KANSAS CITY, Mo. - No one's to blame. Don't blame Derrick Thomas or Carl Peterson or Marty Schottenheimer or, most important, Neil Smith. The former Huskers' nine-year career as a Kansas City Chief is over, and no one's to blame for this unfortunate conclusion.
Soon, maybe at a 12:30 p.m. news conference today at the Adams Mark Hotel, Smith will announce his decision to join the Denver Broncos or some other team, ending his highly successful association with the Chiefs. And shortly after he makes that announcement, Smith's supporters, of which thore are many, will begin openly pointing fingers.
They will say one of four things:
Derrick Thomas, Smith's greedy best friend, didn't leave the Chiefs with enough money to offer Smith a decent contract.
Carl Peterson, swayed by emotion, stupidly gave Thomas - the Golden Child, Peterson's first Kansas City draft pick, Peterson's Thursday night drinking buddy - a $30 million contract instead of resigning Smith.
Marty Schottenheimer unfairly blamed Smith, who had a bad 1996 season, for the subpar performance of the Chiefs' defense.
And Neil Smith, distracted by a new restaurant and softened by celebrity, committed the unforgivable act of having a down season the same year his contract expired.
All four of these assertions are laced with a modicum of truth, but they in no way reveal the real reason Neil Smith is being forced from his home. The truth is that Smith's departure is standard operating procedure in the NFL now that there is free agency and a salary cap. Before there was a salary cap, a player with Smith's resume - five Pro Bowls, pillar of the community, never in any trouble - would be retained regardless of the cost. Smith would have been rewarded for his service and loyalty to the organization.
Now that there are finite dollars in the NFL, teams are forced to make tough decisions on aging-but not-over-the-hill superstars. Since the beginning of the 1996 season, the Chiefs pondered whether to retain Smith or Thomas, their two biggest and most expensive stars.
Before the kickoff of the first regular-season game of 1996, a high-ranking member of the Chiefs organization debated the pros and cons of retaining Smith or Thomas. At that time, the Chiefs seemed to be leaning toward keeping Smith. The thinking was that Smith, because of his size and diligence in the weight room, would age better than Thomas, who has been described as a "social weightlifter."
Smith's six-sack season changed the Chiefs' thinking.
No doubt the Chiefs still view Smith as an outstanding player. They certainly aren't excited about Smith joining the Broncos or the Raiders, teams the Chiefs face twice a season. But bottom line, the Chiefs couldn't afford to pay Thomas his market value and Smith's, too.
Football is business. And business is never personal anymore in the NFL.
Before he signs his contract with the Denver Broncos, Neil Smith first had other business to tend to Friday: He wanted to bid farewell to Kansas City - until he sees it again on the regular season's opening day, Aug. 31, when the Broncos play the Chiefs.
At a hotel across the street from Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium, Smith said goodbye to the city he worked in for nine years while questioning the skeptics who wonder whether he has any more Pro Bowl seasons left in him. "I'm on a mission," Smith declared. "A man on a mission is a dangerous man."
So when Smith follows through on the agreement he reached with the Broncos on Thursday and signs his one-year, incentive-laden contract next week, Denver will be getting a dangerous man. A dangerous man who is anxious to prove to Kansas City coach Marty Schottenheimer. and the rest of the Chiefs organization that they made a, mistake in letting him go.
"This is not an end for me," vowed Smith, who had only six sacks last season, his worst statistical performance since his rookie season in 1988. "I have to say I didn't have one of my best seasons, but I don't feel I'm finished. Decisions shouldn't be based on one year. That's not the right way to do it."
Playing defensive end for the Broncos, Smith will have more motivating factors than just proving his team wrong. After the 1997 season, Smith again will become a free agent. The better he plays this season, the more he could get paid the next season.
"Am I playing for a contract this year?" Smith said. "I am." It was a contract that Smith was not going to land in Kansas City. After visiting Denver last Friday, Smith spent Wednesday meeting with Schottenheimer. The coach explained to the five-lime Pro Bowl defensive end that Kansas City could not afraid to re-sign him.
....{missing}... of it was that I was on the (decline). If it's a (decline) for me, time will tell.
