SB Nation - Bobby Sippio

Tuesday Notes: Hanson Has Surgery; Lions Make a Few Roster Moves

Sean Yuille — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:21:07 -0000

More photos » by Duane Burleson - AP

4 months ago: Detroit Lions kicker Jason Hanson kicks a 47-yard field goal, held by punter Nick Harris, with three seconds remaining to defeat the Atlanta Falcons 27-26 in an exhibition NFL football game, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009 in Detroit. (AP Photo/Duane Burleson)

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Linebacker Cody Spencer has been placed on the injured reserve after tearing his ACL during a kickoff in the Falcons game.
Kicker Swayze Waters has been re-signed, filling Spencer's spot on the roster. The reason the Lions need a kicker is because Jason Hanson had "minor" knee surgery this morning. Jim Schwartz made it sound like the surgery was nothing major, but anytime a kicker has something done to his knee, concern is only natural, especially when that kicker is Hanson. Hopefully he will be able to return sooner rather than later, as it would hurt to lose Hanson for an extended period of time.
Yesterday, the Lions released wide receiver Bobby Sippio and put offensive tackle Kirk Barton on the waived/injured list. To fill those two spots on the roster, the Lions signed wide receiver Dane Looker and offensive guard Terrence Metcalf. Looker played for the Rams for the last seven years, so he has a connection to Scott Linehan. Metcalf was on the Bears for the past seven seasons.
Jim Schwartz is shutting Brandon Pettigrew down, as his quad injury isn't healing very quickly.
A group of local high school football players attended the Lions' practice this morning.
Peter King thinks Matthew Stafford has an "A-minus NFL arm."
The Lions benefited from a bad call in the Falcons game.
John Niyo has a list of the Lions' injuries going into this past Saturday's Falcons game.
The full Outside The Lines piece on Charles Rogers is now on the Internet.
Tom Kowalski thinks the Lions will go 3-13 this coming season.

Damion Cook Out for Season; Lions Sign Bobby Sippio

Sean Yuille — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:29:22 -0000

Offensive lineman Damion Cook is out for the season due to a torn triceps muscle. The injury happened on the very first day of practice, but Cook simply taped it up and dealt with it. It recently became apparent that it was a more serious injury, however, as Cook will be headed to Alabama to have surgery done by Dr. James Andrews next week. The Lions placed him on the injured reserve today, ending his season.

Losing Cook is definitely a blow to the offensive line. He is a versatile player that was likely going to be in the competition for starting at left guard. Even if he didn't become a starter, Cook would have been a backup at multiple positions, which is always a plus for coaches when they have to make the active roster on game days. The more positions an offensive lineman can play, the better as it relates to depth for games.

To replace Cook's spot on the roster, the Lions signed wide receiver Bobby Sippio, who was with the Chiefs the previous two years. Sippio has played in the Arena Football League for the majority of his career, but in 2007 he ended up on the Chiefs' roster. He originally was on the practice squad, but an injury opened up a spot for him early in the season. In 2008, Sippio was released in the final round of cuts by the Chiefs. Earlier this year he signed with a Continental Indoor Football League Team since the AFL had halted operations (it looks like that move could be permanent).

An unknown player like Sippio who signs after training camp has already started doesn't have a great chance of making the team, but you never know with the wide receiver position. If Sippio comes in and shows he can catch the ball on a consistent basis, I would not be shocked if he got himself in the competition for a roster spot. After all, it's not like he's never been on an NFL team before, and stranger things have happened.

Another Former Kansas City Chief Heads to the UFL

Joel Thorman — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:10:21 -0000

The UFL was pretty much off my radar until the first week of June when Bobby Sippio tried out for the league. Two weeks later, the draft was held and five former Kansas City Chiefs were selected by a UFL franchise including:

LB Gary Stills
S Oliver Celestin
WR BJ Sams
Ramiro Pruneda
FB Ronnie Cruz

Make that six players in the UFL now (and if there's one I'm missing I'm sure you will let me know in the comments). Kevin Sampson, offensive tackle from 2004-06, agreed to terms with the Orlanda franchise (the same franchise that called dibs on Michael Vick) according to Adam Caplan of Scout.com.

Sampson stated seven games for the Chiefs in his three years. He was out of the NFL last year but spent part of 2007 on the Panthers practice squad and Redskins active roster. He's expected to play right tackle with Orlando.

No word yet on the two most coveted names on the UFL roster: Casey Printers and Michael Vick.

