Arrowhead Addict » clark hunt

Clark Hunt: Stepping Out of Lamar’s Shadow

Jason Seibel — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 14:45:28 +0000

At the middle of last season, Clark Hunt’s name was not very popular around Chiefs Kingdom. Many fans (myself included) thought that the CEO of the Kansas City Chiefs was stingy, uninvolved and generally didn’t care about the franchise. Many were questioning the late, great Lamar Hunt’s wisdom in leaving his most prized possession, the Kansas City Chiefs, in the hands of spoiled children. I mean, Clark didn’t have the greatest track record. In the 35 years that Lamar Hunt was the owner and chairman of the Kansas City Chiefs, they had 18 winning seasons (starting when the AFL officially merged with the NFL in 1970 and not counting seasons where they had a .500 record.) Since Clark took over the reins from his father in 2006, the Chiefs have had two winning seasons. Those aren’t good odds, and it doesn’t speak well for Clark Hunt.

King Carl Peterson was hired by the father of the AFL to be the general manager and team president of the Kansas City Chiefs franchise in 1989. During that time, he hired four head coaches and drove the ship through the ups and downs. When Lamar died in December 2006, Clark decided to keep his father’s choice for GM on board. That was his first mistake as the chairman and CEO of the Chiefs. Peterson went on to hire the man we like to refer to as “Harm” Edwards, arguably one of the worst coaches in the history of the franchise. Romeo Crennel may actually come close to that title, but he only had one season to under-perform. Peterson and Clark Hunt gave Harm three whole seasons to dig the Chiefs into a hole.

Clark’s next biggest mistake, was the hiring of the “Smooth Talker from New England,” Scott Pioli. After 20 years under the King Carl era, Chiefs fans were ready for a change. Sayings like “In Pioli we trust” permeated the Chiefs’ fandom. We didn’t bat an eye (or at least most of us didn’t) when he brought in the gruff, unorthodox offensive coordinator from the previous year’s NFC Champion, Arizona Cardinals, to be the new head coach. Todd Haley brought with him an attitude the Chiefs hadn’t seen in sometime. Further, we didn’t even flinch (again, most of us didn’t) when the team traded the 34^th overall pick (déjà vu, anyone?) to the Patriots for Matt Cassel and Mike “Intangibles” Vrabel. Under Haley’s leadership and Cassel’s QB play, during the 2010 season the team took home something they hadn’t in seven years, the AFC West Championship.

However, when the Chiefs came out flat in their first playoff appearance since 2006, it didn’t take a degree in psychology to see there was a rift between the GM and head coach. That rift widened the following season when, instead of making a run at repeating their 2010 season, the Chiefs lost the first three games, or in the words of Todd Haley, went 1-3 in the first quarter of the season. The all-out train wreck that was the 2011 Kansas City Chiefs continued to fly down the track when starting QB Matt Cassel (who had the made the Pro Bowl the year prior, albeit as an alternate,) was placed on injured reserve. The best QB the disheveled coach could field was Tyler Palko. That failed experiment ended in the firing of Haley and the emergence of Crennel as the Chiefs’ interim head coach. Crennel quickly replaced Palko with QB Kyle Orton, who the Chiefs had picked up off the waiver wire when “Tebow Time” was first starting. Thankfully, Palko never took a professional snap again. Although it was reported that after the 2011 season when he was released by the Chiefs he started a career at Payless Shoe Source, there is no validity to the rumor. An internet search of “where is Palko” returned no results, indicating not even Google cares where this guy is. But, I digress.

At the beginning of last season, there were high hopes once again. Scott Pioli removed the “interim” tag from Romeo Crennel’s head coach title. The players seemed re-invigorated and there was almost a “ding dong, the witch is dead” mentality surrounding the abrupt departure of Todd Haley. Although Pioli didn’t “go big” in free agency, he signed some talent to help provide depth at some positions of need. Again, during the draft, no huge splash was made, but depth was added to what was considered by most to be a talented roster. Around the league, the Kansas City Chiefs were the trendy pick to win the AFC West, despite Peyton Manning’s arrival in the Mile High City.

