Napoleon Harris joined the Chiefs last year as a high-priced free agent and their starting middle linebacker.

Demorrio Williams joined the Chiefs this year as their highest profile free agent addition and someone to challenge Harris for a starting spot.

Former Shawnee Mission Northwest running back Ryan Torain is making a good early impression in the Denver Broncos' camp.
Torain, who played at Arizona State, slipped in the draft because he missed much of his senior season with a severe foot injury.

The Chiefs held a special teams practice this morning, working on most phases of the kicking game except field goals.

They've done plenty of that already in camp and will do more as they attempt to make a decision between kickers Nick Novak and Connor Barth, a rookie.

Former Chiefs cornerback Emmitt Thomas, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend, faced some of the game's great wide receivers.

The Chiefs assigned Thomas to the opposition's top receiver, and that included four future Hall of Famers: the Chargers' Lance Alworth, the Jets' Don Maynard, the Raiders' Fred Biletnikoff and the Dolphins' Paul Warfield.

The Chiefs will sift through many kickoff and punt return candidates as they hope to improve what was one of the NFL's worst return games. They will eventually look at Kevin Robinson, Will Franklin, Jamaal Charles, Jeff Webb, Maurice Price, Maurice Leggett, Rashad Barksdale and Dantrell Savage in either one job or both.

This year's preseason is guaranteed to be more meaningful for Brodie Croyle, Damon Huard and Tyler Thigpen than it was for the Chiefs QBs last year.

All of the game snaps will go to players who will likely be on their roster this season. Many of last year's snaps went to Casey Printers and Jeff Terrell, two players who didn't make it to the regular season.

Former Chiefs cornerback Emmitt Thomas will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend, joining five teammates from the Super Bowl teams enshrined in Canton.

In addition to Thomas, who ranks ninth in league history with 58 regular-season interceptions, linebackers Bobby Bell and Willie Lanier, defensive tackle Buck Buchanan, quarterback Len Dawson and kicker Jan Stenerud are in the Hall, along with Coach Hank Stram and owner Lamar Hunt.

Some of the most interesting of battles in the early days of camp feature a big, physical receiver in Dwayne Bowe against smaller rookie cornerback Brandon Flowers. They were particularly getting after each other in this morning’s practice.

Tony Gonzalez said today he was 95 percent certain he would play again next year for the Chiefs. The one thing that would probably drive him out after this season?

The Chiefs winning the Super Bowl. So I guess Gonzalez believes the Chiefs have a five percent chance of winning it this year. That might not sound high, but it's probably higher than most people.

Notable from this morning's workout:

---Donnie Edwards can still move, even at 35. Edwards sniffed out a swing pass to Kolby Smith and came a long way to tag Smith for a loss.

---Linebacker Pat Thomas could be working his way into playing time. Thomas has received some work with the starting defense at middle linebacker. Any undrafted rookie, LeRue Rumph, played in place of Derrick Johnson, who was mostly an observer because of leg cramps.