Chiefs Refusing To Pay Todd Haley?

More bad press is on the way for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Mike Jureki of ETRA 910 radio in Arizona is tweeting that the Chiefs may be refusing to pay Todd Haley for the final year of his contract.

"Hearing the Chiefs R refusing 2 play Todd Haley the remainder of his salary, was terminated 4 cause, another words 4 a specific reason."

Under normal circumstances, since the Chiefs fired Haley before the end of his agreement, the team would have to pay him him the remainder of his deal. Unless of course, they fired him a specific reason. I’m no lawyer but the way I understand it is that if the team just thought he was bad at his job, they could fire him but they would have to pay him what he was owed. But if Haley in some way engaged in behavior that broke his contract, then the Chiefs might have a case to not pay him.

If this is true, it will bring more bad press on the Chiefs. Haley and the Chiefs are unlikely to agree over this matter which could mean a semi-public squabble. Unless the Chiefs release news that Haley did something serious, this isn’t likely to help convince those that think the organization is pinching pennies to feel any differently.

I wonder if this could be happening because of the Kent Babb report where Babb mentioned that Haley thought his phone might be bugged. The Chiefs could be saying that Haley talking to Babb like that was a violation of his contract. Even though the Chiefs had already fired Haley before the contract broke, the team still might be able to get out of paying Haley if he does something wrong during the period of the contract. It’s confusing and we really won’t know a whole lot until the details, if there are any details, begin to trickle out.

This incident is just another in a long line of reports that are shining an ugly light on the Chiefs.

-Three former employees are suing the Chiefs for age discrimination

-Pioli had to fire his first head coach in less than three years

-The Babb report that quoted many current and former employees complaining about the atmosphere at Arrowhead

-Haley’s belief that his office and maybe even his phone were bugged

-And now the organization potentially refusing to pay Haley the balance of his contract

I know a lot of you think the media makes too much of these kinds of things. Some of you also don’t necessarily believe all of these allegations. That is fair. There is no proof that the Chiefs bugged Haley’s phone. There is no proof that this report about the Chiefs refusing to pay Haley is true. The Babb report could be just a bunch of ex-employees making things sound worse than they are.

I generally tend to believe that when there is smoke, there is fire. Especially if there is a lot of smoke. No matter what side of the fence you are  on, you can’t deny that there is a lot of smoke around Arrowhead these days and that means the organization is going to look bad.

Take just a few comments from the readers over at Pro Football Talk. PFT also posted a story about this report.

"riverhorsey says: Jan 26, 2012 9:02 PM The Chiefs and Pioli are dysfunctional. Good coaches in the future will pass on them pretty quick.Hunt needs to dump Pioli and move on."

"azbroncos says: Jan 26, 2012 9:17 PMCome on now Chiefs! Thought the organization was better than that. When your situation is compared to the Raiders there’s a problem."

"binarybulge says: Jan 26, 2012 8:59 PMAFC West = AFL = Amateur Football League."

"buzzbissinger says: Jan 26, 2012 9:25 PMAfter all those years of talking smack about the Raiders, now the sterling Chiefs organization is the ones not making good on contracts, bugging offices, tapping phones. Before you wise guys start chirping about the Raiders and Al Davis, check your own closet for skeletons."

"ownbay says: Jan 26, 2012 8:48 PMThe Chefs are becoming the raiders."

This is getting ridiculous. If I were Pioli, I would stop trying to pretend everything is great in Kansas City and dish out a dose of reality. I’d hold a presser and try to clear up as many of these issues as I could so that my side was out there.

The problem is that Pioli is unlikely to do that. He believes in keeping the veil of secrecy over the organization which, as we’ve said many times, will lead to speculation. Speculation isn’t always true but if the Chiefs can’t set the record straight on these matters then folks are going to make up their own minds. And I’m not sure sending mark Donnovan out to say “This is 100% false,” for every incident that comes up is going to work forever.

What do you think Addicts? Do you think the Chiefs are refusing to pay Haley? If so, do you think they have a good reason for it or do you think they are trying to get back at him for the Babb report? Or do you think they’re just cheap?