Kansas City Chiefs: Changing the Culture, One Draft at a Time (Part 1)

In early 2009, Patriots Vice President of Player Personnel Scott Pioli and Cardinals offensive coordinator Todd Haley, both left their respective teams behind to become a part of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Immediately, they both made it clear that they were going to focus on one thing: change the losing culture that had been haunting the team, fans and city of Kansas City for the past few seasons.

"Changing the culture" is the phrase that has linked the two together since the pair arrived in Kansas City over two years ago.

They took over a team that was on the brink of disaster, having lost 14 games the previous season, and won six out of their last 32 contests overall.

Many of the players that were inherited by the new Chiefs management were out of shape, lazy and lacked the focus and talent to get where they needed to be.

It didn't take long for Pioli and Haley to start cleaning house for an organization that was in desperate need of a new makeover.

Veterans Donnie Edwards, Damon Huard, and Patrick Surtain were just a few of the notable players to released in an effort to make the team younger once again.

Some free agents were brought in, but it was the draft that everyone was looking forward to, since this was an area that Pioli was known to excel at, as he acquired the name "draft guru" for the work that he had done during his career in New England.

This was a trait that former Chiefs coach Herm Edwards was not known for.

In fact, he had two of the worst drafts in team history in his first two seasons with the organization in '06 and '07.

Although his '08 draft class would later turn out to be a success, he will always be known more for his first two drafts while he was with Kansas City.

Scott Pioli knew all about this, and he was determined to make his first draft as Chiefs GM a good one.

The 2009 NFL Draft came and went. It left many Chiefs fans puzzled as some thought that Pioli had reached for several picks including first round selection, Tyson Jackson.

After a disappointing '09 season that saw the Chiefs win just four games, some started to doubt Pioli's ability to draft and claim that longtime Patriots Head Coach, Bill Belichick, was the man behind the curtain pulling the strings for New England's successful drafts over the years.

On the other hand, some said that the new Chiefs brass didn't have time to get their guys in place in order to have a strong draft that year, because they were still getting other things in order with the team.

No matter what side you were on, one thing was clear: seventh-round selection Ryan Succop was the only draft pick that made an impact during the '09 season.

This wasn't exactly the kind of draft that Chiefs fans had hoped for from their new management.

However, Pioli and Haley had a plan all along, they just needed time.

Stay tuned for the second part of this series tomorrow, as I analyze last year's Chiefs' draft and talk about the importance of building a franchise through the draft.