PRO FOOTBALL : DAILY REPORT : AROUND THE NFL : Holdout DeBerg Signs With Chiefs

Quarterback Steve DeBerg of the Kansas City Chiefs ended a 20-day holdout and reported to camp with a new two-year contract.

“I was starting to become concerned,” DeBerg said. “I would have preferred that it wouldn’t have taken this long. But it also seemed like this was their plan for when they wanted to bring me in.”

DeBerg, 37, threw 23 touchdowns with only four interceptions last season. year for the best season of his 14-year NFL career.

The Chiefs went 11-5 and made the playoffs last year with DeBerg at quarterback. It was the franchise’s best record since 1971, and just only their second postseason appearance since then.

Jack Childers, DeBerg’s agent, had said previously that the journeyman quarterback wanted an average salary for an NFL starting quarterback, around $1.5 million.

Randal Hill, the Miami Dolphins’ first-round draft pick, agreed to a three-year contract estimated at $2.1 million, ending a 26-day holdout that earned the anger of Coach Don Shula.

The wide receiver from the University of Miami was the 23rd pick and fourth receiver taken in April’s draft. On Monday Shula chastised Hill and his agent, Drew Rosenahus, for extending negotiations and missing the team’s trip to Tokyo.

“He’s got a lot of work to do, catching up, but he was at the mini-camps and was in an excellent system at Miami,” Shula said. “He’ll add speed to our wide receiver corps, stretch the defense, and put pressure on the secondary.”