Kansas City Chiefs: New Management Shines in Shortened Free Agency

As the NFL neared the end of the 2008 season, Chiefs owner Clark Hunt accepted the resignation of long-time general manager Carl Peterson. Known as a shrewd negotiator who bordered on miserly, Peterson had built, guided and directed the Chiefs for two decades.

With the NFL lockout over and the league in the middle of a free-agency period shorter than a Tom and Jerry cartoon, it begs the question of how Kansas City would fare if the man dubbed "King Carl" were running things in the land of fountains and BBQ, rather than his successor, Scott Pioli.

Peterson's drafts were often hit-or-miss when it came to player selection. He had phenomenal success by drafting multiple Hall of Fame talents like Derrick Thomas and Tony Gonzalez. More often, though, his draft classes as a whole struggled to even stay on Kansas City's roster. Ironically, Peterson's best draft was his last in 2008. Six of Kansas City's current starters came from that draft class.

So far Pioli has had similar success and failure. The class of 2010's rookies stepped into starting roles on both offense and defense, contributing to the Chiefs' first playoff appearance in four years. There is a lot of hope for the 2011 group as well, with at least three players likely to be starting by midseason.

The 2009 campaign, Pioli's first season in charge, was far less successful. Only five of the eight players are still with the team, and only two could be considered as regular contributors. In fact, "Mr. Irrelevant" kicker Ryan Succop could be considered a more essential player than the No. 3 overall draft pick, defensive end Tyson Jackson.

As for trades and free agency, Peterson often had Kansas City active in the market—mostly to cover gaps in the team left by deficiencies in former draft picks. Peterson had about the same track record here as he did in the draft. He brought in stars such as Joe Montana, Willie Roaf and Priest Holmes that were essential to Kansas City's success.

However, his successes were overshadowed by busts such as Chester McGlockton, Kendrell Bell and Sammy Knight. Additionally, players like Joe Horn and Vonnie Holliday found on-field success only after leaving the Chiefs.

But Peterson was often involved in major deals with big-name players, much to the contrary of Pioli. With the exception of Kansas City's trade and signing of quarterback Matt Cassel, most deals have been for role players, or free-agent bargains who can step in and start adequately. Most of those have instead over-performed, like offensive linemen Casey Wiegmann and Ryan Lilja.

Pioli seems to be continuing the trend this year, signing Arizona receiver Steve Breaston to a cap-friendly contract while bigger names like Sidney Rice and Santonio Holmes have teams ponying up over $40 million apiece.

A couple other points certainly separate Pioli from Peterson. Peterson built a well-deserved reputation for being a tough negotiator, often leading to draft-pick holdouts. His methods would be a serious detriment this year with barely a week to sign draft picks, conduct trades and bring in free agents. Pioli already has all but two players under contract and ready for camp—first-round pick Jonathan Baldwin and third-round pick (with first-round talent) Justin Houston.

Peterson also regularly took chances on players with questionable pasts, looking for quality talent at a bargain due to personality or off-field concerns. These gambles paid off at times but often brought more headlines for criminal action than highlight reels.

Pioli made a point to bring in leaders and college team captains with last year's draft. And while Baldwin and Houston both had question marks heading into the draft, the focus for the Chiefs has been to bring in team players who can buy into the "team first" mentality that Pioli learned and implemented during his time in New England.

Pioli is still at the very beginning of his managing career, at least in comparison to Peterson. So far, it looks like a solid change from the high-risk, high-reward that came with "King Carl."

The only real negative, at least from this fan's perspective, came earlier this evening with the release of veteran Brian Waters. Pioli has a history of being less than sentimental when it comes to tenured veterans. Kansas City likewise parted ways with Tony Gonzalez just before Pioli's first season. Its usually hard to watch a fan favorite leave, especially when it's to join another team rather than venture into retirement.

Overall, though, it's much easier to be confident in the direction of the Chiefs with Pioli taking the lead.

It's not always good to be King.