Alex Trevelyan
Active Roster
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2011
- Messages
- 454
- Reaction score
- 344
Hell, no. Pioli was a Chernobyl in Kansas City. I guess because the Chiefs are located in the dead center of the country and media attention is slight, people just don't know what Pioli was doing in KC. In his four-years with the Chiefs, half the team's staff from the janitors to the front office people to the assistant coaches quit or were fired. There were rumors that Pioli was bugging offices. Todd Haley claimed he was being spied on. The Chiefs were sued by 3 former employees for wrongful termination by Pioli. Staffers on the business side of the organization with offices facing the practice fields had to have their blinds drawn during practices, they could not watch practice because they could not be trusted in Pioli's mind. During some of these lawsuits it was revealed that Pioli was having security people read months old emails by high ranking staffers.
His record as a personnel man was bad, I don't know where this impression comes from that he was good or decent in that department. He traded a high second-round pick for Matt Cassel and a broken down Mike Vrabel, then gave them big money contracts (63 mil. to Cassel.) He traded Tony Gonzalez claiming the guy only had a couple more years of productive football left, then used the second-round pick he got for him on Javier Arenas. Gonzalez is still playing at a near-Pro Bowl level. Arenas is primarily a special teamer for the Cards! Pioli cut Bernard Pollard, a guy that went on to be a Pro Bowler with the Super Bowl champ Ravens. Only 2 players from Pioli's first draft class still play for the Chiefs and that was only 5-years ago! One is an average kicker, the other was a DE picked third overall that has 9-sacks in 5-seasons!
His drafts didn't get better either. He took WR Jon Baldwin with a first-round pick 3-years ago, 2-years later he was dumped on the Niners. Baldwin has 44 receptions and 2 TDs in 3 full seasons in the NFL. He took Dexter McCluster with a high second. McCluster is a decent player, but he's not the Darren Sproles type he was supposed to be. Pioli did hit on some linemen Poe, Jeff Allen, Rodney Hudson and pass rusher Justin Houston, but the totality of his work in KC was a debacle. He absolutely poisoned the well in KC. The long knives were out for Pioli by the time he was fired. Ireland is a superior GM to Pioli, if Pioli is the best Ross can do, we'd be better served keeping Ireland. Something tells me that Pioli isn't a realistic candidate here, considering Carl Peterson is probably Ross's closest advisor, and Peterson and his way of doing business was criticized by Pioli when he took over in KC after Peterson's firing.
