When 61 Sports' Rhonda Moss asked Chiefs defensive end Eric Hicks last month whether the team should have added more defensive help during the offseason, it seemed like a standard setup for a rote response. Granted, the Chiefs had just suffered a brutal loss to the Carolina Panthers, but this was a postgame interview, during which even tough questions usually elicit lifeless banter. So it was shocking when the usually soft-spoken Hicks became passionate and profane, standing up for his teammates. "These are my friends here," he snapped at one point. "If we added somebody, that would mean we would have to get rid of somebody, correct? Correct." With one simple speech, Hicks granted a rare glimpse at the humanity of professional sports, emphasizing the often-lost fact that players are people, too, and every personnel move demands an emotional toll.
