SB Nation - Samie Parker

Tennessee Titans Morning Links: Feats Don't Fail Me Now Edition

August West — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:42:03 -0000

More photos » by Mark Humphrey - AP

The Titans-Packers game, as seen by Hype Williams...

Mark Jones, Jason Jones, Vince Young and Dominique Edison all gave us a lot of hope from all over the roster with their play last night.

I know what VY was thinking when he broke out on that nice scamper last night: Feats Don't Fail Me Now... by Little Feat!

Matt Jones and Samie Parker impressed, but Mike Reinfeldt made some very clear statements that we'd most likely not sign any of these guys.

Follow us through the jump to see who Goodell is going after now....

If anyone won last night, it was sure as heck Dominique Edison, who looked spectacular out there for a rather unheralded rookie...

.... well he and Mark Jones, who certainly showed what he can do and somewhat made up for the disastrous game against Cleveland, won.

Nothing like having the back-ups wax the last meaningless opponent on the schedule to build a little momentum heading into the season.

Der Commissar Goodell is looking into the signing of Albert Haynesworth for evidence of tampering by the Redskins, Bucs and Giants. We almost certainly won't get anything of value back, but a little justice could go a long way.

Here's another NFL pundit picking us to finish 3rd in our division, while putting the Texans on top. I'm starting to feel bad for any Texans fans who may actually buy into this idea that you only need like 5 good players to win this division... you can tack a 1 in front of that number and just be getting started.

If there's anything you would like to share with the MCM community, please take advantage of the comments, fanshots and fanposts to do so! Or, you can always email me at mcmaugustwest@gmail.com.

Tennessee Titans Morning Links: Matt Jones > Casey Jones Edition

August West — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 13:48:06 -0000

by SUSAN WALSH - AP

Still pimpin', just in better suits these days.

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So the Titans are working out Matt Jones. You know what, as much as I want to scream nooooooo!, I have to say that if they're looking to bolster the depth at that spot, then you can do a lot worse than a completely healthy 26 year old 6'6" physical freak who managed to catch 62 passes in a pretty bad offense last year. His production has gone up every single year he's been in the league. In the grand scheme of things his legal problems are pretty easy to stomach by NFL standards: I'll take a possible cokehead over a wife-beater/violent criminal every day and a few times on Sunday. Besides, playing WR has got to be way easier than driving that train...

Put it this way, I'd certainly take Jones over Jerry effin' Porter or Samie Parker. Jerry Porter has been terrible for years, and was a major locker room cancer in Oakland. On a related note: you know who should be freaking out? Lavelle Hawkins. If they had any faith in him this wouldn't be happening.

Paul K thinks we could definitely sign Jones, but that we're really looking for a WR who can also help out in the return game. That means a smaller, shiftier style WR, and doesn't bode well for Porter or Jones.

Follow us through the jump to find out the one thing Fisher is lacking...

Teresa M. Walker notes that there's only one thing lacking in Jeff Fisher's tremendous resume: a Super Bowl win. To wit:

He already ranks 22nd in coaching wins and is second only to Bill Belichick (153) among active coaches with his 133 victories. Only nine other coaches have spent more time with one team than Fisher with 240 games, and that list includes such great coaches as George Halas, Tom Landry, Don Shula, Chuck Noll, Curly Lambeau and Joe Gibbs.

Most of the decisions for who will be cut on 4:00 pm on Saturday have almost certainly been made, but there's always the chance that a huge effort tonight could save a man's job.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better, it does.

In advance of Saturday's deadline for teams to get to the 53 man roster, Ross Tucker goes over the common ways players react when they fear they may be on the wrong side of that bubble.

I know this is groundbreaking news across the interwebs, but Peter King sucks at his job.

And for reasoning why, just read the Scouting report Don Banks wrote that is linked by PK. He knows better than that sack of crap. Many thanks to commenter SoCalTitan and super-hater Gramsey for pointing these links out!

The Greatest Kansas City Chiefs, By the Numbers: #18

Chris Thorman — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 12:09:50 -0000

via ESPN.com

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No Kansas City Chief will ever wear #18 again, thanks to Emmitt Thomas' induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last year. Samie Parker was the last Chief to wear #18, following in the footsteps of other great Chief wideouts like Sean LaChapelle.

Elvis Grbac makes his second appearance on this list. Grbac was #11 in the '97 and '98 seasons and then took #18 for his final two seasons in KC. I wasn't even going to include him but he did play half his career with one number and half with the other. If it leaned more heavily towards #11, I would have just left him out.

