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WHO’S OUT THERE?
February 20th – 8:01 AM

Here we are kicking off our weekend with a glimpse at the most important position group on the offensive side of the football – “The Hogs.”

It all starts up front, right? The big boys are virtually impossible for anyone outside the coaching staff to fairly evaluate. Unless you’ve got the game tape, offensive call sheet and play assignments memorized, it’s awfully hard to get a grasp for who is performing the properly taught technique. Certainly a minor thing such as that doesn’t keep us from forming an opinion though, does it? (open door for sarcasm here, close it behind you, thanks)

Specific to the Chiefs, we saw an offensive line make considerable progress throughout the course of the 2009 season. After the first month of football, who would have thought that the Chiefs would allow just eight sacks over the final six games of the season and see a running back churn out over 134 yards per game during the same time frame?

Now, how do you take that progress and build on it? That’s the question that the Chiefs are faced with as they look to upgrade this very important unit via the draft and free agency. This weekend, let’s take a look at confirmed 2010 unrestricted free agents along the interior front (guards and centers).

We’ll come back on Monday and give the rest of the line a little prime-time, work-week action with a glimpse of the tackles currently available.

KCChiefs.com Free Agency Snapshot

Position: Guards and Centers

Degree of Need: Moderate

Chiefs Under Contract (4): Colin Brown, Mike Goff, Darryl Harris, Brian Waters

*Chiefs Without Contracts (4): Wade Smith (UFA), Andy Alleman (RFA), Ikechuku Ndukwe (RFA), Rudy Niswanger (RFA)

Chiefs Who Opened Camp in 2009 (10): Brown (began camp as tackle), Brian De La Puente, Eric Ghiaciuc, Goff, Harris, Edwin Harrison, Niswanger, Smith, Tavares Washington, Waters

*(UFA) – Unrestricted Free Agent; (RFA)—Restricted Free Agent; (ERFA) – Exclusive Rights Free Agent

Whose Out There (restricted free agents excluded)?

Nick Leckey (6-3, 300; age: 27) – Why not hit leadoff with Leckey? A number of Chiefs fans have already mentioned his name as a UFA over the past week in both the comments section of the blog and on the Chiefs 365 message boards. He’s also a local college guy, having played at Kansas State.

Fresh off a Super Bowl ring, it’s time for the free agent center to make a decision regarding the next step in his career. He only played in eight games a year ago with New Orleans as a reserve, and he missed the final six games as the Rams starter in 2008 with a broken foot. He did, however, get in on the action at the Super Bowl.

Overall, Leckey has played in 65 games (32 starts) with three different franchises (Arizona, St. Louis and New Orleans). He was originally a sixth-round pick of Arizona in 2004.

Kevin Mawae (6-4, 289; age: 39) – Mawae has been the heart and soul along the offensive line of three different franchises, spanning over two decades (Seattle, 1994-97; N.Y. Jets, 1998-2005; Tennessee, 2006-09). It looks like he’ll be adding a fourth franchise, and a third decade, to his list in 2010.

Mawae comes as tough as they get, missing only 15 games over a 16-year NFL career (two of those came as a rookie). He’s also pretty darn good as well, earning eight Pro Bowl invites over the course of his career.

He’s obviously at the tail end of his career, but he’s also got all of the connections in the world to the Chiefs coaching staff. Mawae was part of “Football’s Holy Grail” (as Mitch Holthus likes to call it) – the 1998 N.Y. Jets media guide. In that book, Mawae joins Scott Pioli, Todd Haley, Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennel, Bill Muir, Anthony Pleasant, Maurice Carthon, Richie Anderson…you get the point.

Here’s the latest out of Tennessee:

“All things being equal, he’d love to be back (in Tennessee),” Mawae’s agent, Mark Bartelstein told Yahoo! Sports. “I think the Titans have a young guy there they are trying to bring along, and they just made a big investment in (guard Eugene) Amano. So I am not sure that the role Kevin would have as a Titan is worthy of what Kevin is as a player right now.”

Stephen Neal (6-4, 305; age: 33) – We’ve talked about the natural attrition of the NFL, involving the comings and goings of coaches and players. This is the reality across the league and the Chiefs certainly aren’t an exception to the rule.

