Chiefs Hire John Dorsey As General Manager

John Dorsey, a longtime personnel man for the Green Bay Packers, has been hired as the new general manager for the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs will be hosting a press conference today in which Dorsey will be officially introduced.

After a five year playing career in Green Bay, Dorsey joined the Packers’ front office, where he moved up the ranks and became a key contributor to the organization. Dorsey served as the director of college scouting from 2000 through 2012, a period in which the Packers built a talented team through the draft that consistently made the playoffs and won the 2011 Super Bowl. Dorsey spent last season as the director of football operations.

Dorsey also has a close relationship with new Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. Reid was an assistant coach for the Packers from 1992 through 1998, a period in which Dorsey worked as a college scout.

The hiring of Dorsey should be considered a home run by Chiefs fans. The Packers won the Super Bowl in 2011 with a starting lineup nearly entirely made up of players the team drafted, including Pro Bowl caliber players such as Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson, B.J. Raji, James Jones, Casey Hayward and others. The Packers have consistently drafted well and signed undrafted free agents that have become productive NFL starters, such as Tramon Williams and Sam Shields. Poor drafting was one of the biggest criticisms of former GM Scott Pioli’s tenure, as the Chiefs often used high selections on average to below-average players and failed to build a deep roster that could sustain injuries.

As the Chiefs start their rebuilding process, the team will need to draft well and add young talent to the roster. Dorsey is the right man for the job, and Chiefs fans have reason to be optimistic that things may start to turn around.

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Chiefs Interview Brad Childress & Doug Pederson

New Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has begun the process of filing out his staff, and it appears that he may be offering some positions to several former coworkers. Reid has talked to former Eagles assistants Doug Pederson and Brad Childress about joining him in Kansas City.

Pederson could be in the mix to serve as the team’s offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach. He has served as an assistant for the Eagles for the past four seasons, earning a promotion to quarterbacks coach before the 2011 season. In his playing days, Pederson served as Brett Favre’s backup QB in Green Bay for several seasons, and found brief playing time for both the Eagles and Browns later in his career.

It is unknown what role Childress would hold on Reid’s staff, but he doesn’t appear to be in the mix for either the offensive coordinator or quarterbacks coach positions. Childress worked with Reid for seven seasons in Philadelphia, three as the Eagles’ offensive coordinator. He was hired by the Minnesota Vikings in 2006 to become the team’s head coach, a position he held for nearly five seasons. Childress spent last season as the offensive coordinator of the Cleveland Browns.

Earlier, it was believed that former Browns’ head coach Pat Shurmer would be a candidate for the offensive coordinator position, but it appears that he is no longer being considered. Shurmer served as an offensive assistant for Reid in Philadelphia for 10 seasons before taking the Browns’ head coaching job in 2011.

It shouldn’t be surprising to Chiefs fans that Reid has been interviewing coaches he has worked with in the past. However, it is important for the new head coach to also consider what kind of team he will have and be willing to hire coaches he doesn’t have a prior working relationship with. The Chiefs will be looking to rebuild through the draft, and it is important that Reid hire coaches that excel at developing young players, especially at quarterback.

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Chiefs Officially Introduce Andy Reid As Head Coach

The Chiefs officially introduced Andy Reid as the team’s head coach this afternoon, ending a short search that brought the former Philadelphia coach to Kansas City within a matter of days. Now that the ink on Reid’s five year deal is dry, Chiefs fans can turn their attention to several burning matters that Reid must address.

For starters, Reid will have to decide who will be the team’s general manager, an integral piece of rebuilding the team’s roster. The Chiefs have the first overall pick in this year’s draft, and thus will have a pick at the start of each round in the draft as well. This provides the franchise with an excellent opportunity to instantly inject young talent into the roster, as the weak drafting by Scott Pioli was one of the leading causes to the downward spiral the team has been on over the past two seasons. Kansas City also needs to do a better job in free agency, as the team has badly whiffed on several signings while losing valuable veterans such as Brandon Carr.

While the GM is the first step to the puzzle, Reid also must decide how to assemble his new staff. The former Eagles coach was heavily criticized in Philadelphia for some extremely questionable hires at defensive coordinator, and the offensive-minded Reid will likely need to find an experienced coach he can trust to run the defense.