Then the bottom fell out. I won’t waste more words telling you what happened next. Even the youngest fan has the image of loss after humiliating loss burned into their memory. It was probably the worst season the Chiefs have ever put together. (The Chiefs have had three, two-win seasons in the lifetime of the franchise: 1977, 2008 and 2012.)Scott Pioli continued to spout sound bites for ESPN and the NFL Network that consisted of his go-to catchphrases. We heard that “it’s a process” and things would level out, but they never did. They just kept going downhill. Fast. Enter the “Save Our Chiefs” movement. Still Pioli continued to smooth talk the reporters. The Chiefs didn’t hold a lead in regulation play for the first seven games of the season. A plane was flown over Arrowhead Stadium declaring what the Chiefs fans thought of the GM and the starting QB. Nothing. In fact, it took a tragedy to spark enough emotion in the players to pull out their second and final win of the season. It was terrible. Romeo Crennel was, thankfully, the first casualty of “Black Monday” and many thought Pioli would quickly follow.

We are all Chiefs fans here. Why did I just use over 800 words to tell you the recent history of the Kansas City Chiefs when many of you know it as well or better than I do? To make my point. Through all of this, Clark Hunt did nothing. Absolutely nothing. It took some dedicated Chief fans to pay their money out of their own pockets to fly a plane over the stadium for him to even slightly take notice.

Then, something amazing happened. The debacle that was the 2012 season came to end; Crennel’s coaching tenure came to an end and Clark Hunt stood up and made himself heard. He flew to Philly and met with then, just-deposed Eagle head coach, Andy Reid. We all know what happened next. Clark got his guy. However, Clark didn’t stop there. Next, he held a press conference and said he was taking a more active role in the team. Chiefs fans took in a collective breath, not knowing how this would play out. Putting the head coach and the general manager on the same level in your corporate structure isn’t generally heard of. Clark was making a point.

Next came the signings. One of the major complaints Chiefs fans have had about Clark Hunt is the tight grip he holds on his checkbook. There was much speculation last season on why Dwayne Bowe wasn’t signed to a long-term contract. Many thought it was a personality conflict between Bowe and Pioli. Others thought it was Hunt’s grip on his checkbook and not wanting to pay Bowe the “big money.” I personally believe it was Pioli telling Hunt that Bowe wasn’t worth it. It’s interesting the difference a year makes.

Football is a business, pure and simple; at least to those involved in it. Clark Hunt finally figured out that his business isn’t doing well, and it was time get out of the corporate office in Dallas and check out the operation in Kansas City. I believe we’ll be quite surprised come next week when the free agent frenzy begins in earnest. There are some big name players who will be demanding some big pay days. While I’m not necessarily for over-paying players, I think that if you want to win, sometimes you have to pay for it.

There are several levels of owners in the NFL. The Green Bay Packers have over 100,000 owners. The Pack is the NFL’s only publicly owned team. They are run by a board of directors, but not one single owner. On the opposite end of the spectrum would be the Dallas Cowboys with owner/general manager/wannabe coach/all-around meddler, Jerry Jones. I would say Clark Hunt and the Kansas City Chiefs fall somewhere in between. I’m not say I want Clark Hunt to be Jerry Jones, but the increased level of involvement points to good things ahead.

Thus far this season, I’m impressed with the moves Hunt has made. He has obviously realized his customer base is unhappy. He knows he needs to change it. Win now and we’re happy. Continue down this path of ineptitude and he won’t be able to give away tickets to Arrowhead. It’s that simple. We’ve got a long way to go. This is the part of the offseason where optimism is at its highest. No games have been played but we’re far enough removed from the stink of the season to have faded away. There’s hope in the Chiefs Kingdom once again. It’s clear Clark is involved and, so far at least, it seems he’s got the right guys calling the shots. Lamar Hunt loved this football franchise and the world of football loved him. He is gone, but not forgotten. It’s about time his spawn stepped up and tried to start filling those Shaq-sized shoes his father left.