"But this is a part of life and it's something I have to overcome. I've been in worse, but I'm happy that I'm living and I can walk proudly. I can't let words hurt me."
Those close to Smith, those who know him best, insist there still are more Pro Bowls left in his 31-year old body.
"Time is certainly going to tell whether or not he's on the decline," Smith's agent, Eugene Parker, said Friday. "Wasn't it six years ago when people were saying that Bruce Smith's career was over? Remember that? They were saying his knees were so bad there was no way. And wasn't he defensive player of the year last year?
"Neil doesn't have a serious injury that would give rise to that. Neil has always trained hard, and proper off-season training helps a guy mere as he gets up there in age. Neil just turned (31) and defensive ends who keep themselves in good shape can play a long time in this league. And Neil is far from done. He's just getting started."
Smith has not yet finalized his plans to fly to Denver to sign his Broncos' contract. But Parker said he could sign as early as Monday and no later than Wednesday. While he is looking forward to a fresh start in Denver, it saddened Smith to say goodbye to Kansas City, once and for all.
"I'm not going to bash the organization," Smith said. "Everybody has been good to me in my time here. I've done the best I could both on the field and off the field for the Kansas City Chiefs."
DENVER (AP) - Having freed up money under the salary cap by restructuring John Elway's contract, the Denver Broncos Monday, signed five-time Pro Bowl defensive; end Neil Smith to a one-year contract.
Smith, 31, ranks as one of the top sack artists in the NFL with 86 in his career. After getting 12 sacks in 1995, however, he fell off to just six last year, and the Kansas City Chiefs informed the former Husker last week they could not afford to re-sign him.
Denver offered Smith a deal fhat reportedly will pay him between $1 million and $1.5 million in base salary, with incentives that could swell it to $3 million.
"When some people said Neil Smith was not playing up to his level, they did not have to design game plans against him," Broncos Coach Mike Shanahan said Monday. "For the last decade, I've i been on the other side of the football, designing game plans that were directed toward Neil. "I don't believe anybody really thought he was on the decline. There were a number of teams in the NFL who wanted Neil Smith. This was a chance to upgrade our team by getting the premier defensive end in, the league. This signing brings a great player to a good defense, and allows us to do some things defensively we've been wanting to do."
Although the Broncos had little room under the salary cap, Shanahan said the signing was possible after Elway's lucrative contract was restructured "a couple days ago."
"We've got some flexibility under, the cap," Shanahan said. "We worked John Elway's salary around to free up some more cap money which enabled only sign Neil but hopefully a couple of other players before the season starts. It's the only contract we've restructured."
Smith said he could have gotten a more lucrative deal from a less competitive team, but, "I'm not into rebuilding. I'm here for the winning. This. team went 13-3 and fell short of its goal. But these players have the same mentality I'm used to. They want to win a Super Bowl, and anything less than that is a failure."
Asked if it was difficult to sign with one of the Chiefs most bitter rivals, Smith said, "It wasn't a hard decision. The reason I picked Denver is simple: since I've been in the league, I've played, against a guy who has brought out the best in me. That's John Elway. Now John is in the same family, and I won't have to get after him. I'll have to find somebody else to hunt."
The 6-foot-4, 278 pound Smith, the second overall pick in the 1988 draft by Kansas City, insisted he didn't, sign with AFC West rival Denver "to get back at Kansas City. I know they're on the schedule twice. But I'm not here to throw stones. That, was a chapter in my career. I have great memories, but I'm closing the book there and I'm opening a new book here."
Neil Smith's stature in Kansas City was bigger than life, but smaller than Derrick Thomas'.
That, according to NFL sources, was part of the reason Smith left the Chiefs earlier this week to sign a one year contract with the Denver Broncos. Make no doubt, there were several factors that prompted Smith's departure from the only NFL team he ever knew. But in the end, he was unwilling to return to the Chiefs for less money than they were paying Thomas.
"If you're looking to make suppositions, you've got to start with the competitiveness between the two players," said a source close to the Chiefs. "He wanted to make more than Derrick."