Finally, Reid must figure out what to do with the quarterback position. Reid has constantly had a good quarterback on his roster, whether it was Brett Favre while he was an assistant in Green Bay, or Donovan McNabb and Michael Vick during his tenure as head coach for Philadelphia. If the team does select a quarterback with its top overall pick, Reid and his staff will have to devout time and energy to helping the player develop. If the Chiefs decide to move in a different direction, Reid and his new GM will be forced to find a veteran who will provide a significant upgrade from Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn. That shouldn’t be hard to do, as there are several good veteran quarterbacks looking for a starting shot this offseason.

Reid has a lot of work to do, and Chiefs fans should be excited that a new era has begun in Kansas City. The next several weeks will be interesting to watch.

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Chiefs Fire Scott Pioli

After four disappointing seasons, Scott Pioli has been fired from his position as general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs. The move comes with the expected news that the Chiefs will hire former Eagles head coach Andy Reid, and that Reid will be choosing a GM.

Pioli was a massive flop for the Chiefs, who thought they were getting a top-flight GM when they acquired him from the Patriots. In New England, Pioli was a five-time NFL Executive of the Year and served as the top front-office assistant to head coach and general manager Bill Belickick.

During Pioli’s tenure in Kansas City, the Chiefs compiled a 23-41 record. Both of his coaching hires – Todd Haley and Romeo Crennel – didn’t pan out, as Pioli famously feuded with Haley during the coach’s final season. Pioli’s style also frustrated coaches and players, as he was accused of bugging phones in team offices and other secretive behaviors.

It was Pioli’s personnel decisions that were the biggest red flag during his tenure in Kansas City. Pioli made several ill-fated moves, most notably trading a second-round pick to the New England for quarterback Matt Cassel and then signing him to a $63 million contract. Pioli also made several other puzzling moves – he traded Kansas City icon Tony Gonzalez to Atlanta for a second-round pick that he used on Javier Arenas and signed several veterans such as Stanford Rout that were disasters. Pioli also drafted extremely poorly, and as a result, the team found itself with paper-thin depth the past couple of seasons.

It was obvious that Pioli had to go, and the Chiefs should have cut ties with the GM much earlier. Kansas City needs to find someone who can build the team through the draft and create a roster with depth at every position. Hopefully, the GM that Reid brings in will be able to get things turned around.

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Chiefs Interview Andy Reid, Interested In Keith Armstrong

Yesterday, we compiled a list of possible coaching replacements for the Chiefs, and it appears that the team has begun to conduct interviews and move forward in the hiring process. Yesterday, the team interviewed former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Andy Reid.

Reid was not included on our previous article because it was widely believed that he was taking the vacant head coaching position with the Arizona Cardinals. Reid is still scheduled to interview with Arizona, but meeting with the Chiefs first may signal that the two parties’ interest in one another is strong.

Reid, who is 55, was the Eagles head coach for 14 seasons. In that time, Philadelphia won six division championships and made five NFC title games. Reid also guided the Eagles to a Super Bowl appearance, where the team lost by a field goal to the New England Patriots. Reid’s tenure in Philadelphia ended on a sour note, however, as the team failed to live up to lofty expectations in 2011 and had an awful 2012.

Would Reid be a good fit in Kansas City? He is an offensive-minded coach who has developed several Pro Bowl quarterbacks, which may be exactly what the team needs at the moment. However, the way the Eagles massively underachieved over the past two seasons has to be a giant red flag, and Reid will not have the talent at his disposal that enjoyed in Philadelphia for most of his time there.

In other coaching news, Falcons’ offensive coordinator Dirk Koetter has announced that he will be remaining with the Falcons. Koetter was rumored to be high on the Chiefs’ list. Kansas City apparently is interested in one of Koetter’s coworkers – Falcons special teams coach Keith Armstrong.

If the past couple of days are any indication, it looks like Clark Hunt is open to both former head coaches and top coordinators. It will be interesting to see which candidates the team brings in for an interview in the near future.

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