He has been through three head coaches, four defensive coordinators and a hailstorm of criticism, so Eric Hicks doesn’t flinch when the rain hits Arrowhead Stadium. Listen to the man in the Mickey Mouse polo shirt. He’s 28, he’s a tad emotional, but, his teammates say, Hicks is wise. He’s seen everything.
“Change has to come,” Hicks says. “It better come. Because I’d hate to see what the next offseason is like if this experiment doesn’t work. I wouldn’t even want to fathom it.”
They call Hicks the rock of this much-maligned Chiefs defense, the leader who’d run over to his offensive teammates, after the defense had given up another touchdown, and say he’s sorry. Now the veteran defensive end has another label. Endangered species.
When the Chiefs open offseason practice Tuesday, Hicks will be in rare company. He’s a starter from the 2004 season who’s expected to keep his job. He’s been with the team long enough to remember when Gunther Cunningham was head coach and the “D” in Kansas City defense didn’t stand for “despicable.”
The sprinkles pelt Hicks’ baseball cap, and he’s fine with it. He doesn’t want to be comfortable. He doesn’t want the defense to rank 31st in the NFL ever again.
Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson doesn’t, either. He did some major offseason shopping, picking up four free agents and drafting one ballyhooed linebacker. The changes, Hicks says, may mean at least half of the starting lineup will be new. It’s by far the biggest defensive overhaul he’s seen in eight years in Kansas City. It’s all the talk among the veterans.
“I know a lot of guys are sweating,” Hicks says. “Especially the guys who had players signed in their positions.
“I think you’re going to see a ferocious training camp. We’ll do more hitting, not that the coaches are going to mandate but from guys who are trying to either maintain or win a new job. Guys are going to be flying around out there, and I feel sorry for maybe some of these people we play in the offseason. Because guys are going to be out there trying to earn a livelihood.”
That mentality probably wasn’t there in the summer of 2004. The Chiefs, coming off a 13-3 season, signed their free agents to new contracts and kept the entire defensive starting lineup intact. Some questioned the move, especially after Indianapolis shredded the Chiefs for 38 points in the playoffs.
Then came the 7-9 season, and the offseason acquisitions of cornerback Patrick Surtain, linebacker Kendrell Bell, safety Sammy Knight and defensive end Carlos Hall.
Coach Dick Vermeil is trying to integrate the newcomers, taking the team to movies and cooking up barbecues. Hicks, who signed as an undrafted free agent in 1998, stuck with what he knows — building chemistry in the weight room.
“He’s an inspiration when I come out here and see him working,” says Knight, who came to Kansas City from Miami. “He’s in great shape, he’s always prepared, and he’s always encouraging guys. He gets the whole D-line together.”
Hicks admits he’s far from perfect. He gets too emotional sometimes. Like the locker-room scene after the Carolina game last year, when Hicks blew up at a radio reporter who suggested that the Chiefs should’ve made some offseason moves to fix the defense.
It was 105 degrees out (actually 80 degrees at game time) that day, Hicks says. That game dropped them to 0-2.
“It was kind of a low moment,” he says.
At the end of the day, when Hicks met his family in the parking lot, things always got better. His 5-year-old daughter Shayla, who overcame heart surgeries, never knew when Hicks won or lost or had zero sacks. She just knew that her daddy was back.
Having kids, Hicks says, helped him learn patience. But as the years creep up and the defense continues to struggle, it’s obvious that Hicks is growing antsy. He hates the fact that Kansas City’s No. 1 offense has been saddled with the burden of one of the NFL’s worst defenses.
He’s asked whether the last year and a half has been tough.
“Try four years,” he says.
If anyone can bring the old and new defense together, Vermeil says, it’s Hicks.
He’s seen everything. He’s still here.
“To me, he’s our Rock of Gibraltar,” Vermeil says. “He’s the kind of person that you build a foundation around. He might not be the flashiest stone or the prettiest stone in the base … But he’s the most stable. The strongest.”
“Change has to come,” Hicks says. “It better come. Because I’d hate to see what the next offseason is like if this experiment doesn’t work. I wouldn’t even want to fathom it.”
They call Hicks the rock of this much-maligned Chiefs defense, the leader who’d run over to his offensive teammates, after the defense had given up another touchdown, and say he’s sorry. Now the veteran defensive end has another label. Endangered species.
When the Chiefs open offseason practice Tuesday, Hicks will be in rare company. He’s a starter from the 2004 season who’s expected to keep his job. He’s been with the team long enough to remember when Gunther Cunningham was head coach and the “D” in Kansas City defense didn’t stand for “despicable.”
The sprinkles pelt Hicks’ baseball cap, and he’s fine with it. He doesn’t want to be comfortable. He doesn’t want the defense to rank 31st in the NFL ever again.
Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson doesn’t, either. He did some major offseason shopping, picking up four free agents and drafting one ballyhooed linebacker. The changes, Hicks says, may mean at least half of the starting lineup will be new. It’s by far the biggest defensive overhaul he’s seen in eight years in Kansas City. It’s all the talk among the veterans.
“I know a lot of guys are sweating,” Hicks says. “Especially the guys who had players signed in their positions.
“I think you’re going to see a ferocious training camp. We’ll do more hitting, not that the coaches are going to mandate but from guys who are trying to either maintain or win a new job. Guys are going to be flying around out there, and I feel sorry for maybe some of these people we play in the offseason. Because guys are going to be out there trying to earn a livelihood.”
That mentality probably wasn’t there in the summer of 2004. The Chiefs, coming off a 13-3 season, signed their free agents to new contracts and kept the entire defensive starting lineup intact. Some questioned the move, especially after Indianapolis shredded the Chiefs for 38 points in the playoffs.
Then came the 7-9 season, and the offseason acquisitions of cornerback Patrick Surtain, linebacker Kendrell Bell, safety Sammy Knight and defensive end Carlos Hall.
Coach Dick Vermeil is trying to integrate the newcomers, taking the team to movies and cooking up barbecues. Hicks, who signed as an undrafted free agent in 1998, stuck with what he knows — building chemistry in the weight room.
“He’s an inspiration when I come out here and see him working,” says Knight, who came to Kansas City from Miami. “He’s in great shape, he’s always prepared, and he’s always encouraging guys. He gets the whole D-line together.”
Hicks admits he’s far from perfect. He gets too emotional sometimes. Like the locker-room scene after the Carolina game last year, when Hicks blew up at a radio reporter who suggested that the Chiefs should’ve made some offseason moves to fix the defense.
It was 105 degrees out (actually 80 degrees at game time) that day, Hicks says. That game dropped them to 0-2.
“It was kind of a low moment,” he says.
At the end of the day, when Hicks met his family in the parking lot, things always got better. His 5-year-old daughter Shayla, who overcame heart surgeries, never knew when Hicks won or lost or had zero sacks. She just knew that her daddy was back.
Having kids, Hicks says, helped him learn patience. But as the years creep up and the defense continues to struggle, it’s obvious that Hicks is growing antsy. He hates the fact that Kansas City’s No. 1 offense has been saddled with the burden of one of the NFL’s worst defenses.
He’s asked whether the last year and a half has been tough.
“Try four years,” he says.
If anyone can bring the old and new defense together, Vermeil says, it’s Hicks.
He’s seen everything. He’s still here.
“To me, he’s our Rock of Gibraltar,” Vermeil says. “He’s the kind of person that you build a foundation around. He might not be the flashiest stone or the prettiest stone in the base … But he’s the most stable. The strongest.”