That wasn't going to happen ii Kansas City. Not after Thomas signed a seven-year, $30 million contract in late March. The signing came nine days after the Chiefs had signed quarterback Elvis Grbac to a five year, $20.4 million deal. In the after, math of the two signings, there wasn't enough money or salary-cal room to fit Smith into the payroll.
The Chiefs would have considered signing Smith to a one-year deal, but didn't even bother making an offer The next day, Smith's agent, Eugene Parker, was on the phone with the Broncos' front- office.
"It was an ego thing," said an NFL official. "He wasn't going to sign for one year with Kansas City. Now he can say he chose to go to the Broncos instead of crawling back to the Chiefs."
Smith earned $3 million last season when he produced six sacks, his fewest since his rookie season in 1988. He had hoped to receive a multiyear contract worth $10 million plus, but settled for a $1.3 million deal with the Broncos, plus incentives that could make the package worth $2.3 million.
On the face of things, it appeared to be a classic case of an aging veteran who had lost a step and was forced to cut his losses and accept the best deal possible. Here were the Chiefs, who had never lost a free agent they wanted to retain, letting Smith walk away without so much as making him an offer.
When you scratch beneath the surface, however, you quickly come to realize that nothing could be further from the truth. The Post contacted several personnel people around the NFL, and each expressed confidence that Smith has a lot of football left in his 31-year old body.
"There wasn't any word on him," said one NFC personnel director. "He didn't have a big year, but I don't know of anybody who said, 'Oh boy, he may be through.' He's not even close to being through. He's still a force." Said Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, when asked how much film he watched of Smith before deciding to pursue him, "I didn't have to watch much. I've waved him twice a year for 10 years, so I didn't have to go into detail on Neil Smith. We had him ranked very high."
OK, if he's still the Neil Smith of old instead of an old Neil Smith, then why did the Chiefs let him leave? And why couldn't a player who had six Pro Bowls on his resume find more than a one-year contract on the open market? It certainly didn't have anything to do with Smith's personal life. He was a credit to the Chiefs uniform every time he put on his.
We're talking about a man who overcame his struggles will dyslexia to make an indelible mark on his adopted hometown.
During his nine years in Kansas City, Smith established Neil's Deal, a community program directed at underprivileged boys, and earned e Super Kansas Citian Award from the South K.C. Chamber of lommerce. He also served as national spokesperson for the "Yes I am" Foundation, a program that ips dyslexic children reach their best potential.
Smith enjoyed positive press throughout his stay with the Chiefs, and was popular enough among the public to open a restaurant, called Copeland's of New Orleans, before last season. How big was he in Kansas City? The answer can be found in another question: How many other players would call a press conference to say goodbye to the fans before signing with another team? "Neil's a good guy," said a source close to the Chiefs. "Every, body in the organization liked him But with free agency, everybody has choices to make, including players and teams."
The Chiefs' original choice was to re-sign Smith to a multiyear contract. But when you consider some of the circumstances that arose in the year before his departure, you can begin to understand why it never happened There was no one reason 5mith's departure from Kansas City. There were several, including a shoulder injury, a front office hell-bent on initiating a youth inovement, and the opportunity to solve a long-term problem at quarterback. Then there was Parker, the agent who drastically misread the market.
Fact is, the Chiefs' front office approached Parker about a multiyear deal last October, but he refused to listen to any offers. That opened the door for negotiations with Leigh Steinberg, the agent for Thomas, an eight-time Pro Bowler who, like Smith, could one day find himself in the Hall of Fame. Thomas turned 30 in January. Thus, each player was facing the likelihood of signing his last megabucks contract. Steinberg jumped at the chance to negotiate with Chiefs president Carl Peterson, but Parker balked at the notion, preferring to wait and test the market.
Parker maintained his stance throughout the season. When he did talk to someone in the Chiefs' front office, it was assistant G.M Dennis Thum. He didn't talk to Peterson until a week ago, when Smith called his farewell press conference.
In the days following Smith's departure, the Chiefs talked about pimping new blond into their defense, particularly with young defensive ends Vaughn Booker, a former CFL player who emerged as a` part-time starter in 1995, and John; Browning, the team's No. 3 draft choice in '96.
