Friday Morning Cup O’Chiefs

The Chiefs started a rookie mini-camp on Thursday night with meetings.

The players will be on the field with the coaching staff twice on Friday, twice on Saturday and then once on Sunday.

As of early Friday morning (OK late Thursday night) the Chiefs had not released their updated roster with undrafted rookie free agents who have been signed, so there’s no idea how big the group will be on the field this weekend.

The team on the field should range from draft picks like first-round choice Tyson Jackson, to first-year players LB Darrell Robertson, undrafted college free agent like CB Londen Fryar (below) and rookie tryout players like former Missouri QB Chase Patton (left).

By NFL rules, the Chiefs can have no more than 80 players signed on their roster. They currently list 74, but eight of those names are draft choices, without contracts. The draft picks can take part in the rookie camp without a signed contract.

That means there are 66 players with contracts, leaving 14 spots at this time for college free agents. They can also invite any number of other college players on a tryout basis for the weekend of work.

Plus, rules allow first-year players to take part in the workouts and the Chiefs have six of those players on their roster: Robertson, TE Jed Collins, G Edwin Harrison, DT Derek Lokey, G Tavares Washington and WR Rodney Wright.

All in all, the Chiefs figure to have 35 to 40 players taking part in the mini-camp.

The names of a handful of players who have signed as college free agents or will be in town for a tryout have popped up, usually in hometown media outlets. That group includes:

• QB: Patton.
• OL: Cameron Goldberg, Duke.
• WR: Taurus Johnson, South Florida.
• DL: Dion Gales, Troy State; Bobby Greenwood, Alabama; Pierre Walters, Eastern Illinois.
• LB: Bobby Abare, Yale; Javon Belcher, Maine.
• DB: Fryar, Western Michigan; S Ricky Price, Oklahoma State.

Patton was the hardly used backup quarterback to Chase Daniel at Missouri the last few years. He’s already spent one weekend at a rookie mini-camp, working out for the Chicago Bears last weekend. He was not offered a contract. He’ll try again this weekend with the Chiefs.

He has been accepted to UMKC’s dental school and will likely end up there. But the fact Scott Pioli is the guy who helped draft a little used backup quarterback from Southern Cal named Matt Cassel while he was at New England is something Patton understands.

“That thought’s there for sure,” Patton told the Columbia Daily Tribune. “Hopefully, I can go in there and show them something they can take a chance on.”

Fryar is no stranger to the NFL; his father is Irving Fryar, out of the University of Nebraska who played wide receiver for four teams over 17 seasons in the league. “He taught me basically everything I know about the game,” Fryar said recently. “He also taught me what not to do and I’ve been able to learn things, for the better, from some of his mistakes.”

He finished his career with 170 career tackles and seven interceptions.

“I want to be an impact player for the Chiefs, a guy who not only contributes, but who starts for them one day,” Fryar said. “I have a high football IQ and I’ve been around the game my whole life, so I know that I’m capable of doing it.”

Abare was the leading tackler for the last three seasons at Yale, and was the Bulldogs captain last fall. At 6-1, 230 pounds, he’s small for an NFL linebacker.

“What I hope to do is show them I’m an athlete and do the things I did in college, play with emotion and intensity and make the most of my opportunity,” Abare recently told the Boston Globe.

He holds Yale records for interceptions by a linebacker with 10 and touchdowns by a defensive player with four. Abare was a finalist in 2008 for the Buck Buchanan Award, given to the nation’s top defensive player at the Division 1-AA level.

NOW, FAVRE IS NOT COMING BACK; STAY TUNED

Media reports on Thursday said that Brett Favre has told Vikings head coach Brad Childress that he does not want to return to playing in the NFL. Supposedly this occurred during a phone call sometime late Wednesday or early Thursday.

Favre and Childress were expected to meet sometime Thursday and Friday in Mississippi to discuss the quarterback’s possible return to the NFC North with the purple gang.

Jared Allen weighed in on Thursday with his thoughts after the news broke that Favre – for now – is staying retired.

“Any player, of that caliber, at any position, and he’s available, as an organization, your goal is to win championships, you go and try to get that guy,” Allen told the St. Paul Pioneer-Press. “But that doesn’t change our mindset.

“Our offseason goals don’t change. No one expected this, or counted on this. We won the NFC North last year, without him, and we plan on doing it again. In this business, you can’t put all your faith in one guy.”

CHUCK COOK, MIAMI DOLPHINS SCOUT

After 25 years with the Chiefs, Chuck Cook did not spend much time in the land of unemployed. The Chiefs former director of college scouting was hired this week by the Miami Dolphins. He will join their personnel department, directed by general manager Jeff Ireland.

During his four seasons as an area scout with the Chiefs (1997-2000), Ireland worked with Cook. When Bill Parcells took over the football operation of the Dolphins last year, he brought Ireland in from the Cowboys to run the team.

SIGNINGS & MOVEMENT AROUND THE LEAGUE

BRONCOS – signed RB Darius Walker (Texans).

LIONS – re-signed WR Kerry Colbert.

RAMS – traded RB Brian Leonard to the Bengals for DT Orien Harris.

REDSKINS – released P Zac Atterberry.

SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY …

Born on May 8, 1955 in Philadelphia was P Bob Grupp
(right). He joined the Chiefs in 1979 and turned in a very good rookie season, as he led the NFL in gross yardage (43.6 yards) and net yardage (37.2) and earned a spot on the AFC Pro Bowl team. Grupp was the only Chiefs player to make the team that year and the first since C Jack Rudnay in 1976. He kicked in 41 games for the Chiefs over three seasons (1979-81) with a career average of 40.9 yards on his 214 punts.

Born on May 8, 1957 in Pittsburgh was Bill Cowher. After a college playing career at North Carolina State, Cowher played four seasons in the NFL with Cleveland and Philadelphia, appearing in 45 games. Once his playing career was over, Cowher got into coaching and for three years he was the defensive coordinator of the Chiefs (1989-91), before leaving to become head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Born on May 8, 1959 in Albuquerque was S Ronnie Lott. He played 14 seasons in the NFL and was getting ready to play a 15th with the Chiefs in 1995 when a pre-season knee injury kept him off the practice field and sent to the injured reserve list. He was waived off the IR list on September 11, 1005, thus ending his exceptional NFL career. Lott played 10 seasons with San Francisco and two each with the Raiders and New York Jets. He’s a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.