Chiefs Chronicles: Preseason Week 3 & The 53-Man Roster Cut Deadline
The Season Needs to Start Already & Almost The Unkindest Cut: The Bobby Sippio Award (There was going to be more, but the cut deadline is forcing my hand. A 2nd Chiefs Chronicles will be out soon!)
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The Season Needs to Start Already
Am I the only one who is positively starving for meaningful football games?
When I first heard in 2021 that the NFL was cutting the preseason down to three games and extending the regular season by one game, it seemed like a foolish idea to me. Three preseason games meant less time for bottom of the roster guys to show out and, much more importantly, it meant one less game for the 1st and 2nd-stringers to prepare for the rigors of the now 17-game season. More serious injuries were sure to result, along with sloppy play the first few games of every season.
How the years have changed me.
Now, I don’t care what losing that extra preseason game/extending the regular season means for the health of the players or the quality of early season games. The NFL and the NFL Players Association both agreed to the changes, and they’re all (very wealthy) responsible adults who can worry about their own problems.
My problem, on the other hand, is that I’ve got a fever and the only prescription is more (meaningful) football. So, let’s go already!
Back to the topic of less-meaningful football, you should see all of the notes that I took during the Chiefs/Bears preseason game. They come to two, very full, handwritten pages (I’d show them to you but my handwriting is truly atrocious) created in the chaotic jumble of mental debris that I’ve somehow cobbled together into a (mostly) functioning brain. Here are some of the pearls of football wisdom that I came up with. I tried to translate them (sometimes I can’t even read my writing) from the written pages as accurately as I could:
Creed is good! $$$
Prince doesn’t impress me. Practice squad or cut.
Go for it on 4th! FAIL (see #2)
Steele is in!!!!!!!!! LOCKED (Note: I actually used 9 exclamation points on this one and underlined LOCKED three times) He scored on the long run- replay has been spotty. So, he actually scored 2 TDs vs the Bears!
Defensive backups not a good start/won’t make the team with penalties (Kelvin Joseph) (Note: Can’t believe I actually got this prediction right! It’s a first. I can provide proof in the form of my notes if you don’t believe me.)
TD on D? Nope. Crap.
This is a compilation of all my Rees⚡Lightning notes: A) Trent wants to see him, as well. Where is he? B) LRZ hasn’t played! C) LRZ nice return/Ball tipped on the short pass. D) LRZ looks a little hesitant to me- like he’s thinking too much. Having 3rd/4th string o-line blocking can’t help. E) There we go, Rees⚡Lightning! 2 good runs in a row!
The only blowouts I like are blowouts by the Chiefs/ Make it stop!
Watched Episode 1 of The Franchise (see below⬇️)- I liked Nick Torres (Note: He was cut)
Matt McMullen on the sideline with a nice story about WR Phillip Brooks being a KC guy and a Chiefs fan, who is living his dream of playing for the Chiefs, if only briefly. (Note: He was also cut)
Montrell Washington from Book! WOW! I really like him (Washington)- even from last year.
Baylor Cupp gets TD- from Texas Tech (Practice Squad)
As I put my pen down and the Chiefs final preseason game (and winless preseason) mercifully came to an end, a thought kept repeating in my head. At first it was no more than a whisper, but it quickly gained in volume and urgency:
Real football on Thursday.
REAL FOOTBALL ON THURSDAY!
REAL FOOTBALL ON THURSDAY!!!
My mom, who converted to Chiefs Kingdom from the 12s (I think that makes her a “lapsed 12”), texted me right then to ask about the Week 1 game. By making me look it up, she inadvertently helped me realize my mistake:
So, long story only slightly longer, I have (and all of Chiefs Kingdom) to wait until September 5th to see the our Chiefs play the Ravens on Thursday Night Football. Bummer.
Almost The Unkindest Cut: The Bobby Sippio Award
The deadline for NFL teams to make their final cuts and get down to their initial 53-man rosters is Tuesday, August 27th at 4 PM ET.
Which is, I just realized, later today. A little under 13 hours away (as I’m finishing this up it’s now less than 11 hours away). Wow. I really need to learn to write Chiefs Chronicles during the day. You know the old saying, though: “You can take the guy out of the bed but you can’t take the bed out of the guy.” Hmm, that’s not right. Is it: “You can lead a man to bed, but you can’t lead him to a waterbed?” That sounds somehow even less right. I think exhaustion is preventing me from figuring this one out. Anyway… (That was for you,
! Thanks for subscribing!)Once that deadline passes, hundreds of young guys (that’s a ballpark figure because they aren’t the only ones short on time- I would really like to try to sleep at some point) will decide it’s time to be sensible and give up on their NFL dreams. They’ll go off to live more ordinary lives than they’d imagined and many will never play organized football again.
Football can be cruel to the men who try to make their living playing it. As fans, we know that it’s brutal for those who are cut, but knowing it and actually living it are two different things. They have worked their whole lives for the opportunity to be in this position and they’re this close (I’m holding my index finger and thumb about a quarter of an inch apart) to making it- but many won’t make it. Today, they will be cut and their NFL dreams will be snuffed out forever.
That is the unkindest cut.