DB Don Flynn (1960-1961)
QB Elvis Grbac (1997-2000)
WR Sean LaChapelle (1996)
WR Samie Parker (2004-2007)
CB Emmitt Thomas (1966-1978)

Check out the history of #18 after the jump...

DB Don Flynn (1960-1961)

Data is pretty limited on Mr. Flynn's career. Pro Football Reference tells us that Flynn played in 14 games for the Dallas Texans in 1960 and six more the next season before leaving to play for New York Titans. This is all AFL stuff of course.

In Flynn's twenty games with the Chiefs, he had five INTs and he took one of those back to the house in November 1960. In that game, the Texans (Chiefs) routed the Bills 45 to 28.

QB Elvis Grbac (1997-2000)

Compiling a 26-21 record as a starter for the Chiefs, Grbac was a backup 49ers QB at the right time. The Chiefs were handing out starting jobs to 49er QBs left and right when Grbac came to KC in '97. Elvis completed a respectable 57.9% of his passes, with his best statistical season in KC in 1999, which is also the only year he started all 16 games for the Chiefs.

Elvis Grbac will probably be remembered most by KC fans for not being Rich Gannon, who Grbac "beat out" for the starting QB job after being injured in 1998. Also, he may be remembered for this.

WR Sean LaChapelle (1996)

Greatest Claymore receiver ever? I think so. (via touchdownclaymores.com)

If you search the AP comments for "LaChapelle", you'll see we have four mentions of his name on this site. And three of them belong to the PARADE. The PARADE makes him out to be a Chief HOFer but it turns out he only played...wait I'm checking...one season for the Chiefs.

It was a pretty decent season though. 27 catches for 422 yards and 2 TDs (By the way, for you grammar snobs out there, we are fully aware of our inconsistency in spelling out numbers versus putting down their numerical value).

LaChapelle was working for a California construction company when the Chiefs called him to try out for the team in 1996. He had also just played a season for the Scottish Claymores in the World League in 1996.

Now here is a sentence that will blow your mind this morning. That is, if you've been reading our Greatest Chiefs by the Numbers posts or you just know your Chiefs players. From a 1996 article on the World League:

Scotland then lost their most productive player, Sean LaChapelle, who limped out of the game with a groin strain, but Yo Murphy filled the void with a game-winning contribution.

Woh man. Strange things man....strange things....And because that is now reminding me of "Bad Things," here is that Dennis Hopper Nike commercial from back in the day:

WR Samie Parker (2004-2007)

Parker gets a lot of flak thrown his way for annoying first down dances but the guy doesn't deserve nearly the ire that most Chiefs fans give him. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 2004 draft and went on to have seasons of 9, 36, 41 and 24 receptions respectively. You'd probably expect a bit more production from a fourth rounder but remember the Chiefs were still throwing it to Tony Gonzalez all they could while Parker was a Chief.

Samie Parker won't win this poll by any means but he also wasn't a terrible player. Just an underachiever and even that label is a bit of a stretch. What did we seriously expect out of this guy? To be the next Jerry Rice?

CB Emmitt Thomas (1966-1978)

Wikipedia has a nice little list of some of Emmitt Thomas' accomplishments and they sure do look impressive all in a row:

5× Pro Bowl selection (1968, 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975)
2× First-team All-Pro selection (1974, 1975)
2× Second-team All-Pro selection (1969, 1971)
3× Super Bowl champion (IV, XXII, XXVI)
Chiefs Hall of Fame
Chiefs #18 retired
Kansas City Chiefs Career Interception Leader with 58

Emmitt Thomas was an undrafted free agent who the Chiefs signed in 1966. He was instrumental in the Chiefs' Super Bowl run in 1969. Thomas was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame last year.

Hmm...you think Emmitt Thomas is going to win our poll today? I think so.

Who is the greatest Chief to wear #18?

DB Don Flynn

5 votes

QB Elvis Grbac

51 votes

WR Sean LaChapelle

12 votes

WR Samie Parker

22 votes

CB Emmitt Thomas

503 votes

Somebody Chris forgot

6 votes

599 votes | Poll has closed

Kansas City Chiefs Draft Retrospective: 1998-2005

Joel Thorman — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:54:53 -0000

Last year around this time Chris revisted the 1998 through 2005 drafts by the Kansas City Chiefs. He went player-by-player, year-by-year and graded each draft pick and each overall draft.

In that time frame the Chiefs drafted 27 defensive players and 28 offensive players.

