Jay Feely is a veteran kicker with a solid percentage looking for a job. The Kansas Chiefs boast one of the worst special teams units in the NFL, which is especially limited in kickoffs and field goals. So this seems like a pretty good fit? Right? Well, that's what the Chiefs thought, so they brought in Feely on Monday to compete with Nick Novak and Colin Barth, both of whom have been severely underwhelming in the preseason. Novak missed the only field goal attempt the Chiefs had in their 24-0 beatdown by the Dolphins last Saturday, and neither of them look good in general.

So it may have surprised Feely a bit, and certainly did surprise his agent, when he got dumped by the Chiefs the following day. On Tuesday, the Chiefs had all three kickers kick 30 field goals. Feely, who had just come in, only hit 24, the least of the crew, and was summarily released. Let me put this in perspective. Brett Favre was in camp at Green Bay this season for longer than Jay Feely was with the Chiefs. He probably didn't even have time to get barbecue. I'm not even sure if his hotel had time to clean his room.

Head coach Herm Edwards is having a rough go of it with field goal kickers. Last year he released Lawrence Tynes, which is fine, because it's not like he ended up doing anything important. But then, kickers shouldn't be that big of a deal, right? I mean, it's not like Edwards is the kind of coach that relies on field position and field goals to win a game, preferring to slug it out and not let your opponent have good field position, right? Wait. That's exactly what Edwards is. So even if you subscribe to the theory of punting over scoring, Edwards doesn't have the personnel to actually implement that kind of strategy. This should end well.

The vast majority of football fans know a certain number of tenets. Defense wins championship. You have to run the ball. Never buy into the Cardinals. And, the preseason doesn't matter. There's nothing real about it, it's not a predictor of success, it's an exhibition that proves positively nothing.

That said, after last Sunday's debacle/car crash/unmitigated disaster for the Chiefs in Miami, the fanbase has flipped open the case on the panic button and are staring at it intently. No one's pushing, considering the abysmally low expectations for this season ,but their finger is so tight on it, you can feel the indentation of the letters. That tends to happen after you get blanked 24-0 by Chad Pennington, I repeat, Chad freaking Pennington while only creating 189 total yards of offense against a team that went 1-15 last year. There's going to be a little anxiety. And, as is always the case in Kansas City, the big target moves immediately to General Manager Carl Peterson.

The Kansas City Star today takes its annual "Is This The End Of King Carl" column to a whole new level, with a bevy of quotes indicating a rift between Carl and head coach Herm Edwards on how to best rebuild. The argument essentially comes down to Edwards supporting drafting and Peterson supporting free agency. With the passing of Lamar Hunt, the article suggests Peterson could be on his way out as new owner Clark Hunt moves in support of Edwards.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is right around the corner, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterbacks: Oh, holy God. Do we have to start here? Can't we start at defensive line? Or even offensive line? No? Okay. So last season, Damon Huard was such the pinnacle of mediocrity, he may have redefined the word for decades. It wasn't so much that Huard was spectacularly terrible, throwing constant interceptions as he heaved them down the field, Rex-Grossman-style, it was that he looked singularly incapable of actually getting the ball downfield to begin with. So, after far too many games watching the offense set new franchise lows, Brodie Croyle who had been waiting in the wings, finally took the reins. The results were less than spectacular. Chiefs fans support Croyle because the kid has shown flashes of leadership and a pretty solid arm. The trouble is, the protection was so bad last year, no one knows whether to pin the offense's disastrous play on an inability by Brodie to produce, or a result of the fact that Croyle spent so much time on the run it's a wonder he's not dead in the cold, cold ground. So with a retooled and slightly upgraded offensive line, he should be better? Right? Right? Oh, Jesus, where's the bottle? Wait, what? Huard's still on the team? Must get bigger bottle. Heat Index: 2

Life may be rough for Aaron Rodgers in the wake of the Brett Favre trade, and I'd hate to be one of the dozen ESPN reporters who got scooped by Jay Glazer, but the biggest loser in the Favre trade may be Chad Pennington.

Until Favre was picked up, Pennington still had a chance to be the Jets starter. Now he's released, and the reality is that it's going to be tough for him to find a situation nearly as friendly as the one he had with the Jets.

As we hit the midway point of most training camps, one thing that's clear is that there aren't a whole lot of teams who are looking for a potential starting quarterback. There aren't a whole lot of teams where Pennington would be a clear upgrade over the current talent.

The reality is that a team that signs Pennington has to know what they're getting. Whether you make him the starter or the backup, you have to have a special playbook set up for Pennington. At this point he's incapable of throwing the ball consistently more than 20-yards downfield, and forget about calling out routes to the sidelines. Everything has to be short slants, hooks and screens. The Jets were willing to make that sacrifice, even if it meant that a two-minute offense for New York consisted of an amazingly painful series of five-yard dump offs.

Hey, look at that, the Steelers finally caught a break when it comes to the offensive line. Sure, it's not their o-line, but it could've been. The Chiefs second first-round pick, guard/tackle Branden Albert suffered a foot injury last week, hasn't practiced since, and the prognosis for the rest of preseason doesn't look so hot.

In fact, Albert says he'll need a "miracle" to play in a real live game before September, which sorta puts him behind in his battle to win a starting job. In other first-rounder news, defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey is also on the mend after suffering a knee injury during Saturday's Family Fun Night, which, presumably was much more fun for the families in attendance than it was for Dorsey or head coach Herm Edwards, who generally seems like a fun-loving guy.

