willie roaf being honored sunday
Chiefs to Honor T Willie Roaf on Sunday vs San Diego
Dec 09, 2008, 7:30:58 AM
Kansas City Chiefs President Carl Peterson announced on Tuesday that the club will honor retired Chiefs T Willie Roaf at the Chiefs home game vs. San Diego on December 14th. Roaf is slated to be honored at the 50-yard line during a halftime ceremony that will consist of a highlight video recapping his Chiefs career, along with an opportunity for Roaf to address the Arrowhead Stadium crowd.
“Willie Roaf is arguably the finest left tackle to have ever played in the NFL,” Peterson commented. “We were very fortunate to execute a trade for Willie with the New Orleans Saints. What the Chiefs received was the ‘personal’ protection of QB Trent Green for four years which led to four Pro Bowl appearances for Willie. At the same time, he became a member of one of the most highly-decorated offensive lines in Chiefs history.
“Throughout his professional football career, Willie conducted himself in a manner both on and off the field that has served his reputation well and is a quality one would hope all NFL players would emulate,” Peterson continued. “We are delighted to pay tribute to him and hope to do so again in the future when he is welcomed into the family of greats as a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. We wish Willie and his family all the best for the future.”
Roaf (2002-05) announced his retirement from professional football on July 28, 2006. The 11-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle started all 58 games he appeared in during a four-year career in Kansas City, in addition to starting one postseason contest. He earned four Pro Bowl berths with Kansas City after joining the Chiefs in a 2002 trade. An almost certain candidate for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Roaf’s 11 Pro Bowl nominations tie Bengals Hall of Fame T Tony Munoz as the most ever received by an offensive tackle in NFL history. Roaf played a major role in helping Kansas City lead the league in total offense during back-to-back seasons (2004-05) and he played a pivotal role in opening rushing lanes for RB Larry Johnson to establish a then-franchise-record 1,750 rushing yards in 2005. He also paved the way for Chiefs career rushing leader RB Priest Holmes to rush for 3,035 yards with 51 total TDs from 2002-03 and establish single season franchise records for points (162 in 2003) and yards from scrimmage (2,287 in 2002). During his four-year reign as Kansas City’s left tackle, the Chiefs led the NFL in total yards (24,797), yards per game (398.5), total points (1,837), TDs (228) and first downs (1,436).
now only if we could clone him
