backfield, and he's a god-awful blocker on pass plays. Hopefully it's something he's working on.

Michael Bennett RB

Bennett's our backup RB to LJ. He's an accomplished guy, we traded to acquire him not long after he had a 1,000 yard season in Minnesota. But he's got a history getting injured over and over -- just like he did last season. He's still a very solid runner, so if he stays healthy, we'll see a lot of him this year. He's no where near the power runner LJ is, he's more of an agility runner -- making him a good change of pace in the backfield. (Some will call him a "change of pace back.")

Kolby Smith RB

We drafted Smith this year in the 5th round because when Bennett got hurt, we had a bunch of shitty guys left to back up LJ. As a result, LJ carries the ball a record number of times. Smith is our insurance for Bennett. He's called an "all purpose back" because he does everything you need him to (told you there were lots of reeruned terms). He's a jack of all trades -- blocking, receiving, running -- but a king of none.

Kris "Bigfoot" Wilson FB

The Chiefs do not have a "true" FB, meaning we have zero people on the team that were picked up because they play FB. We had one last season, Ronnie Cruz, but he got injured and was out for the season. Bigfoot was drafted as a TE, but we converted him to FB, and he earned the starting position (and he'll likely have it this year). He's not a mauler, but he's a decent blocker -- certainly his best quality is that he's a receiving threat any time we pass. He's a great "check down" receiver and we had a lot of success using him that way.

Boomer Grigsby FB

Here's another FB we have that we converted from another position. Grigsby's a LB that's been great on special teams but has had trouble cracking the lineup. Herm wants him on the team because he's a scrapper, so he switched this short, stocky dude to FB. Grigsby's going to specialize in blocking, especially in goal line situations when the entire defense is lining up against your OL. As you can imagine, he's probably not a great receiver.

Actually Tomlinson (and guys like Marshall Faulk and Walter Payton before him) really isn't (aren't) Scatback(s).

They have that rare combination of speed, elusiveness and power that separates them, and excludes them from being labeled.

Guys like Mercury Morris, Kevin Faulk, and Michael Bennett are scatbacks.

That's very true.

I remember he stiff-armed Wesley to get a TD when we played him in San Diego. :banghead:

Jesus, now the gay virgin is quoting Star Trek to a girl.

I envy him, taking those first steps into a new frontier.

I think you just got an offer, luv.

SO whatever happened with Cruz?

There's conflicting accounts.

He's listed as "released" in some databases that keep track of those things. Others have him on the roster. But the Chiefs themselves have never announced anything with him one way or the other.

If he's back, he's competing against a very versatile FB in Wilson, who helped us a lot last year, and Grigsby, who's obviously a favorite of the Chiefs organization.

I wouldn't have money on Cruz being on the Chiefs next year -- and if he was, I doubt we'd see him anywhere other than special teams.

I meant genetic breeding. I'm a geneticist.

If you want a child with Chiefs red & gold skin, I'm your man.

Scatback is really not a term I hear all that much these days.

Generally you hear speed oriented guys referred to as change of pace backs or third down backs, although some teams prefer a bigger, blocking back along the lines of Kimble Anders or Tony Richardson (in other words, a fullback...) in the 3rd down role, because they're better in pass protection than smaller backs.

Either way, we're talking about backup runningbacks, however you want to label them...

Since Cruz isn't on the roster, I think it's safe to say he's gone.