But it wasn't a youth movement that led to Smith's exodus as much as it was Parker's unwillingness to iegotiate during the season. Finally, Smith was free. Trouble was, he hadn't played up to his standards during the '96 season.
Why? Two possible factors are the shoulder surgery he had in mid-March, which prevented him from lifting weights until mid-June, and the distraction of playing for what Smith thought would be the last big contract of his career. Broncos safety Tyrone Braxton can relate to what Smith went through. He found himself in the same position, but on a smaller financial scale, in 1993. He had a poor season and wound up signing with Miami as a backup.
"You get bitter because they're not even talking to you," said Braxton, who returned to Denver after one season in Miami. "He probably was distracted. Hopefully, he'll come in here hungry, with something to prove."
His mediocre season wasn't Smith's only problem. There also was the matter of the salary cap rising by only $700,000, a small ` fraction of the increase in previous years. With so little money available and so many teams faced with long-term commitments to previous free-agent signees, some big-name players figured to take a financial hit.
It's no coincidence several other high-profile veterans, including another Parker client, cornerback Rod Woodson, still are looking for contracts. Many agents assumed more money would be available, only to find teams talking about one-year contracts with no signing bonuses.
"This doesn't have anything to do with Neil's ability," said a source close to the Broncos. "It's just bad timing. He's better off with a one-year deal. He can take less money now and see what happens next year. Maybe the market will be different."
Said one NFL general manager, when asked if Parker had misread the market, "Sure, he did. A lot of agents didn't understand the market. He wasn't the only one. They thought their guys were strong enough to get what they wanted."
Even if Smith were to leave after one year, the Broncos would come out ahead of the game. If he signed with another team for a salary that put him among the league's five highest-paid defensive ends, Denver would receive a No. 3 draft pick as compensation. If he were in the top 10 percent, they would get a No. 4 pick. The progression would continue up to 25 percent, which would net the Broncos a seventh-rounder.
In other words, it's a win-win situation. The better Smith plays, the more he and the Broncos benefit.
"He's going to play his butt off," said one Broncos official. "His back is against the wall, thats all the motivation he's going to need. "
GREELEY - It must have seemed like old times for John Elway and offseason free agent acquisition Neil Smith. During the Denver Broncos' morning workouts Saturday, Smith was seen hot on Elway's trail.
Instead of Mile High Stadium or Arrowhead Stadium, the sites of their regular season encounters, Smith was running after his longtime nemesis on the University of Northern Colorado practice field.
"I'd rather see him coming after me here and in this setting than in the regular season," Elway said. "I'm just glad he's here and on our sideline." Elway should be relieved at the sight of Smith in a Bronco uniform. Over the course of nine previous seasons, all in Kansas City, no NFL quarterback has borne more of Smith's punishment.
Of the 861-2,15 of them have come at Elway's expense. Vince Evans, Dave Krieg, John Friesz and Jeff Hostetler are next on Smith's sack list with five each.
"We've always been on good speaking terms," Smith said. "Let's just say things got better after I signed here."
Elway was serious enough about Smith's acquisition he offered to take a salary cut to allow for money to be available under the salary cap. "We share the same incentives," Smith said. "He doesn't have what I want. That is to put it all together and win."
"I'm not interested in just an AFC West championship or just an AFC' championship," he said. "I came here for the championship." Smith found quite a reception ~ committee waiting for him and his talents when he arrived at training camp. Among them were defensive coordinator Greg Robinson, who hopes Smith's presence can further improve on Denver's team total of 40 sacks which ranked 12th overall in I the NFL and its overall defense which was fourth in the NFL.
"He will make us stronger ~ because he's obviously a great pass rusher," Robinson said.
Smith, who is coming off his lowest sack total (six) since his rookie year, doesn't look at himself as a defensive savior the way Elway is looked upon by the offense. Neither is he accepting talk he heard around Kansas City that he is at the twilight of his career.
"I'm going to come in here and do' what I do best and my role speaks for', itself," Smith said. "I want to go out with the mind set of being a complete player and play well for this organization." He has little to say about the pastand won't reveal his own goals for the 1997 campaign.
