What To Make Of The Chiefs New Front Office Hire

I think one thing that every Chiefs fan can agree on is that the Chiefs’ offseason thus far has been a PR nightmare. I’m not here to debate again if things really are “that bad” or if things have been overblown. I’m here to discuss a hiring that on any other offseason would go completely below the radar. The Chiefs hired a VP of Communications yesterday. Here’s a quote from the Chiefs website:

"The Kansas City Chiefs announced Friday that Ted Crews has been named the club’s Vice President of Communications. Crews has 14 years of NFL experience with three franchises and joins the Chiefs as the club’s primary contact for the team’s communication needs.“We are very excited to welcome Ted to the Chiefs,” said Chiefs General Manager Scott Pioli. “Ted’s experience, proven track record of success, and enthusiasm for leading our efforts to continually connect and communicate with our fans will make him a great addition to our team.”Crews joins the Chiefs after spending the last three seasons as Senior Director of Communications for the St. Louis Rams. He served as the primary contact on all football matters for the owner, general manager and head coach, in addition to serving as the team’s official spokesperson."

Interesting, huh?

Before I give any more thoughts of my own I want to share a few tweets about the hiring.

NFL reporter Albert Breer:

"Very happy for my good friend Ted Crews, who’s leaving the Rams to take over as Chiefs VP of Communications. Great hire by KC."

NFL reporter Jason La Canfora:

"Excited to hear that Ted Crews, one of the best young PR men in the league, was named the Chiefs VP of Communications. Congrats Ted!"

To which Le’Ron McClain replied:

"@JasonLaCanfora Ted is the man"

To which La Canfora replied:

"@LeRon_McClain44 great, great dude and excellent at his job. Always awesome to see good people rewarded. Hope you are well bro!"

So apparently this guy has a pretty good reputation. In fact, the article states that on five different occasions he was selected by the NFL to do publicity for the Pro Bowl. The most amazing part is that he has never worked for the Patriots. Prior to being with the Rams, he was with the Falcons and Panthers. So I’m not sure if he was with the Falcons when Dimitrov arrived, but that could be a connection. Regardless, the Chiefs, despite the reports of how horrible they are to work for, landed someone that appears to be one of the best at what he does.

You could sell this a couple of different ways. Pro-Pioli people can say this proves that the media has overblown the work atmosphere at Arrowhead since a top young executive wanted to come here. Detractors can say that the Chiefs must have thrown a truck load of money at this guy to give off just that impression. Then there is the question of their motivation in hiring him to begin with. Did Pioli and Hunt finally realize that they stink at PR and decided to hire someone good at it because they actually care about trying to communicate with the fans? Or, did they just want someone to be their “spokesperson” so that they literally NEVER have to talk to the media ever again and Crews will just be some “suit” that ducks the media’s questions and delivers Pioli’s company line. I don’t know, I guess time will tell. I’m curious as to what you think.