Achilles tear takes Chiefs' Siler out of linebacker competition

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Brandon Siler tore an Achilles' tendon during practice this week and is the latest to join a growing list of NFL players to sustain the season-ending injury.

Siler's agent, David Canter, confirmed the injury in a text message to The Associated Press on Wednesday. He did not know which Achilles was hurt, but said Siler already had surgery to repair it.

"We're both beside ourselves upset," Canter said.

Siler was competing for the middle linebacker spot alongside Derrick Johnson after signing with the Chiefs as a free agent. Siler had looked good throughout fall camp after picking up 44 tackles, one sack and one interception in 12 games with the San Diego Chargers last season.

"I don't really know what happened," said Demorrio Williams, who has been competing with Siler for playing time. "I just saw him land on the ground."

The Chiefs' policy is to not discuss injuries, although they're quickly stacking up.

First-round draft pick Jonathan Baldwin hurt his right thumb in a reported locker room altercation with running back Thomas Jones. Fellow wide receiver Steve Breaston also has missed some practice time, along with offensive linemen Jared Gaither, Ryan O'Callaghan and Darryl Harris, cornerback Brandon Flowers and linebackers Gabe Miller and Eric Bakhtiari.

The Chiefs should be able to withstand the loss of Siler, who could also have contributed to special teams. Jovan Belcher has made 131 tackles while playing significant snaps the past two seasons, and Williams and Cory Greenwood are in the mix.

"I think we have good depth," Johnson said. "It's always tough to lose a linebacker, and it's hard. It's hard. But this is a violent sport."

Siler's injury is the first significant one for the Chiefs, though hardly the first round the league, where some believe the NFL lockout has contributed to more season-ending injuries.

Detroit's second-round draft pick, running back Mikel Leshoure, tore an Achilles tendon earlier in fall camp. Browns punter Reggie Hodges sustained the same injury after he took a snap in the end zone, took one step and dropped like a sack of flour. Philadelphia defensive end Victor Abiamiri and Bengals linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy are among the other players to tear their Achilles.

The lockout wiped out organized team activities and the ability for players to use team facilities during the summer months, which some argue resulted in players arriving at camp out of shape.

Browns linebacker Scott Fujita, a member of the players' executive committee, has said he is personally monitoring some of the reported injuries from other training camps. He's also asked trainers to keep him updated on missed practices to determine whether the lockout had any effect.

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.

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Vikings cut longtime LT McKinnie; ex-Colt Johnson takes over

MANKATO, Minn. -- Bryant McKinnie spent nine years as the mainstay on the Minnesota Vikings' offensive line, never really becoming the dominant force he was expected to be but still giving the team almost a decade of solid performances.

When McKinnie showed up to training camp in Mankato woefully out of shape after the summer-long lockout, the Vikings decided to cut ties with the former No. 7 overall draft pick and start over at one of the most important positions on the team.

"This decision, while not an easy one, is in the best interests of our football team as we move forward preparing for the season," Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said in a statement issued Tuesday by the team. "We appreciate Bryant's contributions to the Vikings and we wish him the best in the future."

The Vikings placed McKinnie on the non-football injury list at the start of training camp, and Frazier was vague about the reason for it. He hinted that McKinnie's weight had something to do with the issue and said Tuesday morning that he hoped to have the issue resolved soon.

Frazier met with team officials in the afternoon and informed McKinnie of the move, which will save the Vikings $5.4 million against the salary cap this season and help them get below the $120 million limit. The Vikings signed free-agent left tackle Charlie Johnson on Monday, paving the way for McKinnie's exit.

McKinnie's placement on the non-football injury list also means he likely will not be paid about $750,000 in workout and roster bonuses that were included in his contract.

"Its been fun," McKinnie wrote on Twitter.

So ended an era of sorts in Minnesota. The Vikings drafted McKinnie out of the University of Miami in 2002, picturing him as the next great left tackle in the NFL. He held out for half of his rookie season, but he immediately stepped in as the starter after signing his contract.

Incredibly agile for a guy who is 6-foot-8 and over 340 pounds, McKinnie helped make things easier for Adrian Peterson and was partially responsible for six of the top eight rushing seasons in franchise history.

McKinnie was voted to the Pro Bowl after the 2009 season, but he didn't show up for practices and was scratched from the game, eventually having to pay back almost $5,000 in travel expenses to the NFL.

The NFL free agency cycle is in full effect, with teams and players agreeing to terms fast as training camps open. Get the latest on all the news right here.

It would be hard to view McKinnie as a disappointment given that he never missed a game to injury during his time in Minnesota and gave the Vikings nine years at one of the most demanding positions in the game. But there always will be the sense that the immensely talented McKinnie could have been better.

Last season, McKinnie appeared to regress during a 6-10 season, and he admitted to being a little too heavy by season's end. He vowed to work hard in the offseason and return in top physical condition, but the lockout prevented him from staying in touch with coaches and doing any work at the team's facility in Minnesota.