Time will tell if this “new and improved” Clark Hunt will be the difference in the 2-14 team we suffered through last year or the 13-3 team that should take the field this year. I’m not saying for certain, but it should be one hell of a ride getting there.

We took a collective breath in when Clark stood up for his franchise. We’re all still waiting to exhale.

That’s how I see it, Addicts. What say you?

More Quotes From Clark Hunt

Patrick Allen — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 20:22:00 +0000

Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Kansas City Chiefs chairman and CEO, Clark HUnt, continued making the media rounds this afternoon. He sat down with Soren Petro of 810 Sports Radio this afternoon.

We jotted down some quotes. Keep in mind this is not the entire transcript.

Any time that you have a year like we’ve had, where you win two games, nobody gets a passing grade. And Scott, he knows that.

There ultimately could be more changes.

On if the head coach will have a say in if Pioli is kept.

I wouldn’t say that. I would say that chemistry is very important. Even though I won’t have one answering to the other, it is very important we have good chemistry in place.

On getting the coaching search started early:

Four years ago when we went through the search process in January we were late.

On a timetable for the new coach hire:

It could happen quickly or it could take several weeks depending on what happens with some candidates that are associated with teams that are in the playoffs.

On the field:

Some of the candidates have the experience they’ve been involved in personnel at some point.

On who he listens to for advice:

I have a lot of friends who have been part of the bus for a long time. I talk to them periodically.
At the end of the day, I have to make the decisions on my own.

On Pioli being retained not being popular with the fans:

I know what the fans want and that is the same thing I want and that’s to win.

On the salary cap and the Chiefs being cheap:

The financial side of it will not hinder us in making a decision.

(on the head coach or players)

We’ll use it. We’ll use it to put a team on the field that will win.

In closing:

Again I want to apologize to the fans on what we had to endure on the field in 2012.

The Window For Real Change In KC Is Closing

Lyle Graversen — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 13:00:37 +0000

This is the first time since joining the AA staff that I am writing a piece that I hope is completely irrelevant by the time most of you read it. I hope more than anything that shortly after this post hits the sight that news breaks that Scott Pioli has been fired and you can just stop reading this post right now. I hope that by mid-afternoon this post is pushed down the sight into obscurity.

Sadly, I don’t think that will be the case.

Most of Chiefs Nation seems confident that owner Clark Hunt will fire Scott Pioli. This season has been such a complete and total disaster that it almost seems impossible for there not to be wide spread changes in the organization. You add to that the fan unrest and protests by the SaveOurChiefs group and it would seem that Hunt will be forced to make a move, right? Maybe, I guess we’ll all find out in the coming hours, days, or weeks. The common thought seems to be that Pioli will be fired once this dumpster fire of a season is over.

Well here’s the problem. The time for making that move, at least effectively, is running out. If today comes and goes with no news of Scott Pioli’s firing it most likely means that he will keep his job for another week. If that is the case, then one of two things will happen. Either Scott Pioli will keep his job for another season or the Chiefs will be so behind schedule in getting their new regime in place that they will be playing catch up with the rest of the NFL and setting themselves up for failure.

Don’t believe me? Let’s look at the timeline of how things went down the last time Clark Hunt replaced his general manager.

Carl Peterson resigned (not that he had much choice) on Monday, December 15th. That was the Monday after the Chiefs week 15 game. In other words, today is the equivalent of that day. So if Scott Pioli isn’t fired today, the Chiefs will be operating behind the timeline that happened four years ago.

Clark Hunt hired Scott Pioli on Tuesday, January 13th. So it took Hunt just over four weeks to get his new GM hired. Perhaps he would move faster this time around, but I don’t think we should assume that. Some may suggest that he is possibly already talking to candidates behind the scenes, but in today’s age of news breaking tweets that seems awfully risky. I think that a four week turnaround from firing Pioli to hiring a new GM is probably a fair estimate. Putting that off another week would be very costly, in my opinion.

Scott Pioli then took 10 days to fire Herm Edwards on Friday, January 23rd. Hopefully a new GM would be sensible enough to fire Romeo Crennel immediately upon taking the job, but even then, if the new GM wasn’t hired until the second week of January, many of the top coaching candidates would already be off the market.

