According to a report by the Kansas City Star, the Chiefs and troubled running back Larry Johnson are working on some kind of settlement that would decide LJ’s future with the team.

Asked whether that settlement would involve a separation from the team, (Johnson’s agent) Schaffer said: “Not necessarily.”

Schaffer said Johnson’s side is working on an appeal of the two-week suspension the team handed down Wednesday for detrimental conduct. Schaffer said Wednesday night that he hoped an appeal would be filed early Thursday, and it’s possible that settlement talks could delay that appeal.

Johnson would lose more than $600,000 if he serves the full two-week suspension. He also could face further punishment from the league and the Chiefs when this suspension expires Nov. 9.

This situation seems a little ridiculous. Johnson was out of line, the Chiefs suspended him and will decide his future with the team over the course of the next two weeks. So what is there to “settle?”

There’s a good chance that Johnson will never play another down with the Chiefs, so maybe the team is trying to work out a deal where LJ gets to keep part of his contract if he just goes away. Then again, there have been reports that the Chiefs don’t want to outright release him because then it provokes other players to act up if they want to get out of town. So I don’t know what to think at this point.

We’ll see what comes out of this “settlement.”

NFL.com reports that the Chiefs have ordered Larry Johnson to refrain from team activities in the wake of comments he made on his Twitter page about head coach Todd Haley. Johnson also used a homophonic slur to degrade another Twitter user that had commented on LJ’s page.

On Tuesday, Haley suggested that Jamaal Charles has earned a larger role in Kansas City’s offense and could take over the fulltime tailback duties while the team investigates Johnson’s situation. The 22-year old back has flashed big play potential throughout his short career, but he’s had problems holding onto the ball and has been an inconsistent performer.

It appears that the writing is on the wall for Johnson. While Charles isn’t the answer to the Chiefs’ rushing woes (it doesn’t matter who takes the carries if KC’s O-line doesn’t start opening running lanes), he’s worth taking a shot on while Johnson is busy being a malcontent off the field. The cap hit might be too great for the Chiefs to outright release LJ but given his age and production (or lack thereof), don’t rule out the possibility.

Haley has stood by Johnson all season, but it appears that he has had enough. The Chiefs are off this week, but one would imagine that Haley will prep Charles for the fulltime role and depending on what happens with LJ in the next two weeks, Charles will get the opportunity to start at Jacksonville in Week 9.

Things have gone from bad to worse for Jason Campbell and the Washington Redskins, who sunk to a new low on Sunday by losing to the previously winless Chiefs, 14-6.

Campbell was benched and replaced by backup Todd Collins in the second half on Sunday after throwing for just 89 yards on 9-of-16 passing. He also threw an interception right before halftime and missed Santana Moss on what could have been a big gain. To be fair, Moss also dropped a pass that could have produced a big play.

After the game, Washington head coach Jim Zorn said that Campbell “was not comfortable” and that wholesale changes might not be coming at the quarterback position. How Campbell wasn’t comfortable facing a defense as brutal as the Chiefs’ is staggering, but I digress.

Campbell certainly wasn’t good, but he wasn’t bad enough to force Zorn to make a change. Zorn is just clueless and is grasping at straws at this point. His offense is so bad that instead of trying to game plan differently, he makes a half-assed decision to replace his quarterback in the middle of the game and it proved to be unnecessary. He’s not long for Washington and quite frankly, neither is Campbell, who would benefit from a fresh start elsewhere.

According to NFL.com’s Jason La Canfora, the Chiefs are already down on former first round pick Glenn Dorsey and are willing to trade him. La Canfora writes that the new coaching staff isn’t high on Dorsey and that the salary cap ramifications wouldn’t be a deterrent in dealing him before the October 20 deadline.

This isn’t shocking news considering that Dorsey isn’t a fit for the Chiefs’ new 3-4 defensive front. He excels at shooting the gaps as a 4-3 tackle, which is what he played at LSU. He isn’t big enough to play nose in a 3-4, and his pass-rush talents are wasted as an end in a 3-4.

If the report is true and the Chiefs do plan to trade him, one team that could be interested in Dorsey is the Falcons. They were reportedly deciding between Dorsey and Matt Ryan in last year’s draft and there was also a rumor that the Falcons were interested in trading for the D-tackle before this year’s draft.

The Falcons addressed their defensive tackle need in April with the selection of first round pick Peria Jerry. But he suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 2 and the Falcons could use an interior pass-rusher to go along with Jonathan Babineaux. Once Jerry is healthy, the Falcons could have a fantastic defensive tackle rotation in Babineaux, Jerry and Dorsey (assuming they trade for Dorsey).

But would it be worth it for the Falcons to part with draft picks next year to acquire Drosey? Again, they’ve already addressed the need with Jerry, who will return to health next year (hopefully) and they also don’t have a second round pick in 2010 because of the trade for Tony Gonzalez. I doubt the Chiefs would part with Dorsey for a third rounder, so would the Falcons part with a first rounder? It’s doubtful.

Trades rarely happen in the NFL, so it’s unlikely that Dorsey will be dealt. But considering Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff and Chiefs GM Scott Pioli have a sound relationship from their days in New England, a Dorsey-to-Atlanta deal would be intriguing.

According to the Chiefs’ official website, Kansas City traded quarterback Tyler Thigpen to the Dolphins for an undisclosed draft pick.

Miami was forced to make this move after Chad Pennington suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in a loss to the Chargers in Week 3. With only Chad Henne and Pat White on the depth chart, Thigpen gives the Dolphins more experience at the quarterback position.

That said, Henne will remain the Dolphins’ starter because the team wants to get a better look at the former second round pick out of Michigan. Given Pennington’s age (33) and injury history, there’s a good chance that Miami won’t re-sign him when he becomes a free agent in the offseason. But they still want to see whether or not Henne is capable of taking over the starting job before the jettison a veteran quarterback like Pennington, who led Miami to an AFC East title last season.

As for the Chiefs, they were hoping to acquire a fourth round pick in exchange for Thigpen this summer after they traded for Matt Cassel, but I doubt they got more than a fifth rounder from Miami.

Thigpen isn’t a bad fantasy quarterback. He was QB12 last year even though he was second string early in the season. His 18.8 fppg average was 10th-best in the league. He posted some good garbage time numbers for the Chiefs because they were trailing for most of the season. The job is Henne’s to start, but if he falters or gets injured, Thigpen could be a sneaky good pickup in deeper fantasy leagues.