McKinnie stayed at his home in Miami most of the offseason, working on his budding music career and prolifically tweeting about his social life on South Beach.

Now the Vikings likely will turn to the 27-year-old Johnson, who started 54 games for the Indianapolis Colts and protected Peyton Manning's blind side in 2008 and 2009. In Minnesota, Johnson will be charged with keeping new quarterback Donovan McNabb clean.

"I feel like that's what they brought me in for, was to come in and compete and try to get one of those five spots on the line," Johnson said Tuesday morning, before the McKinnie move was announced. "So, I'm not going to sit back and try to bide my time and wait. I'm going to come in and compete and see what happens."

Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press

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After visiting former teams, Burress takes 1-year deal with Jets

Stuck in prison and his NFL career derailed, Plaxico Burress insisted he'd be back one day.

Rex Ryan and the New York Jets are giving him that second chance.

"I'm just grateful," a confident yet humble Burress said Sunday night. "I'm excited about the opportunity and I'm going to give them everything I've got because they put their trust in me to be able to come in and contribute and have an impact."

The one-year deal, reportedly worth $3.017 million fully guaranteed, is meant to match Burress' jersey number 17, Braylon Edwards' number the past two seasons, the New York Daily News reported.

The former Super Bowl star with the New York Giants signed a one-year deal with the Jets on Sunday after recently being released from prison, where he served 20 months on a gun charge. Burress, who turns 34 on Aug. 12, caught the game-winning touchdown in the Giants' upset of the unbeaten New England Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl, before his career derailed after he accidentally shot himself in a New York nightclub later that year.

Debate: Right move by Burress?

"When something's taken away from you that you love, you know you love it more," he said. "You learn that playing in this business is definitely a privilege. I definitely miss being away from the game and the guys and being able to compete every Sunday with the best athletes in the world."

Now, the Jets are hoping Burress can revive his career the way Michael Vick did with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Vick served 18 months in prison for his involvement in a dogfighting ring before returning to football in 2009. He was eased back into things by the Eagles before taking over as the starting quarterback last year and capping a terrific season by being selected as The AP's Comeback Player of the Year.

Burress has a chance to make even more of an immediate mark for the Jets. He'll join the recently re-signed Santonio Holmes as one of Mark Sanchez's top receivers.

"I've never played with a guy on the other side of me who was that explosive," Burress said of Holmes. "It's going to be fun. I think we're going to drive some defensive coordinators crazy -- which way they want to roll their coverage in certain situations, in the red zone, so it'll be interesting to see how teams match up against us."

Burress wrote on his Twitter page: "East Coast here I come!" Sanchez retweeted his new receiver and added: "Paperwork in hand??? Haha welcome to the squad."

Burress was at the airport in Los Angeles on his way to a meeting with the San Francisco 49ers, according to media reports, but canceled that trip when the Jets contacted him. He agreed to come back to New York, but in green and white this time, without even visiting with the Jets or speaking to Rex Ryan.

"There was no sales pitch needed," he said. "You just look at all the pieces that are in place. You get a chance to compete for a world championship every year, play for a great organization, play with a great quarterback. I get to play beside Santonio Holmes and a future Hall of Famer in LaDainian Tomlinson."

Burress also appreciated how owner Woody Johnson and general manager Mike Tannenbaum met with him in 2009, despite his legal situation being uncertain at the time.

"They were really the first team to support me with everything that I had going on at that time," he said, "and it just felt right for me to be able to come here with everything that I had going on a couple of years ago, to have those guys approach me in the way that they did I just felt I made the right decision."

A few hours after announcing the agreement, the Jets were accepting pre-orders for replica Burress jerseys for $80 on their website. Matt Higgins, the Jets' executive vice president of business operations, tweeted that Burress would be wearing No. 17.

Burress met with the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he spent his first five seasons, on Saturday after sitting down with Giants coach Tom Coughlin on Friday.

"His decision was to go elsewhere," Coughlin said. "It sounded like a bigger guarantee. I don't know all of the facts about that. That's what happens in this business. His decision was made and, again, we wish he and his family well."

Burress said there was a sense of closure with that meeting, and it was good "to kind of turn the page."

Because of the NFL's post-lockout rules, Burress can't practice with the team until Thursday. But clearly, the Jets are confident -- sight unseen -- that he has a lot left as they try for a Super Bowl run even though he hasn't played in the NFL since 2008.

There will be plenty of questions: How soon can he be in football shape? Has he lost a significant amount of speed? Does he still have those sure hands? Can he handle the media spotlight of being back in New York?

"I feel I'm in great shape," he said, adding that he'll surely be a little rusty. "I think a lot of people are going to be surprised with my conditioning and different things I've been doing in South Florida to get myself back to where I want to be, and that's definitely to get back to playing at a high level real soon."

One thing the Jets know is that Burress gives Sanchez a big receiver -- he's 6-foot-5 -- who's a red-zone presence to complement Holmes, Jerricho Cotchery, Dustin Keller and a solid running game with Shonn Greene and Tomlinson.