Former Chiefs Surfacing in the UFL Draft

Chris Thorman — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:20:30 -0000

Primetime told us last night about former Kansas City Chief Gary Stills being drafted by the Las Vegas UFL team. That made me curious what other Chiefs were drafted by this upstart football league.

To get some background on this league, check out their Wiki page. Here is the full UFL draft list too.

Last night was the UFL draft. Here's how this league is filling out their rosters:

Each franchise selected 24 players and now owns the rights to those players if they choose to play in the United Football League. The UFL has already begun contacting the players listed below and expects to announce signings over the next few weeks. This list may be subject to change based on further player evaluations or additional player availability.

The remaining openings on each team's roster will be partially filled in July with players who coaches had previously identified and "reserved". The last invites for the 60-man opening camp rosters will go to players who have been released by the NFL during training camp; with divisional/regional preferences assigned to each of the inaugural four franchises.

The UFL has some big time coaching names associated with it's current four franchises, including Dennis Green, Jim Haslett and Jim Fassel.

So which former Chiefs were drafted last night?

DB Oliver Celestin

The 6th year player out of Texas Southern University was strictly a special teams player for the Chiefs in his only season last year with the team. Celestin is one of the three unrestricted free agents the Chiefs did not resign this off season.

T Ramiro Pruneda

Unless you're pretty hardcore into learning about practice squad guys (And you are if you read AP), you've probably never heard of Ramiro Pruneda. Way back in January 2007, Carl Peterson signed the "Pencil" out of Monterrey Tech in Monterrey, Mexico. I think this was supposed to be sort of a The Air Up There moment, with Carl Peterson playing the role of Kevin Bacon.

With a nickname like the Pencil, how didn't he succeed in the NFL?

Pruneda made it through training camp only to be cut on August 28th, 2007, right before the season started. He went to the Philadelphia Eagles' practice squad, then the 49ers before drifting off into oblivion and now the UFL.

FB Ronnie Cruz

Mr. Cruz was supposed to be the heir to Tony Richardson's full back thrown and fill in at backup for Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson when he was signed by the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent in 2004. Richardson left for Minnesota before the 2006 season, making Cruz the Chiefs' #1 fullback.

Five weeks into the '06 season though, Ronnie Cruz blew out his knew and was put in IR for the rest of the season. He was let go before the start of the 2007 season.

And of course we have Gary Stills, who Primetime talked about last night. Note: I left out B.J. Sams. I don't really want to talk about him anyway.

Two former Chiefs who tried out for the UFL last weekend didn't get contracts. WR Bobby Sippio and QB Quinn Gray are still waiting on those UFL coaches to call.

The Legend of Bobby Sippio Continues...in the UFL

Joel Thorman — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 23:24:14 -0000

Bobby Sippio, 83, loved scoring touchdown(s?) against cross-state rival St. Louis.

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Way back on August 13th of 2007, the Kansas City Chiefs signed Arena League all-star Bobby Sippio. Little did we know he would become the 2007 version of Boomer Grigsby - no-name, hard worker that quickly becomes a fan favorite. The blogosphere was abuzz with Sippio-time and everyone (Yes, everyone) was hoping the Chiefs would keep him on for the season.

By September 3rd, Sippio was officially placed on the practice squad. By September 11th, he was brought up to the active roster. Chris summed up Sippio's 2007 season nicely:

The blogosphere's Boomer Grigsby, Sippio didn't register a catch in 2007 after playing in nine games. The vast majority of that playing time was on special teams. Sippio is an unknown at this point. Hard Knocks footage and a few YouTube clips unfortunately don't tell us much beyond what we've seen. The KC coaches, apparently, haven't been confident enough in Sippio to give him many chances. The fact that he sat on the practice squad for eight weeks, where anyone had the ability to sign him, doesn't bode well for his future as a starting wide receiver in the NFL.

Hard Knocks star. Dedicated worker. 100% effort. Fan favorite.

Cut nearly one year after being signed. Direckshun helped sum up the "folk hero" status of Bobby Sippio.

Okay, I reminisced long enough. On to the actual "news" part of this post. Bobby Sippio took part in tryouts for the United Football League this weekend. Along with former Chiefs quarterback Quinn Gray, Sippio worked out for Dennis Green, one of the UFL's new coaches.

(I'll never look at Quinn Gray the same since I read that article in the Kansas City Star about how many guns he owned. It was strange to publicly release that information. I'd give you a link but can't seem to find it right now.)

Players will be placed on teams geographically the first year, then next season should have a draft according to UFL spokeswoman Rachel Gray (via Pro Football Talk). Sippio is from Orlando, Florida and Gray is from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The workout was conducted in Orlando, Florida as well.