The Kansas City Chiefs ranked last in the NFL last season in rushing offense with an average of 78 yards per game. They hope to improve on that mark with the selection of running back Jamaal Charles, a third-round pick out of the University of Texas. Charles finished his career with the Longhorns rushing for 3,328 yards and 39 touchdowns.

Charles joins a backfield that includes second-year back Kolby Smith, and two-time Pro Bowler Larry Johnson (foot0. Johnson is coming off a season in which he was placed on Injured Reserve, due to a broken bone in his foot, after only eight games. Prior to the start of the 2007 season, Johnson signed a five-year extension that will keep him under contract with the Chiefs through the 2012 season.

To start the season, Charles will be used as the change-of-pace back. Only hovering around 200 pounds, Charles has the ability to be the big-play threat that the Chiefs need. Charles is lighting quick running a 4.38 40-yard dash at the 2008 NFL Scouting Combine in February. Charles will also be a factor in the passing game as he has good hands. Head coach Herman Edwards has also flirted with the idea of allowing Charles to return kicks on special teams.

Edwards brought in Chan Gailey to be the offensive coordinator for the Chiefs this season. Gailey's philosophy is a run-oriented offense, as he likes to run the ball to set up the pass. With the two-headed attack in Johnson and Charles, Kansas City should be able to improve on their No. 32 ranking from last season, as well as take the pressure off the passing game.

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Rohnie Sykes, who played football at Yuba College for one season, signed as a free agent Wednesday with the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League.

"He's a nice kid," 49ers football coach Ted Hoal said. "We're all real happy for him. He worked hard and got an opportunity to go on and he took advantage of it."

After playing one year at Sacramento City College, Sykes played tight end with Yuba for part of the 2005 season while dealing with a personal family tragedy, Hoal said.

"We were tickled to death to have him," Hoal said. "For the five games or so he was with us, he played well enough to earn a Division I scholarship."

Sykes caught 25 passes for 300 yards and five touchdowns with the 49ers.

The Sacramento native then went on to play tight end at Morgan State in Baltimore for two seasons.

In 2006, Sykes finished with 21 catches for 111 yards and one touchdown and was selected to the 2007 pre-season All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference second team. Sykes finished with six catches for 68 yards his senior season with the Bears and helped open holes for an offensive unit that averaged 348 yards per game and 203.4 yards on the ground.

While he signed as a free agent, Hoal said Sykes still has to make the Chiefs' roster, although Hoal added Sykes fits the perfect mold of a typical NFL tight end.

"He's 6-5, 245 pounds, big, athletic, strong, he can catch, run and block," Hoal said.

Hoal said what the Chiefs like most about Sykes is "his willingness to get in there and block, mix it up, take on defensive ends and linebackers.

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The Chiefs’ strategy for solving their kicking troubles was a simple one. Too simple, as it turned out.

Their solution was to sign the best available free-agent kicker, Seattle’s Josh Brown. They had no backup plan.

So when Brown instead signed with the Rams in the opening days of free agency, the Chiefs were left at kicker with journeymen Nick Novak and Billy Cundiff, an undrafted rookie in North Carolina’s Connor Barth and plenty of continuing unease over the situation.

“We’ll have to decide at the end of the day if one of these three guys is the guy or do we have to go out and get one of those old guys who doesn’t want to come to training camp?” coach Herm Edwards said. “Hopefully we don’t have to do that, but if we have to, we’ll do it.”

The “old guys” Edwards referred to include John Carney, who kicked for the Chiefs toward the end of last season, and former Colts kicker Mike Vanderjagt, who worked out for them early in the spring. Both are free agents.

Whatever the Chiefs do, they can only hope that their decision-making when it comes to kickers is better than it was last season, when they made one wrong choice after another. They erred in drafting Justin Medlock instead of Mason Crosby, in keeping Medlock instead of Lawrence Tynes, and in signing Dave Rayner instead of several other candidates, Novak included.