Burress pleaded guilty in August 2009 to attempted criminal possession of a weapon after accidentally shooting himself in the thigh at a Manhattan nightclub in November 2008, accepting a two-year prison term. He was released about three months early for good behavior, but will be on parole for two years.

He was told to get and keep a job, undergo substance abuse testing, obey any curfew established by his Florida parole officer, support his family and undergo any anger counseling or other conditions required by his parole officer.

Burress has 505 catches for 7,845 yards and 55 touchdowns in his NFL career with the Steelers and Giants.

The move softens the blow for the Jets after losing out on cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, who was New York's top priority after re-signing Holmes. But Asomugha surprisingly signed with Philadelphia, and the Jets were forced to turn their attention elsewhere.

Burress' career with the Giants was filled with terrific moments along with troubles -- missed meetings, a one-game suspension, a contract dispute. Then came the incident that changed his life.

He was released in April 2009, a few months before beginning his prison sentence. Now he's free and motivated to show he can still be a productive playmaker, and the Jets are willing to let Burress prove it while they go for a Super Bowl of their own.

"I've been around for a little while now and I'll just sit down with the coaches, sit down with the quarterback," Burress said, "and just learn the formations and where I need to be at. I don't think it's going to take me that long at all."

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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Kaepernick takes part in vigorous Niners passing session

The San Francisco 49ers welcomed a new face this week with the arrival of rookie signal-caller Colin Kaepernick, who threw to teammates at player-only workouts in the San Jose area, according to The Sacramento Bee on Friday.

Kaepernick first joined Wednesday's practice, but The Bee said Friday's passing session marked his most intense activity yet since undergoing a procedure on his left leg after the 49ers selected him in the second round of last month's draft.

Kaepernick is the second 49ers rookie to work out with veterans after receiver Ronald Johnson, a sixth-round pick, practiced with teammates for 10 days soon after the draft.

It's been suggested that the strong-armed, fleet-footed Kaepernick will find his way into the 49ers' attack, even if he sits behind Alex Smith, who also has actively attended workouts during the NFL lockout, along with 14 other teammates. The Bee reports that Smith has been joined by defensive linemen Isaac Sopoaga and Justin Smith, offensive linemen Joe Staley and Adam Snyder, and receivers Kevin Jurovich and Josh Morgan.

Kaepernick earlier received a copy of the 49ers playbook from a teammate, but is unable to communicate with San Francisco's coaching staff during the lockout. He planned reach out to Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck, who played under new 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh for the previous three seasons.

As for Kaepernick, the newspaper reports that it's not only the playbook and his new team he's getting used to -- the rookie just made the move from his parents house in Turlock, Calif. to the Bay Area.

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Jets coach Ryan takes tips from Gibbs on navigating lockout

As New York Jets coach Rex Ryan endures a lockout that's infringing on his ability to work toward backing up his "guarantee" of a Super Bowl title next season, he's turning to the master of work-stoppage success.

"I called Joe Gibbs," Ryan told a small group of prospective Jets business partners Wednesday night at The Core Club in Manhattan, according to the team's official website. "When they went through some work stoppages, the last two times the Washington Redskins won two Super Bowls. So I figured that would be a good guy to call."

Gibbs led the Redskins to the Super Bowl title following a strike-shortened 1982 season, beating the Miami Dolphins 27-17 in Super Bowl XVII. Five years later, the Redskins won Super Bowl XXII, routing the Denver Broncos 42-10 after a 24-day players' strike trimmed the regular season to 15 games, three of them with replacement players.

Gibbs' Redskins went 3-0 with the replacements en route to an 11-4 finish.

Ryan says he plans to meet in the next few days with Gibbs, who guided the Redskins to three Super Bowl titles and four NFC championships in 16 seasons as the team's head coach, and that he's already absorbing some of the Hall of Famer's advice.

"He said take this time to get better," Ryan said. "Take time to gain an advantage on your opponents and whatever you think that is. He gave me some ideas, and I followed them to a T."

Ryan says that to improve his and his staff's knowledge base he's been "bringing in all kinds of guys to come in here and speak to us and pick their brains," including former Indianapolis Colts offensive coordinator Tom Moore, legendary running backs coach Bobby Jackson, and Dan Reeves, the former head coach of the Denver Broncos, New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons.

Moore, whose Colts offense had great success inside the 20, is working with the Jets on red-zone efficiency, which Ryan called "the biggest area we have to improve."

"Over the last six-year period, the Indianapolis Colts have been by far and away the most efficient offense in the red zone," Ryan said. "And this man has been the coach. It was interesting picking his brain. He’s really helping us."

Ryan's boast in February that the Jets will win the Super Bowl next season has the support of his players. And of his owner, too.

"It’s hard to lead people if you don’t tell them where you’re going," said Woody Johnson, who also appeared at the event. "If you tell people, 'I'm coming in 15th. Are you with me?' No, I’m not with you. I’m not going to sign on."

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