Neal has been a steady starter at right guard throughout most of his career with the Patriots, starting 73 of 78 games played since entering the NFL in 2002. He was a key member along the offensive line throughout all of the Patriots record-setting offensive seasons and also boasts nine starts under his belt with Matt Cassel at quarterback. He certainly has some interesting connections to Kansas City. Where will he end up in 2010?

No, literally…I mean WHERE will he end up? Neal is reportedly considering an MMA career - http://mmawaves.com/2010/02/19/three-time-super-bowl-winner-stephen-neal-considering-mma/

Chester Pitts (6-4, 308; age: 30) – Yesterday we mentioned David Carr, the Texans first-ever draft pick, along with some of the other unrestricted free agent quarterbacks that are out there. Guess who the Texans second-round pick was in that very first year? You got it, Chester Pitts.

Pitts went on to a much longer career in Houston than Carr, starting every game in the Texans’ franchise history up until 2009. This past year was a rough one for Pitts as he underwent surgery injury to repair the meniscus cartilage in his right knee and also had micro-fracture surgery to repair the articular cartilage. The second surgery caused him to miss the rest of the season after just two games played.

The guard may be a bit of a risky option for some team coming off injury, but you’d think somebody would bite at a guy who had started 114 consecutive games.

Jeremy Bridges (6-4, 325; age: 29) – Finishing up his second-stint with Arizona (none which crossed over with Todd Haley), Bridges has bounced around between a starter and reserve throughout his career. He was originally a sixth-round pick of Philadelphia in 2003, but never played a down with the Eagles. Instead, he caught on with the Cardinals (2004-05, 2009) and Panthers (2006-08).

Bridges’ main asset is the fact that he is versatile. His frame has allowed him to log starts at both the guard and tackle positions. He started at right tackle for the first time since 2006 when Kansas City visited Carolina in 2008. Overall, he’s played in 78 games (43 starts).

Rex Hadnot (6-2, 320; age: 28) – One of the younger unrestricted free agents out there, Hadnot has a 1982 birthday. He also has a full year as a starter at right guard under former Browns head coach/current Chiefs defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel in 2008.

Hadnot has been a starter virtually his entire career since entering the league with Miami as a sixth-round pick in 2004. He owns 76 career NFL starts, but is coming off an injury-shortened season in 2009.

Rex is a cousin of former Chiefs RB James Hadnot, who appeared in 43 games (22 starts) with the Chiefs from 1980-83.

Ben Hamilton (6-4, 290; age: 32) – Denver’s tenured guard becomes a free agent this year after 104 career starts in the Mile High City. In Kansas City, we’ve seen Hamilton twice-a-year for seven seasons.

Denver’s long-time offensive line coach Rick Dennison is off to Houston as the Texans new offensive coordinator and many could connect the dots for Hamilton to become a part of that franchise as well. Couple that with the fact that Denver seems to be fully moving away from the zone blocking scheme that Hamilton has been accustomed to and the seas of change are likely rolling.

Bobbie Williams (6-4, 345; age: 33) – The Bengals long-time starter at right guard finds himself as an unrestricted free agent for 2010. Since joining the Bengals via free agency in 2004, Williams has started all but three contests. Overall, he owns 105 career NFL starts.

Look back up at his name again. Yep, at 345 pounds Williams is a big man. If the Chiefs decide on bulking up the offensive line, Williams might be an option.

Keydrick Vincent (6-5, 325; age: 31) – Vincent has been the every-day right guard each of the past two years for the Panthers. He was part of a Panthers offensive line which set franchise marks for rushing yards (2,437) and fewest sacks allowed (20) in a single season in 2008.

Prior to joining the Panthers in 2008, Vincent has started along the line for some very successful teams – the 2004 Steelers (15-1, 16 starts) and the 2006 Ravens (13-3, 12 starts). News out of Carolina sounds as if it wouldn’t be surprising to see Vincent call some other city home next year.

http://blogs.charlotte.com/panthers/2010/01/answering-your-questions.html

Seth McKinney (6-3, 310; age: 30) – The former Big 12 lineman was a four-year starter at Texas A&M and entered the league with Miami as a third-round pick in 2002. He eventually earned himself the starting center position in 2004 and held that role through 2005 before landing on injured reserve.

McKinney definitely has an injury history with him, missing all of the 2006 season due to neck surgery and landing on IR several times over the course of his career.

One team McKinney likely wants to play for would be the Saints. McKinney was the starting left tackle at Westlake (Austin, TX) High School for Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees.