With Holmes Unlikely to Return, the Chiefs Acquire RB Michael Bennett

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The Chiefs acquired RB Michael Bennett from the New Orleans Saints on Tuesday for an undisclosed future draft pick. Bennett joined the Saints in March after departing from the Vikings. The Saints' drafting of Reggie Bush made him expendable there.

With Priest Holmes likely to retire, or at least sit out the year, the depth at the running back position had become problematic for the Chiefs. Quentin Griffin did very little to prove himself as a serious contender. Dee Brown was the player making the most progress towards taking the role, but now Bennett will likely assume it.

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Tue 08/01/06, 9:15 pm EST

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ASwaffAll-American

1241 days ago

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That's really big for them. Hopefully Priest will return some time mid-season (I only say hopefully because that's HIS goal; my personal wish is that he'd save what's left of his battered body and retire). But, I saw Herm Edwards on ESPN News yesterday, and he was saying that they want to run the ball about 500 times this season, which is an unrealistic goal for one back. They NEED two good backs for the kind of offense he wants to run. Bennett is no Holmes, but he's definitely an upgrade from Griffin and Brown.

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BigPPupMajor Leaguer

1241 days ago

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Agreed, Larry Johnson is a heck of a back, but no way he can take all that battering for a season. Bennet is good for at least 9-14 carries a game and that may be enough to ease the pressure for Johnson.

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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

1241 days ago

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You'd think that if you knew your running chances would be hit by losing a key back, they'd switch the focus to passing instead. Are they that poor a passing team that they need to run all those times this year?

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DRE-LOAAA-er

1241 days ago

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You can't be a one-dimensional team. Eventually defensive coordinators will figure you out.

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ASwaffAll-American

1241 days ago

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Not at all. That's just the kind of offense Herm wants to run. With a back like LJ, I don't blame him. I think he's going to use his running game in part to open up even more opportunities for Tony Gonzalez and Eddie Kinnison down field.

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Sayhey-rodSoccer Kid

1241 days ago

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500x?!?! Herm's gonna kill that offense.

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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

1241 days ago

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Perhaps saying that is a psychological masterstroke. Now all teams that face KC will know they will face the running game (but then, they knew that anyway). It could be a bluff, a double-bluff etc. Who knows!? Worryingly, if that is true, and it's come to out-thinking rather than out-playing opponents, then they must be in trouble.

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ASwaffAll-American

1241 days ago

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It's certainly not unachievable. That's just over 31 carries per game. They could reach that by giving the ball to LJ 20 times and Bennett 11. That's not unrealistic at all.

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BigPPupMajor Leaguer

1241 days ago

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You need to have a strong rushing attack in order to pass the ball effectivly. Thats what has killed the Eagles the past few season. Also ask Patrick Ramsey and Steve Spurrier what happens when you dont run the ball on the NFL level.

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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

1241 days ago

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Or Brett Favre.

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BigPPupMajor Leaguer

1241 days ago

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Exactly, Granted 500 carries a season is a lofty number for any staff, but they need to work to keep those carries up to free up space for their WRs.

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TartanVarsity Captain

1241 days ago

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What is all this talk, Kansas City ran the ball 520 times last year, this isn't going to kill their offense, this is normal. A quarter of the teams in the NFL last year ran the ball over 500 times, this isn't difficult for the Chiefs to achieve.

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Alex HolowczakHall of Famer

1241 days ago

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What were the teams? Did they go any good?

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TartanVarsity Captain

1241 days ago

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Are you serious? Pittsburgh (549), Super Bowl Champs. Seattle (519) NFC Champs. Denver (542) Playoffs. Jacksonville (502) Playoffs. Washington (525) Playoffs. The others, Kansas City (10-6), Atlanta (8-8), and Dallas (9-7). Not to mention, two other playoff teams came pretty close, Chicago and Carolina had 488 and 487 respectively. You have to run the ball a lot to win. Furthermore, when you're up, you run the ball, 500 carries is a benchmark of offensive success, not unattainable. Larry Johnson alone last year had 332 carries in the 9 games he started.

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TartanVarsity Captain

1241 days ago

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Correction, 336 carries and he only started 9 games.

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BigPPupMajor Leaguer

1241 days ago

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Yeah but those teams have multiple backs who run the ball 500 plus times a season. Denver has a stable of backs as did Pittsburgh Washington and Jacksonville. Seattle may be the one exception to that rule. 500 plus carries in one season with 1 back handling the bulk of them will wear down a back so that when you need him in December he cannot perform up to par.

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TartanVarsity Captain

1241 days ago

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I agree, I never said that only one back was necessary, I'm just disputing the 500 carries ruining the offense, or even being that lofty of a number.

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ASwaffAll-American

1241 days ago

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I disagree. Again, if you look at how many carries per game it takes to reach 500, it's not that unrealistic. Averaging 20 carries per game wouldn't kill LJ. I think he could easily handle 25. If they gave him the ball 25 times per game, and gave it to Bennett 10 times, those two alone would carry the ball 560 times. That doesn't even include any times a fullback or wide receive might carry the ball. It's not an unrealistic target, and it won't kill their running backs.

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TartanVarsity Captain

1241 days ago

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Yes, it is possible to carry the ball 25 times a game for an entire season, its been done, but look what it did to Eddie George. After 403 carries in 2000 he was never the same player, beaten down. The Chiefs are hoping they have a long-term asset in Larry Johnson, and 400 carries in a year will definitely hurt his longevity, bad for the Chiefs as well.

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ASwaffAll-American

1240 days ago

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Yeah, but you also have to look at the kind of game he was playing. He averaged less than 4 yards per carry that season, which means he was doing a lot of between the tackles running that Johnson doesn't do. George took the kind of beating that year that Johnson wouldn't take with the way they use him. George also had a career high in receptions with 50. So, he was touching the ball 28 times per game and taking a real beating when he touched it. Could the same thing happen to Johnson? Perhaps...I'm just pointing out that their situations aren't exactly the same.

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EstebistecVarsity

1240 days ago

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"between the tackles running that Johnson doesn't do" Um, I think you're confusing LJ for Priest. Holmes is the slasher/cutback lane/outside runner. Larry WAS running right at them quite a bit last season.

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EstebistecVarsity

1241 days ago

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I added a second resource. The following quote makes me think the Saints are getting a first-day draft pick out of this

Q: Did you sign Bennett to a new contract or just pick up his old?

PETERSON: “No, we just picked up his old contract. He signed a two-year contract (with New Orleans) and they gave him a signing bonus. That signing bonus is the Saints’ acceleration not ours. We pick up his base contract for this year and the same for next year.”

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BigPPupMajor Leaguer

1241 days ago

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Larry's a big boy and he can do it, but I think everyone is seeing more and more you dont want to do that. Look at the Chiefs former Pro Bowl Back. He carried a heavy workload in Texas (as did LJ in Penn State) and a heavy load in KC and now he is out of football when he should be in his prime. You dont want to wear out your franchise back ever 2 yrs

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TartanVarsity Captain

1240 days ago

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LJ had a heavy workload at Penn State? This is news to me.

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With Holmes Unlikely to Return, the Chiefs Acquire RB Michael Bennett

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