"I have my own expectations and can only tell you that I put a lot of pressure on myself," Smith said. "I generally don't come up short of what I've set for myself and I feel good about it at the end of the season."
When he starts his new job in Denver this summer, Neil Smith will bring his postsack home-run swing, a blue-and-orange nasal strip and enough attitude for Broncos to start making reservations for Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego next January.
Before Smith moved on to the Super Bowl talk that could engulf Denver sports radio from now through the Aug. 31 opening day, he first autographed a one-year, $1.3 million contract that could not be signed until Broncos quarterback John Elway restructured his deal.
To save $3.1 million against this season's salary cap, the Broncos gave Elway a $2.26 million signing , bonus and extended his contract one year until 2001. According to the NFL Management Council, Elway's salary-cap figure for the 1997 season now will be adjusted down from $5.3 million to $2.2 million.
Elway's base salary this season will be just under $600,000, which should make him the league's lowest-paid starting quarterback. (Better be a good year for car sales).
The freed-up money gave the Broncos the flexibility they needed to sign more than just Smith.
Denver also signed Tampa Bay restricted free-agent guard Jim Pyne to a one-year, $800,000 offer sheet Monday, which the Buccaneers have until Friday to match. The money Elway provided also will allow the Broncos to sign each of their five selections from Saturday's draft.
But the first way the Broncos spent Elway's money was on Smith, whom Broncos coach Mike Shanahan referred to as "the premier defensive end in the league."
Aside from the $1.3 million base salary Smith is scheduled to earn this season, he also will have a chance to make $1 million in incentives. Smith will make another $500,000 if he plays in more than 50 percent of Denver's plays. And he will make another $500.000 if he has more than seven sacks.
So now Smith, and the Broncos, will be swinging for the fences.
"I'm happy because I'm coming ;o play for a group of guys that I {now have the same mentality that i have, and that's to go out and to win the championship," Smith said as he stood at the podium inside the Broncos' media room.
"We're not talking about the AFC West championship. We're not talking about the (AFC Championship). I'm talking about the overall championship, and that's the Super Bowl. Anything less than that I think is a failure."
The Broncos have won the free-agent Super Bowl, signing Smith and his linemate in Kansas City last season, Keith Traylor. And luring Smith to Denver was not as difficult as some might think.
Even though he drew interest from the Oakland Raiders, Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles, Smith said his decision was easy. For nine seasons, he had chased around EIwav whom he had sacked 16.5 times, more than any other quarterback. But he didn't want to chase around Elway anymore.
"If anyone wants to ask me why I'm here, what reason I picked Denver, it's simple," Smith said.
"I've played against this guy and he's brought the best out of me in my career. That's John Elway. John is the guy that I give the ultimate respect to. He brings something out of me that's very special that's enabled me to get at him.
"Now I don't have to worry about that. I have to find out now who else I'm going to have to hunt besides John. Me and John are on the same family now." And the Broncos are one big happy family. During the past 10 days, as Smith was making his decision, he received assorted encouragement from various Broncos. Denver safety Steve Atwater took Smith to dinner during his visit to Denver. Tight end Shannon Sharpe and defensive tackle Michael Dean Perry called Smith and pleaded with him to sign with the Broncos.
And Smith, who co-starred with Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas in a memorable telephone TV commercial, said his new teammates didn't even have to call him collect. "They know how to reach me on a straight direct line," Smith said, grinning.
"You want to feel wanted because when you get with a group of guys that you don't feel wanted, then you create problems. I don't think there's a problem here because all those guys like Shannon spoke to me and said they would love to have me here. I told Shannon if he weren't coming back I wasn't going to be here. So, I'm putting the pressure on you guys."
Then Smith glanced at Shanahan and Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, whose job it is to sign Sharpe and please Smith.
Shanahan will do what he can to please his newest acquisition. Because he is sure that, even with some NFL personnel people wondering if Smith's game is on the decline, the Broncos will get plenty of production out of the defensive end who gives Denver its most talented line in franchise history.
"We had a chance to get the premier defensive end in the league, and I can say that because I've been able to go against Neil for a number of years," Shanahan said. "When people said that Neil was not playing to his level, they did not have to game-plan Neil Smith.
