Before this season began the Kansas City chiefs hired Scott Pioli, New England’s former vice president of player personnel, to serve as their General Manager. It was pretty well known that the Chiefs NEEDED someone like Pioli to make personnel decisions to get the team back on the right track, which he has seemingly started to do by bringing in players and coaches from the Patriots team that he so successfully built in the early 2000’s to transform the Chiefs in to the Patriots Redux. He started with Matt Cassel, and has slowly added bits and pieces to start to build the team he wants, and one he knows can win.
Matt Cassel
One of Pioli’s first moves was to engineer a trade with his former team, the Patriots, for quarterback Matt Cassel.
Cassel was one of the most sought after players entering free agency last year after leading the Patriots to an 11-5 season after Tom Brady was hurt in the first quarter of the first game of the season (ironically against the Chiefs). There were tons of rumors about where Cassel would end up, but once Kansas City threw their name in the hat it was almost a given that he would end up there.
Mike Vrabel
Not only did Pioli push through the trade for Cassel, but he was able to get Belichick to agree to throw in LB Mike Vrabel, a talented veteran and a staple in New England’s defense for several years.
This trade was big for two reasons, Vrabel gave the Chiefs defense a leader and proven commodity, and Vrabel was loved in New England, and were upset that Belichick and the Patriots would consider trading him. You have to give Pioli credit though, the trade brought in a leader, and an anchor at the linebacker position.
Charlie Weis
Despite the changes the Chiefs have made over the past year, going 4-12 is a huge disappointment, so head coach Todd Haley has chosen to shake up his staff, hoping to put the Chiefs in position to challenge the Broncos and Chargers next year.
Only three days after the regular season ended the Chiefs announced that they had hired a new offensive coordinator, a man not unfamiliar to Scott Pioli. In fact the new offensive coordinator had worked with Pioli a few years ago. On January 6th, the Chiefs announced that they had hired Charlie Weis to be their new offensive coordinator. Weis had recently been fired as head coach of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, but has a proven track record as coordinator. He was the offensive coordinator in New England when they won their three Super Bowls, and offensive assistant in New York (Giants) when they won the Super Bowl in 1990.
Romeo Crennel
With the aforementioned coaching shake up in Kansas City why would they not go after a proven defensive coordinator to match their new offensive coordinator? And what better way than to bring in a man that has worked with that new offensive coordinator. There are a few men that fit the bill, but Romeo Crennel is currently without a job, and he has even more Super Bowl rings that Weis does, with five.
The only hurdle Pioli and the Chiefs face in hiring Crennel is the interview Crennel has with the New York Giants, however, with friends in Kansas City, the choice may be an easy one for Crennel.
It isn’t a crazy idea when you think about it. The Patriots won three Super Bowls in four years with Weis and Crennel, why can’t the Chiefs, with Cassel knowing Weis’ system from their days in New England win at least one?
