Personnel Preference

The Chiefs reportedly signed tight end Jake O'Connell to a one year extension Thursday. One of the last remaining pieces of the Chiefs 2009 draft class, O'Connell has not been one that has seen much playing time since his arrival but does offer some depth. In 2011, he was cut then re-signed several times during the course of the season. O'Connell coming back, however, leads me to believe that Anthony Becht will not. They served almost identical roles, and I suspect additional depth will be brought in via the draft to possibly replace O'Connell in training camp. But if he does stick around for the 2012 season, he has 12 career catches for 90 yards.

The Chiefs also added depth at the safety and special team's position after reaching an agreement with former Broncos player, Kyle McCarthy. He played in 4 games last year and 8 games in 2010. The 25 year old out of Notre Dame signed with the Broncos as an undrafted free agent in 2010, is 6'1" and 205 lbs. McCarthy has 7 career tackles in the NFL.

While these next ones don't involve the Chiefs signing anybody, it does reveal interest the Chiefs have expressed across the league.

On Thursday, Oakland cornerback Stanford Routt was released from his typical-Al Davis mega-deal and is now free to pursue free agency. He was just one year into a 5-year $54.5 million deal. This is a sign of things to come under the new regime of the Raiders organization. This affects the Chiefs in two ways: 1) it seemingly no longer makes Brandon Carr the most desired CB on the market and 2) it reportedly gave the Chiefs something to call about. Routt's agent said on Friday that Routt is scheduled for workouts with the Bill and Titans, but also that several team had contacted him with interest including Minnesota, Dallas and Kansas City. Frankly, I'd rather have Carr.

And now for some coaching news, it was reported on Friday that the Chiefs have spoken to Giants assistant offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr. about their vacant offensive line coaching job. After Bill Muir announced his retirement, that position became a point of need for the Chiefs. And of course, there's nothing hotter than a coach from a Super Bowl winning team. Bicknell has been with the Giants over the past three seasons. Over those three years, the Giants have been 12th (2009), 2nd (2010), and 7th (2011) in offensive line statistics.