The Morning Fix: Chiefs News From Around The Web

#31 Terrance Parks — Safety — Florida State

Pre-KC:

Three-year lettermen who started 23 games for the Seminoles over his last two seasons and played in 43 games overall. Parks was the sixth-leading tackler on the No. 4 ranked defense in the nation last season.

Signing with the Chiefs marks the first time he won’t be a Seminole (Creekside High School (Fairburn, Ga.) Seminoles and Florida State Seminoles). Parks chose Florida State over Auburn, Ohio State, Alabama, and Tennessee. He was the fifth-rated cornerback in his class coming out of high school.

“It was a special time in Kansas City,” said Fitzmorris, who spent 1969-76 with the Royals. “We would go out after games, and we’d see stars from four different sports.”

Indeed, in 1973, the last time Kansas City played host to Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, this was a sports town like few others.

— The Chiefs were three years removed from winning Super Bowl IV.

— The Royals, in just their fifth season under the ownership of Ewing Kauffman, who restored baseball here after the Athletics’ departure to Oakland in 1968, were on their way to becoming the most successful expansion club in baseball history.

As we pointed out recently, the Saints have offered on multiple occasions long-term deals that would make Brees the highest-paid player in the history of the game. Meanwhile, franchise players like Ravens running back Ray Rice and Bears running back Matt Forte have gotten nowhere, with their teams possibly intent on requiring them to play the 2012 season under the franchise tag.

Other franchise players waiting for long-term deals that may or may not come before the July 16 deadline are Chiefs receiver Dwayne Bowe, Lions defensive end Cliff Avril, Jaguars kicker Josh Scobee, and Broncos kicker Matt Prater.

Shell led the Raiders to a 12-4 mark during the days of “Roseanne” and Vanilla Ice, but he is an outlier. No other coach has managed nine regular-season wins — Jason Garrett (2011) and Mike Singletary (2009) came the closest with middling 8-8 campaigns with the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers, respectively.

So what do the numbers tell us? For one, “Win one for the Gipper!” inspiration for a new coach only goes so far. For another, interim coaches are usually saddled with the same subpar roster that contributed to the downfall of the previous regime.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the Chiefs won’t be, either. With Jamaal Charles and Eric Berry back in the fold, Crennel can at least be grateful to have some of the foundation in place.