<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Defensive tackle Alfonso Boone was one spot from being Mr. Irrelevant.</p> Seven years after Boone was the second-to-last player taken in the 2000 NFL draft, he has become Mr. Significant.</p> Boone, signed by the Chiefs amid little fanfare as an unrestricted free agent from the Chicago Bears last March, has provided an inside force the Chiefs have lacked since the days of Dan Saleaumua and Joe Phillips in the mid- to late 1990s.</p> Just ask Jared Allen. Allen is tied for the AFC lead with 8.5 sacks, and he gives Boone the credit.</p> “When he plays the way he plays, and can get push, you keep that quarterback from scrambling and keep him back in the pocket. And it lets me get more one-on-one opportunities, because the guard can’t come out and chip me,” Allen said. “You can depend on him. I can trust him to be where he’s supposed to be, and that’s what makes us work well together.”</p> Just ask linebacker Donnie Edwards. Edwards leads the team with 66 tackles and says he has the space to run free thanks to the disruption Boone causes in the middle.</p> “He’s been playing well for us all year,” Edwards said. “When you’re playing a 4-3, you want your two tackles to be studs up there, because as they play well, the whole defense plays well, especially against the run. Linebackers always want to flow and tackle, and it makes our job easier when the tackles are taking up two guys.”</p> Just ask guard Brian Waters, who understands the importance of Boone’s impact from the other side of the line.</p> “He’s a surprisingly explosive football player,” said Waters. “When you see him, you don’t think he’s as athletic as he is. He has the complete game, whether he’s stopping the run and being the pass rusher from the inside. He doesn’t always get the sack, but he definitely does make a difference. He does get in the quarterback’s face.”</p> Just ask Chiefs president/general manager Carl Peterson, who calls Boone “unequivocally, the best offseason, unrestricted free agent we acquired.”</p> Just don’t ask Alfonso Boone about his fascinating route to the NFL or about his performance with the Chiefs. Boone, immensely popular with this teammates for his outgoing personality, does not speak with reporters. But his work on the field has spoken volumes.</p> In eight games, Boone has 23 tackles, seven quarterback pressures and one sack. He came up with the big fourth-and-1 stop at Oakland in the win a few weeks ago. And his harassment of Brett Favre — one of three of his pressures in last Sunday’s loss to the Packers — led to an interception.</p> “Last week in one series he might have been in the backfield three or four times in a row, and that’s something we haven’t had here in a long time,” Waters said. “And if you look at the (game-winning) bomb, he was being held. The offensive lineman grabbed his jersey from behind because he was in Brett Favre’s face.”</p> So who is Alfonso Boone? Boone, 31, began his college career at Central State in Ohio, but the school dropped football after his freshman year. He sat out two seasons before enrolling at Mount San Antonio Junior College in southern California. After two seasons there, Boone was recruited by several major schools, but the NCAA ruled his five years of eligibility had expired, even though he did not play for two years.</p> Detroit plucked him with the 253rd pick of the 2000 draft, and that November, the Bears signed him off the Lions’ practice squad. For the next six seasons, Boone was part of Chicago’s defensive-line rotation, capped by an appearance in Super Bowl XLI against Indianapolis.</div></p> Source: Kansas City Star</p>