There's no new information here or anything in the way of "analysis". With draft talk heating up, I thought this might be an interesting (or painful) topic worth revisiting.

We all know how "terrifying" the Chiefs defense has been as of late so keep that in mind as you sift through the draft picks during this time period.

So click through and agree or disagree with Chris' grades, wallow in our drafting ineptitude for the last decade and think about how low the bar has been set for Scott Pioli and his first draft with the Chiefs.

1998 Draft (Overall - C-)

Round 1 (27, 27) - Victor Riley, Auburn, T - C+
Round 3 (27, 88) - Rashaan Shehee, Washington, RB - D
Round 4 (28, 120) - Greg Favors, Mississippi State, LB - C-
Round 5 (5, 128) - Robert Williams, North Carolina, DB - C-
Round 6 (28, 181) - Derrick Ransom, Cincinnati, DE - B+
Round 7 (27, 216) - Eric Warfield, Nebraska, DB - A-
Round 7 (35, 224) - Ernest Blackwell, Missouri, RB (Compensatory pick) - F

1999 Draft (Overall - B-)

Round 1 (14, 14) - John Tait, Brigham Young, T- A
Round 2 (23, 54) - Mike Cloud, Boston College, RB - D
Round 3 (14, 75) - Gary Stills, West Virginia, LB - B
Round 3 (23, 84) - Larry Atkins, UCLA, DB - D
Round 4 (13, 108) - Larry Parker, USC, WR - D+
Round 7 (14, 220) - Eric King, Richmond, G - F

2000 Draft (Overall - C+)

Round 1 (21, 21) - Sylvester Morris, Jackson State, WR - D-
Round 2 (23, 54) - William Bartee, Oklahoma, DB - C+
Round 3 (23, 85) - Greg Wesley, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, DB - B
Round 4 (21, 115) - Frank Moreau, Louisville, RB - C-
Round 5 (24, 153) - Dante Hall, Texas A&M, RB - A
Round 5 (33, 162) - Patrick Dennis, Louisiana-Monroe, DB - C
Round 6 (22, 188) - Darnell Alford, Boston College, G - D
Round 7 (2, 208) - Desmond Kitchings, Furman, WR - F

2001 Draft (Overall - C)

Round 3, #75 overall, DT Eric Downing - C-
Round 3, #77 overall, WR Marvin Minnis - D
Round 4, #107 overall, LB Monty Beisel - B
Round 4, #108 overall, RB George Layne - F
Round 5, #141 overall, TE Billy Baber - C
Round 5, #150 overall, RB Derrick Blaylock - B+
Round 6, #176 overall, G Alex Sulfsted - F
Round 7, #212 overall, DB Shaunard Harts - B+
Round 7, #243 overall, DT Terdell Sands - F

2002 Draft (Overall - D)

Round 1, #6 overall, DT Ryan Sims - F
Round 2, #43 overall, DT Eddie Freeman - F
Round 4, #107 overall, FB Omar Easy - D+
Round 5, #143 overall, LB Scott Fujita - B+
Round 7, #221 overall, LB Maurice Rodriguez - F

2003 Draft (Overall - C+)

Round 1, #27 overall, RB Larry Johnson - A
Round 2, #47 overall, LB Kawika Mitchell -B
Round 3, #92 overall, DB Julian Battle - D
Round 4, #113 overall, T Brett Williams - F
Round 5, #153 overall, T Jordan Black - C-
Round 6, #189 overall, DE Jimmy Wilkerson - B-
Round 7, #230 overall, DT Montique Sharpe - D+
Round 7, #252, DB Willie Pile - C+

2004 Draft (Overall - D)

Round 2, #36 overall, DT Junior Siavii - F
Round 2, #61 overall, TE Kris Wilson - D+
Round 3, #93 overall, LB Keyaron Fox - C+
Round 4, #105 overall, WR Samie Parker - C
Round 4, #126 overall, DE Jared Allen - A+
Round 6, #195 overall, WR Jeris McIntyre - D
Round 7, #231 overall, T Kevin Sampson - D

2005 Draft (Overall - B-)

Round 1, #15 overall, LB Derrick Johnson - A
Traded Round 2 Pick for Pat Surtain - A-
Round 3, #99 overall, P Dustin Colquitt - A
Round 5, #138 overall, LB Boomer Grigsby; #147 overall, CB Alphonso Hodge - C
Round 6, #187 overall, OG Will Svitek; #199, DE Khari Long - C
Round 7, #229 overall, QB James Killian; #238 overall, T Jeremy Parquet - C

Below is the total list of players drafted during this span. 27 went to defense, 28 went to offense and 2 went to special teams.