“But, Chiefs Chronicles Guy,” you might be saying, “the title of this section isn’t “The Unkindest Cut.” No, no, no. The title of this section is “Almost The Unkindest Cut: The Bobby Sippio Award.” What the heck is that supposed to mean? If you aren’t referring to the players who are being cut, what in the world are you blathering on about? And who is this Bobby Sippio character?!?”
Well, strangely angry reader, I (my name is Gary, by the way, not “Chiefs Chronicles Guy”) gave you a clue in the form of the AFL highlight reel at the top featuring the aforementioned WR Bobby Sippio. Longtime Chiefs fans will remember him from the 3rd season of HBO’s Hard Knocks filmed during the 2007 NFL preseason. Some of the show focused on his journey from the AFL and his attempt to make the Chiefs roster.
As someone who watched that season of Hard Knocks (narrated not by Liev Schreiber but instead by famous Chiefs fan Paul Rudd), I was heavily invested in Bobby Sippio making the team. On the show, he looked as good or better than anyone the Chiefs had on their roster (Dwayne Bowe was a rookie and was holding out for more money- man, I don’t miss the days of rookie holdouts) and a large portion of Chiefs Kingdom (myself included) was convinced that he would not only make the team but that he would dominate the league.
When the Chiefs made their final cuts on September 1st, 2007, we discovered that Bobby Sippio AKA “The People’s WR” (no one has ever called him that except for me, right here and now) had made the team! His supporters were over the moon and all was right with the world. It was time for him to wreck the NFL!
The next day the Chiefs released him to make room for QB Tyler Thigpen (I know a lot of Chiefs Kingdom has issues with Thigpen, but I’m extremely tired so let’s get into that another time) and a great wail of anger was heard throughout the Kingdom. On September 2nd, he was added to the Practice Squad (we all cheered!) and, a little over a week later, was signed to the active roster to replace an injured Eddie Kennison (I liked Kennison in KC).
During Bobby Sippio’s one season with the Chiefs he played in 9 games, returned one kickoff for 6 yards, had two solo tackles, and did literally nothing on offense. He was released August 30th, 2008, and that was pretty much it for him in the NFL. In spite of all evidence to the contrary, for years I heard versions of this sentiment: “If they’d just given Bobby Sippio a legitimate chance, he’d be killing it for the Chiefs right now!”
That’s what I mean by “almost the unkindest cut.” When fan favorites are cut or don’t get enough of an opportunity in the eyes of certain folks, they (the fans) can take it pretty hard. Not as hard as those poor guys having their hopes and dreams destroyed when “The Turk” comes to get them (“Coach wants to see you. Bring your playbook.”), but it can still be a bitter pill to swallow.
So, who are the candidates to be this year’s Bobby Sippio Award winner? Here are the players whose cutting (unkindest-style) will cause the most fan pain (of the “almost” unkindest variety):
WR Justyn Ross - He’s had a large contingent of vocal supporters for some time now. If he doesn’t make the 53-man roster, the online-portion of Chiefs Kingdom that is behind him are going to freak out.
RB Louis Rees-Zammit- Say it ain’t so Rees⚡Lightning! He needs time to transform from a rugby player into an NFL player. Hopefully, KC can sneak him onto the Practice Squad or put him on IR for the “back injury” he suffered in practice on Monday. Use that “IR Redshirt” on him for this year. It will give him time to learn the game.
RB/FB Carson Steele- This isn’t going to happen, but Chiefs kingdom would lose their collective minds if it did. (Blue Steel from Zoolander was the closest GIF I could find)
WR Nikko Remigio- I feel like there should be some hurt and anger if he’s cut, but there probably won’t be. I mean, look at him in college!
The Predicted Winner of this year’s Bobby Sippio Award is:
Justyn Ross
The signing of JuJu Smith-Schuster has made the Justyn Ross Fan Club very nervous. We’ll find out what’s what soon enough, I guess.
Alright, it’s bedtime for Bonzo. I can’t wait to see what happens later today with the Chiefs roster. Hopefully, I don’t oversleep. See you tomorrow…
I mean today. Aargh, I need to sleep. Blame any mistakes on my lack of sleep and lack of time to properly proofread/edit. As always…
I'm hopeful that a year on the Practice Squad and another full off-season will get Rees ⚡️ Lightning the runway he needs to make his swap work. He's such a great story, and I'd LOVE to be able to brag about him working to my non-Chiefs-Fan coworkers (isn't that what all their success is REALLY for? So I can vicariously brag?) I'm so excited for REAL FOOTBALL!!!
I couldn’t have said it better! Not only is he a fantastic story (hopefully he continues to be one!), but he’s so marketable and can only help the Chiefs further expand their international fan base. I see nothing but positives for the Chiefs and Chiefs Kingdom.
And, yes, vicarious bragging is pretty sweet! I mostly use the “vicarious humblebrag” at the moment. I’ve got a lot of friends and family who root for other teams and I try not to rub it in too much. I’m nice that way.
Real Football will be here soon! Until then, I’ll have to keep myself busy by writing more Chiefs Chronicles and worrying about my loaded fantasy football team. I smell an incoming crossover…