Former GM Carl Peterson Does Impromptu Interview With “The Drive”

MAR 17, 2013; Frisco, TX, USA; Former player Alexi Lalas places the scarf on the Lamar Hunt statue before the game between FC Dallas and the Houston Dynamo at FC Dallas Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Everyone’s favorite king, former general manager Carl Peterson randomly called into 610 AM’s “The Drive with Danny Parkins and Carrington Harrison” this afternoon to talk Chiefs. Things were about how you’d expect.

King Carl started by stating he was at an airport getting ready to leave New York City and had a little time to kill. He then went on a mini tangent about how the draft has changed and some other reflective thoughts that we’ve come to expect from Peterson. After he was done there were three things that really caught my attention.

First, Peterson is a really big fan of John Dorsey and Andy Reid. Peterson discussed how he is friends with both of them and he actually spoke with them earlier in the week (No, he doesn’t know who the Chiefs are drafting), and said he’d grown to admire him while following him through the scouting ranks. There is little doubt Peterson is impressed with Dorsey and thinks very highly of him.

"“The Green Bay Way with Ted Thompson is very effective. I know the Chiefs will be prepared.”– On Dorsey’s development“I know this, they’re professional guys. They know what it takes to win.”– On Dorsey and Reid"

The next thing to note is Peterson really isn’t very fond of Scott Pioli. A few times King Carl took a few subtle jabs at Pioli’s time in Kansas City before quickly turning to how impressed he is with Dorsey or telling a story about something he, Peterson, did while being the general manager in KC. Nothing was direct, but it was pretty evident who he was talking about.

For instance, when talking about the relationship between Dorsey and Reid, Peterson dropped in this line: “I know it is something they haven’t had there for the last four years.” Gee, who could Peterson be talking about?

Finally, Peterson told a story about who he ended up taking Jamaal Charles in the fourth round. The basics of it were that he called Mack Brown at Texas when the third round started and asked him in Charles was “a track star who like football or a football player who happened to be good at track.” Brown clearly replied with the latter and suggested Peterson should select him as soon as he could. The rest is history.

It was time for Peterson to go after 20 years of leadership and no playoff wins for the final 15 seasons. With that said, Peterson’s best draft may have been his last one. In that draft Peterson, who was armed with three extra picks from the Jared Allen trade, selected Glenn Dorsey, Branden Albert, Brandon Flowers, Charles, and Brandon Carr in the first five rounds. That’s not too shabby.

In his good-bye, Peterson mention he felt Lamar Hunt was the owner in the history of sports and he missed Kansas City. Peterson sounds like a man trying to solidify his legacy.  Lines like that won’t hurt him.