Total	LB	DT/DE	DB/S	T/G/C	WR/TE	RB	QB	ST
57	9	9	10	11	8	8	1	2

This debacle was orchestrated by the previous regime. By all indications, Scott Pioli will do much better than this.

Nolan and Holmgren Nuggets: 49ers-Seahawks

Fooch — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 17:27:32 -0000

In the past I've run quotations from Mike Nolan with some of my initial thoughts. Considering the circumstances of this weekend's 49ers-Seahawks matchup, I thought I'd also include some info from Mike Holmgren's conference call with reporters. The Seahawks offense has been decimated by injuries, which is something for which he certainly needs to adjust.

The Seahawks are missing several wide receivers (one betting site just says "multiple WR injuries) and Maurice Morris appears likely to be out this weekend. Also, StrictlyFootball informs me that starting right guard Rob Sims has been placed on injured reserve. For thos of us who are Oakland A's fans, this run of injuries certainly sounds familiar.

The Seahawks are at a point where they just need healthy bodies on the field. They signed WRs Samie Parker and Billy McMullen.

Holmgren on the two new receivers
It’s a tough task for any guy to come in and be expected to function pretty well on Sunday. Billy [McMullen] comes from the [Philadelphia] Eagles and most recently from Washington [Redskins] he has a leg up because of the terminology is somewhat similar. [With] Sammy [Parker] there’s a little bit more of a learning curve. Teams that have had to do this in the past, and I’ve had to do it a couple of times in the past, what you ask them to do, you just get them ready to do a few things and then hopefully they can do that.

On Seneca Wallace playing at wide receiver
He’s going to practice a little bit at wide receiver, which he did last week. I really didn’t stick him in the game last week. We have done that with him over the years and now it just intensifies just a little bit because [of] the real chance that he could play a little bit. Some of that will be determined by how fast [Willie] Parker and [Billy] McMullen can absorb things.

On committing to the run this week
I suppose on the surface you could probably think that way and then each game kind of unfolds in its own way. We have a really fine quarterback and we have young people who I think can play the wide receiver position, we’re just a little thin there. So, I think that any game that you go in offensively and say ‘you’re only going to do one thing offensively’ and try and do that, I think that you put everybody at a disadvantage. So we’re going to have our normal week of preparation then as the game unfolds, we have to kind of see how we’re going to handle it.

In the preseason interview I had with Scot McCloughan he mentioned the fact that no matter how good one facet of your offense is, if you force just that, most decent NFL defenses will eventually be able to stop you. The 49ers bring what I think is a better than average defense to the table. If they're able to tee off on Seattle's running game, it should conceivably be game, set and match. Mike Nolan addressed the issues of the Seattle offense and how the 49ers can gameplan accordingly.

Nolan on the wide receiver injuries and having to face some unknown quantities
That’s a great question for a couple of reasons. One is that obviously they’re working guys out and there are guys coming off the roster. They don’t have to finalize their roster until Saturday so they could actually have practice squad players that will, on that day, be elevated to the active roster. So it is very difficult to really know. And we won’t know until Saturday what their roster is made up of. Like I said, that’s a great question because we probably will not know until Saturday because of that…because they can practice anybody they want and not make any moves until then.

On the lack of Maurice Morris and the expectation of different looks
Their offense is very multiple already. They use all of their personnel groups, whether its . . . three wide receivers and a tight end, three wide receivers without a tight end and two back, they use them all. Mike Holmgren is outstanding at basically using all those personnel groups and keeping it very simple from a play standpoint what they run. At least it appears to me that if you’re a player that’s been in that offense long enough, you get pretty certain what you’re job is and what the plays will be.

Mike Nolan certainly has the coach speak down pretty well. I think he'd be foolish to not recognize the opportunity the Seahawks offense presents to the 49ers defense this weekend. No matter who the backups are, when a team is decimated by injuries the talent level clearly takes a hit. These guys are backups for a reason. At the same time, Nolan obviously can't say how weakened the Seahawks are. Doing so would probably motivate the Seahawks and might make it easier for a letdown by the 49ers.

I wanted to include one more quotation that dealt with Parys Haralson, that I thought was interesting.

