Being stuck in limbo is never a pleasant feeling, and the Kansas City Chiefs are in risk of alienating Branden Albert, who is somewhat on the trading block after signing a franchise tender. He didn’t show up for the voluntary workouts, the only player on the team to miss them, and wants clarifications, and even better, a commitment from the Chiefs to his future, instead of leaving him in the dark.

While there are talks of a trade coming up with the Miami Dolphins who are in need of a left tackle after Jake Long bolted to the St. Louis Rams, there’s also the number one draft pick to remember. The Chiefs aren’t trading their pick and are likely to take Luke Joekel from Texas A&M for that position, which means Albert will either be made redundant and traded, or possibly shifted to the right tackle position, which Albert has

Above all, Albert doesn’t want the franchise tag, giving him $9.5 million this season. He wants a long term commitment from the chiefs, while declaring he wants to stay with the team. He has been with the Chiefs since 2008. According to him and his agent, he’ll play in 2013 on a one-year contract if he’ll have to, but lets just say he’s suggesting, or hinting to me more accurate, that he might not be the happiest camper in the world without a long term deal from the Chiefs coming his way.

There’s a deadline to the situation being resolved, in his head at least, whatever that means. What is becoming clearer that if a trade does happen, it’ll occur before the 2013 NFL Draft on April 25, which means that as workouts begin, so do things start to turn a little bit more tense with Albert and the Chiefs, and if they are planning on tacking a left tackle as the number one pick, it’ll mean the end of Albert’s tenure with the team, with a few willing to set up a trade package for his services.

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