"I've had a chance to go against Neil both in the running game and the passing game and I know what he can do, and I know what he brings to our football team. So Fn very excited to have him part ol our organization.
"I think with the people surrounding Neil, with Alfred Williams and Michael Dean Perry and Keith Traylor and Jumpy Geathers and Dan Williams ... we've got a defensive front to be reckoned with.
The more depth you have, the better chance you have to win the ultimate game."
The best pass rushes come in waves.
So even if Neil Smith is to Denver's defense little more than what Tony Dorsett was to Denver's offense a little less than a decade ago - a big name with a vanishing game - he will not be unwelcome among the Denver Broncos' small battalion of pass rushers.
With one possible exception.
Dan Williams, who plays the same position and wears the same jersey number as the former Kansas City star, is not expected be at the head of the reception line when Smith moves i:ao the clubhouse this week. But at virtually every other position, there is nothing but enthusiasm.
What the Broncos now have with Smith, it is generally agreed, is what the Dallas Cowboys had in their defensive line when they won three of four Super Bowls in the first half of the decade, a two-deep pass-rush they can rotate however they choose.
"I think it's going to be great," middle linebacker Allen Aldridge said. "With all the guys we've got on the defensive line now, our defense is going to be so much stronger and I think our pass rush is just going to be hectic."
With Smith, the Broncos now have a total of 14 defensive linemen on their roster, including such notables as Alfred Williams, who made his first trip to the Pro Bowl last year, the aforementioned Dan Williams, habitual Pro Bowler Michael Dean Perry, Smith's former teammate Keith Traylor, the fork-lifting power rusher Jumpy Geathers, and the developing youngster, Maa Tanuvasa.
Not that Elway forfeited a single dollar of the $3.1 million he sacrificed for the upcoming season. All the money he deferred will come back to him by March 1, 1998, when he receives a $1.5 million roster bonus to go along with a $2.26 million signing bonus. Yet Elway's cooperation did help allow the Broncos to sign Smith, Gordon, Loville and to use each of their three draft picks.
And Smith knows it.
"Hey, John," Smith said to Elway last month inside the Broncos locker room as they shook hands and met as teammates for the first time. "Thanks for bringing me here."
Is it just me or do you get the feeling that something is missing in this whole Neil Smith thing? Sure, money is tight, but how can the rest of the AFC sit there and let the Broncos sign him to a one-year deal full of incentives? He might have slipped a little last season, but he's still a force coming off the corner ...
Nov. 16, Broncos at Kansas City. Don't even think of missing it ...
Random thought of the day: With Smith having agreed to terms, can the Broncos afford to draft an offensive player? At last look, that off'ensive line wasn't getting any younger ...
True story. Before Smith's agreement was uncovered Thursday night, he was much nicer to me on the telephone than he was with his mother-in-law on that TV commercial. At the end of our conversation, I asked if he could keep me posted on his situation this weekend. I told him to feel free to call me collect any time. His response? "Ohhh, you know how I feel about collect calls." (Adam Schefter, Denver Post)
John Elway deferred some of his salary so the Broncos could sign free-agent defensive end Neil Smith, whom he joined on a Broncos practice field for the first time Friday.
"After all the times he's hit me, it'd be nice to watch him hit somebody else. Mike (Shanahan) has done a great job bringing the people in here. Now we just have to get everybody on the same page."
Memorable moment from last October, the last time the Chiefs played the Broncos. Right near midfield, Chiefs defensive end Neil Smith and Broncos tight end Shannon Sharpe huddle up. Smith tells Sharpe that, after this season, when both become free agents, the two players are going to end up playing to,,ether. In Kansas City. "That's right," Sharpe said last week confirming the conversation. "He thought he was going to be there. I didn't think I was going to be in Denver, so I was like, `Yeah, that's probably where we will end up at.'" Smith was right - on one count. He and Sharpe did wind up as teammates. Only it is Denver, not Kansas City ... If the season were to open today, the Chiefs would start Jeff Criswell at left tackle and Trezelle Jenkins at right tackle. And believe me, Smith would have every chance to match the six sacks he put up all last season.