If Chiefs fans are looking for a bright spot heading into tonight's preseason game against the undefeated Bears, there's always Dwayne Bowe. It also looks like rookie second-round pick, cornerback Brandon Flowers will start, and Edwards expects that to be the case from here on out.

That's one of the benefits to having the BEST DRAFT IN THE HISTORY OF TACKLE FOOTBALL: even when you lose a few players to injuries, there are plenty of other guys who can fill in the gaps.

Former LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey was drafted fifth overall this off-season by the Kansas City Chiefs. Entering the NFL, I doubt Dorsey thought he enjoy an injury free career. Then again, I also highly doubt he was counting on the Chiefs annual "Family Fun Night" being the venue to witness his first professional malady.

That's right, Dorsey tweaked his knee Saturday at Family Fun Night. He will miss the first preseason game, but he's not alone in the KC rookie injury wagon:

" ... the Chiefs still think Dorsey's timetable is ahead of that of their other first-round draft pick, offensive tackle Branden Albert. Albert, who has a sprained foot, might not play at all in the preseason."

Ouch. You get two quality first round picks and they're going to miss time in their first training camp. It's not like the prospects for the Chiefs to make a playoff run were good (or even feasible), but things are already going poorly for Herm Edwards and company.

The best course of action is to be realistic and not take any chances whatsoever with either of these guys. They need to get reps on the field as the Chiefs look to build for the future, sure, but the reps need to be healthy ones.

KC will still play to win the game, I'm sure ... they just won't succeed much.

It looks like the Chiefs could have a Brett Favre situation on their hands. Except exactly different. Tight end Tony Gonzalez is entering his 12 season and he's indicating that there's only a 95 percent chance he comes back for No. 13. See, just like Favre.

In fact, according to the Kansas City Star, if the Chiefs win the Super Bowl, Gonzalez is gone -- apparently, the future Hall of Famer gives the team a five percent chance to win the whole thing, which seems awfully high, but, hey, he gets points for optimism.

Fantasy Island scenarios aside, Gonzalez sounds like a guy who'll be around in 2009:

"There are going to be some growing pains," he said. "There's no doubt about that. But I think by the end of the year we're going to have a really good football team, and we're going to be that much better next year."

Which should make quarterback Brodie Croyle very happy.

Oh, and another reason to hang around for one more season: Gonzalez would have to return a big part of his signing bonus. Whenever he finally decides to leave the game, Gonzalez will retire as one of the best tight ends in NFL history, and more importantly, I suspect he'll graduate to the television studio and spare us all the need to un-retire a handful of times before actually doing so.

Thanks in advance for skipping the self-indulgent, "this is all about me!" act. Greatly appreciated, sir.

Maybe what former Ravens third-round wideout Devard Darling needed was the proverbial change of scenery. Or maybe he's nothing more than a No. 3 or 4 NFL wide receiver. That he struggled to make it on the field in Baltimore's anemic offense is indicting, but it's hard to place all the blame on the pass catchers when Kyle Boller is whizzing footballs in the general direction in which they were intended.

Whatever, Darling is now in Kansas City, and he's trying earn playing time on the only AFC unit with bigger questions at wide receiver than Baltimore (the Bears have the league's worst wideouts by miles, in case you're wondering). Second-year player Dwayne Bowe is quarterback Brodie Croyle's go-to guy -- and he should be -- but after that, it's a crapshoot.

The rest of the Chiefs' receiving unit is a bit of a mystery. But Croyle is pretty sure he's spotted the Chiefs' fastest receiver.

"That would probably be Devard Darling," Croyle said. "He can really go. It's one of those things where you don't really notice it until you see the film. He just 'leaves' people."

So there's that. Bowe is primed for another big season, but defenses are sure to roll coverages in his direction, which means that Tony Gonzalez and his protege, Brad Cottam, will play an integral role in the offense (which, frankly, isn't much of a change).

With Fantasy Football season ready to kick in high gear, Fantasy FanHouse is here to preview each and every team. Listen closely, you're almost guaranteed to win your FREE fantasy football league, only over at Fleaflicker.

Meet The ...
Youth movement. The Chiefs got old, fast, a few years ago and this year they had 12 draft picks. The once studly offensive line that made stars out of Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson broke down, and the QB position became a debacle. It's just too early for this group to salvage anything of real consequence.

The Breakout
I'm gonna have to go with Jamaal Charles, but only because of the poor selection. He's your handcuff to Johnson, not Kolby Smith, and he's going to have a role in the offense even with Johnson healthy ... to the point that Herm Edwards has hinted Charles will get 10-12 touches a game. He's relegated to 2nd string behind LJ, so please don't misconstrue his inclusion here as some sign that I think he's a fantasy stud. Far from it. The fact of the matter is that there are only three usable fantasy players on this team, and none of them are undervalued heading into fantasy drafts. Charles is the next most likely fantasy commodity to emerge ... it's as simple as that.

Here's the famous Fantasy Sports Girl Rachael giving her Chiefs season preview:

"The Chiefs lost all six games Brodie Croyle started last year, so naturally he's their No. 1 quarterback," Rachael said. "He cracked the 200-yard threshold just once last year and threw as many picks as scores. When Tyler Thigpen is a threat to your job, your fantasy value is pretty much zero."

Ooh, snap. I'm not quite as down on Croyle as Rachael is, but I agree that the Chiefs' offense is likely to be stuck in neutral this year, no matter who's under center.

Via Arrowhead Addict.