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The Chiefs received the highest rookie pool numbers by the NFL, a source said on Wednesday. With 12 draft choices -- two first-rounders taken in the top 15 -- the Chiefs have a rookie pool of $8,221,790, tops in the league. Not only do they have two first-rounders to sign, but they have a second and three thirds.

Even though agents and teams get around the rookie pool with contract escalators, post first-year option bonuses and one-time incentives, the rookie pool was created to somehow slot the signings of draft choices by the position they were selected. Each selection in the draft is given a value, which is a predetermined cap number. All rookies, including undrafted rookies, have to fit within the assigned rookie pool.

The Atlanta Falcons ended up with the second highest total at $7,918,670. They had four selections among the first 68 picks, including two first-rounders. They had six picks in the first 98.

The Miami Dolphins signed Michigan tackle Jake Long to a five-year, $57.75 million deal that had a $3 million cap number. That contract left $3.538,400 for the other eight draft choices, which include two seconds and a third.

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Besides the inevitable changes in the roster, the 2008 Kansas City Chiefs will look and feel much different than the team from even a year ago. Here's a look at just exactly what we have to look forward to.

Let's not underestimate the importance of replacing first-year offensive coordinator Mike Solari with football veteran Chan Gailey.

It was obvious from the beginning of the season that Mike Solari was in over his head. Solari was a fine offensive line coach, a position he was recently hired for in Seattle, but as an offensive coordinator he defined the Peter Principle - the idea that employees are promoted to the level of their incompetence.

There's no need to go into the football Xs and Os specifics as to why Solari was an ineffective offensive coordinator. We can look at the stats.

Ranked 31st in total points scored. 31st in yards gained per game. The worst rushing offense in the league.

Arguably, this was the worst offense in franchise history.

To be fair, Solari's failures as a coach were a few of the many problems for the Chiefs' offense that we've discussed a number of times. His demotion back down to a positional coach speaks for itself though.

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The Chiefs liked what they saw from Savage in a workout over the weekend in Kansas City. Savage wasn't offered a free-agent contract but is expected to sign later this month when he returns for the Chiefs' off-season program.

"You saw on film that he's very talented, but once we got him on the field it was quite obvious he has a lot of talent,” said Chiefs offensive coordinator Chan Gailey. "He did a really nice job in our camp.”

Gailey, the former Dallas Cowboys head coach who spent the past six seasons as Georgia Tech's head coach, said the Chiefs put Savage through an extensive workout.

"He's one of those tweener backs,” Gailey said. "He's not a big back. He's not a thumper. He's a smaller, quicker guy, but he has good speed.

"But is he the kind of guy we can take to camp? We'll just have to see where that takes us on whether he's part of this organization. But it was obvious he's a very talented young man.”

For Savage to make the Chiefs' roster, he probably will need to win the kick return job. The favorite is rookie wide receiver Kevin Robinson, a sixth-round pick out of Utah State, who was selected primarily for his return skills.

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With every sack, every feeble rushing play, every three-and-out series, the Chiefs resolved they would take this offseason to fix their forlorn offense.

They would repair their decrepit offensive line, they would give Brodie Croyle the tools to succeed as an NFL starting quarterback, they would take some of the considerable burden off their overtaxed defense.

Despite the Chiefs’ elation over their recent 12-player draft, their efforts are coming under question.

“You can only do so much in the draft,” said former Washington and Houston general manager Charley Casserly. “It’s still a work in progress. They got better where they could get better.”

Yet it’s difficult — if not impossible — to argue the Chiefs will be better on offense. They do have some reasons for optimism. They traded an offensive coordinator learning on the job, Mike Solari, for a proven veteran, Chan Gailey.

Running back Larry Johnson won’t be a holdout again and — if the law of averages prevails — won’t miss half the season because of a foot injury. Wide receiver Dwayne Bowe could be even better than he was as a rookie.

Elsewhere, the Chiefs appear held together with a lot of wishful thinking. Croyle has yet to win a game or prove he’s a high-quality NFL starter. The offensive line still has holes. The Chiefs are relying on a boost from two third-round draft picks, running back Jamaal Charles and tight end Brad Cottam. Full story