05/22 — The signing of long-time Kansas City Chiefs DE Eric Hicks on Tuesday is another case of adding a player with Core Jet Values to the mix along the defensive front.

Hicks turns 31 next month, and it would be easy to say the Chiefs think he's done. Last season was his first since his rookie season of 1998 in K.C. in which he had no starts and no sacks. With the end play of Jared Allen and Tamba Hali and with this year's second-round drafting of DL Turk McBride, Hicks was released early this month.

But the Chiefs media guide still refers to the 6'6", 280-pound Maryland product as "rugged and respected." And Kansas City president/GM Carl Peterson said upon Hicks' release:

"Eric has been an excellent football player for the Chiefs and a superb representative of this organization in the community these past nine years. He's one of the best college free agents we've signed since '89."

(When Hicks was signed in '98, K.C.'s director of player personnel was Terry Bradway, now the Jets' player personnel director.)

Hicks loves playing the game — he's missed only four games the past eight seasons. And he has kept busy off the field with his work with the American Heart Associaton, the March of Dimes, and the "Hicks for Hearts Foundation" he and his wife, Erica, started.

Why so heart-y? The Hickses' daughter, Shayla, at the age of 3½ months in 1999, fought for her life in the intensive care unit of a Kansas City hospital while undergoing two surgeries to repair heart defects.

"I have to distinguish when I go to the stadium or to practice, if I don't do this job well, I won't be able to take care of my baby," Hicks told the Kansas City Star in 2000. "Obviously, she needs good insurance. And I don't want to let my team down, so I try to do the best I can and try to forget about it while I'm here."

"She gets her determination from her daddy," Erica said.

Shayla's healthy now, and Hicks is a Jet. It's expected he'll work at DE here, using his determination and his tricks of the trade, some taught to him by the late Derrick Thomas, to keep his NFL career going for another season.

It's too soon to say he'll snag a few more sacks in green to go with the 44.5 he had in red, but he's got a chance. Here's a chart of his NFL career totals: