Chiefs' Offseason Report Card: Ownership

Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay since the last post. I took a little time off, but I'm back and ready to talk Chiefs' football again. I thought it would be nice to start off with an evaluation of how the Chiefs fared this offseason on several different dimensions. We'll start today with the Ownership.Ownership: I was reluctant to grade Clark Hunt because we have yet to see how good Scott Pioli really is. However, I think there is a lot to be said for the way he conducted the vetting process for the GM position. Clark Hunt was unfairly criticized early in his tenure for being a puppet to Carl Peterson. Nevermind that he inherited his father's team, front office, and problems. When the Chiefs stunk, the fans criticized him for not caring about the team. Even when he made the tough decision to fire Carl Peterson, the fans assumed that he would be lazy in the vetting process and would end up promoting Bill Kuharich internally. Instead, Hunt conducted an almost flawless vetting process. Unlike the Lions, the Chiefs did not promote from within as a form of croneyism. Unlike the Browns, the Chiefs patiently waited to hire a GM before making a decision about the head coach. The Browns' decision to hire Eric Mangini before a GM was ever hired both communicated to prospective coaches that the GM would not have full control over the coaching decision and it forced a head coach onto the GM even if their viewpoints didn't mesh. While the jury is out as to whether Scott Pioli is as good as advertised, there is no disputing that he was the best on the market, and the Chiefs only landed him because Clark Hunt was patient and he proved throughout the vetting process that he was genuine about giving his GM power to make his own decisions.Once Scott Pioli was hired, Hunt again stayed true to his word. In spite of Hunt's loyalties, especially toward Herm Edwards, he gave Pioli free reign in the coaching decision. In terms of the way Hunt handled the entire GM search, I can't think of a single way that it could have been done better. Hunt was an absolute superstar this offseason. Grade: A+