[booger]

NFL meetings
No Trent Green takers so far
Peterson suggests the Chiefs might hold on to their quarterback at least until the draft.
By ADAM TEICHER
The Kansas City Star
PHOENIX | Trent Green appears destined to remain with the Chiefs when the NFL meetings conclude today.

At the current pace of negotiations with potential trade partners Miami and Detroit, Green will be a Chief for quite some time.

Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson huddled briefly with his Detroit counterpart, Matt Millen, on Tuesday. The two agreed to continue the conversations later.

But Peterson has yet to speak in Arizona with Miami general manager Randy Mueller.

“He’s not been in the same meetings I’m in,” Peterson said. “Matt is. I’m going to make a real point to get together with Mueller.”

Peterson indicated the Chiefs may hold on to Green until the draft in late April.

“You have to have something to create a decision,” he said. “Usually, that’s the draft if you’re talking about draft choices. That’s what happened with the (Patrick) Surtain deal. It happened six years ago when we traded for Trent Green.”

The Chiefs and Dolphins were far apart in trade talks. The Chiefs asked for a second-round draft pick in return for Green. Miami offered a seventh-round pick.

•CHIEFS WON’T CHANGE DEFENSIVE SYSTEM: The Chiefs are loading up at linebacker, having signed free agents Donnie Edwards and Napoleon Harris. They are still short at defensive tackle, even after adding Alfonso Boone and re-signing Ron Edwards and Jimmy Wilkerson.

It’s easy to speculate that the Chiefs are planning to switch to the 3-4 alignment as their base defense. They will still rely mainly on the Cover 2 system favored by coach Herm Edwards but might use the 3-4 as a change of pace.

“We can get into that, do it as a different look,” Edwards said.

Donnie Edwards and Harris will join Derrick Johnson as the starting linebackers. Edwards excels in pass coverage, Johnson is a good pass rusher, and Harris is fast, allowing him to cover plenty of ground quickly.

All are capable of playing in the nickel defense, which presents an interesting issue for the Chiefs. Which one comes out on passing downs? Or will the Chiefs use all three?

“That’s a good problem to have,” defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham said. “The good thing is that we’ve got the players. The tough thing is figuring out how to keep them all on the field.”

The Chiefs are planning to load up at defensive tackle in the draft next month, selecting one and perhaps two players at the position.

•ALLEN WON’T BE AT OFFSEASON WORKOUTS: Ken Harris, the agent for defensive end Jared Allen, said his client won’t participate when the Chiefs begin their offseason program Monday.

“To my knowledge, I don’t think he plans to be back in Kansas City until training camp,” Harris said.

That means Allen also wouldn’t participate in the only offseason event that’s mandatory for most players, the three-day minicamp in early June. It wouldn’t be mandatory for Allen, who doesn’t have a contract.

Harris indicated that Allen probably wouldn’t sign the one-year, $2.35 million contract offer he has from the Chiefs until shortly before the start of camp. Allen is unhappy with contract negotiations with the Chiefs and has said he wants a trade.

•MITCHELL SIGNS WITH GIANTS: As expected, the New York Giants signed Kawika Mitchell, a free-agent linebacker who led the Chiefs in tackles the last two seasons.


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| Star news services contributed to this report