On Parys Haralson getting an expanded role (he appeared in 19 plays according to Nolan)
[G]ame plan will determine some of that. Some of what he did too was because of freshness. People sometimes ask, ‘Why do you take those guys off and put those guys on?’ Well, the offense is doing it too. For one, you have got to match up. But, the other reason is, if it – it’s nice if a guy is tired and it’s 3rd down, you’d like to get him off and get a fresh guy on to go because obviously that offensive tackle is not coming off the field, and if you can apply a little more speed to the edge it happens. So, there’s – although a guy might be playing good, some of that is freshness.

What Nolan said certainly makes sense. Does this mean they want to turn Parys Haralson into mostly a pass-rush specialist? There's certainly nothing wrong with that as he provided a nice taste of things to come last weekend. You like versatility in a player, but if he can be a bad-ass pass rusher, I'm fine with him being in a limited role. Two sacks on 19 plays certainly seems like a decent ratio.

One last note, the NFL ruled Justin Smith got the entire sack on that play he split with Haralson. So Haralson dropped from 2.5 sacks to 2 sacks and Smith was bumped up from .5 to 1.

NFC West looking more like AFC West...circa 2005

VanRam — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 19:49:57 -0000

Ah, mid-decade. Credit was still easy to get, YouTube was born, and all the kids were talking dancing to songs about humps, lovely lady humps. Across the state, the high flying Kansas City Chiefs missed the playoffs despite a 10-6 record. Fans of the old days may not be able to shake their humps to the similarly titled song anymore, but they can watch the NFC West if anyone's interested in keeping up with the diaspora of former Chiefs from that year.

Already having Dante Hall on board and Al Saunders in house to coordinate the offense, the Rams tried to capture a little more of that magic by signing WR Eddie Kennison.

Now, comes news that the receiver-challenged Seahawks got in on the retro fun and added former Chiefs WR Samie Parker to their roster.

Nobody's going to argue that the NFC West is the most exciting division in football, but nostalgists might appreciate it a little more now.

WR cuts around the league - Any potential 49ers?

Fooch — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 17:55:57 -0000

In yesterday's 49ers cuts post, sam23 made a good suggestion of coming up with players released around the league. Mike Nolan has indicated the 49ers might sign a 6th receiver off waivers if the right guy came along. I would prefer giving Dominique Zeigler a shot, but again, no vote for me.

I'm going through the various cuts to see what I can find but I'm sure I'll overlook some guys. Feel free to include anybody I miss. I'm not looking at other positions as I don't see the 49ers really loading up at any other position off waivers. For once, the team is well settled at most positions in terms of depth.

Roydell Williams - The former Titan finished with career highs of 55 receptions, 719 yards and 4 touchdowns in his third year in the league. Unfortunately a nagging ankle injury kept him out of most of the preseason. According to his scouting report, "He has just adequate deep speed, but is good on the underneath routes where he can use his quickness, agility and body control. He is a good route runner and does a good job of setting up defenders with little head and shoulder fakes." It might be a bit of a reach, but the report sounds a little like that of this guy or this guy.

Samie Parker - "Parker has legitimate downfield speed and is a threat with the ball is in his hands. But in five years as a pro, he never has learned the subtleties of route running." Does that scouting report sound a little like Ashley Lelie? Parker has been more of a return guy but I wonder if a detail-oriented guy like Martz could improve his route running abilities? Parker is only entering his fifth season in the league so there is certainly still time.

Travis Taylor - Taylor was once a first round pick of the Baltimore Ravens. His best season came in 2002 with 61 receptions, 869 yards and 6 TDs. After a decent 2006 with 57 receptions, Taylor was released by the Vikings, and then signed and released by the Raiders and Rams. Rotoworld suggest maybe he should call it a career at 30. I don't know if he'd see enough action but is he worth a look?

Chad Jackson - Jackson appears to be joining the long list of WR busts to come out of the University of Florida. They all seem so talented and yet they never work out (see Taylor Jacobs, Jabar Gaffney, Travis Taylor, etc...). I definitely don't see Jackson ending up with the 49ers as they'd be better of going with Zeigler or Colvin (at least as far as I'm concerned).

My source for cuts was over at the ESPN blogosphere thing (or whatever they're calling it). They had a tag for roster cuts which included cuts and analysis of each team's cuts. From my initial scan there really weren't a lot of wide receivers released that would fit the 49ers. While there were some interesting first or second year receivers released, I would fully expect Dominique Zeigler (assuming he clears waivers) to be given a shot before any of them.

If you come across anybody that interests you on the waiver wire, definitely post it in the comments. I'll update this with anybody else I come across.