It then took Pioli two weeks to hire his new coach Todd Haley on February 6th. By that point, all the top assistants were off the market and Haley ended up with Clancy Pendergast as his defensive coordinator and holdover Chan Gailey staying on (although just temporarily) as his offensive coordinator because there simply wasn’t anyone else available.

UPDATE: Here is a list of recent coaching hires in the NFL by the date they were hired.

Mike Shanahan – January 6th
Jim Harbaugh – January 7th
Mike Mularky – January 10th
Ron Rivera – January 11th
Jeff Fisher – January 13th
John Fox – January 13th
Pat Shurmur – January 13th
Chan Gailey – January 19th
Joe Philbin – January 20th
Chuck Pagano – January 25th
Dennis Allen – January 25th
Greg Schiano – January 26th
Mike Munchak – February 7th

If you asked me to pick the five coaches on that list that I would most want to coach the Chiefs I would pick (in no particular order) Shanahan, Harbaugh, Fisher, Fox, and Pagano. Of those five, four of them were hired on January 13th (the date Hunt hired Pioli) or earlier. If you divide that list into two and look at the coaches hired after January 13th compared to the coaches hired before that date, I like the early list a lot better. That is why Clark Hunt can’t afford to wait any longer to start this process.

Now perhaps things will be different this time around. Perhaps Hunt will fire Pioli the day after the season ends and hire his new GM the very next day. Perhaps that GM will make firing Crennel his first act upon taking the job and will then be in on any and every good coaching candidate available. Perhaps, but I don’t know that we should be holding our breath on that one. I think if we want to have realistic hope of the kind of changes that most of us want to see that the ball needs to get rolling, and fast.

Hopefully that ball is already rolling. Hopefully you stopped reading this post after the first paragraph because Pioli’s firing has already been announced. Hopefully this post has already been pushed down the sight by rumors of Pioli’s firing, news of his official firing, a statement from Clark Hunt, and a post on the rumored replacements for Pioli. I’ve never hoped for my weekly post to be irrelevant before today, but boy I hope it is. Because if the game on Sunday taught me one thing, it’s that this team as it is currently constructed is an embarrassment. It’s a bad group of players that are poorly coached and give their fans very little to get excited about.

The thought of watching another two weeks of this without any hope of real change on the horizon is painful.

Hopefully those fears will be made irrelevant when Pioli is fired. If that’s the case, then most of you already stopped reading. If it’s not the case and Scott Pioli still has his job, then I’ve never been so bummed so say this…….

Thanks for reading (sigh) and GO CHIEFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Clark Hunt Speaks On Chiefs’ Mental State, Decision To Play

Patrick Allen — Sun, 02 Dec 2012 17:15:35 +0000

John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

Kansas City Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt spoke with Ed Werder of ESPN just moments ago from the field at Arrowhead Stadium.

On his emotions over the last 27 or so hours:

Starting yesterday morning when I heard about it, it was shock. It’s a tremendous tragedy and the fact that it happened at our training complex and our head coach and general manager and defensive coordinator were there to see it. Just a very, very difficult 24 hours for our entire organization.

On the team and staff’s emotional state heading into the game:

I went to the team hotel last night to be there with the team. I wanted to tell them that I love them and that I understand what they’re going through and I know how hard it is. We have a lot of guys who are really hurting, both the players and the coaches. The coaches, they understand that it is their job right now to be leaders. They’ve got to lead in a very difficult situation. We have a lot of young players on the team and they’re going to be looking up to the coaches and the veterans on the team. But it’s going to be a very hard day for them, no two ways about it.

On how he thinks the on-field performance will be effected:

I really couldn’t predict that. I don’t know. I know that the guys are going to rally around each other. They’re going to come out here and give it their best.

On what convinced the players to go forward with the game:

I left it up to Romeo Crennel and the team to make the decision. Romeo called the team captains yesterday afternoon. Many of them had heard from their teammates and they all wanted to play the game. And I asked coach Crennel ‘do you think the right thing to do is to go forward?’ and he said ‘I do.’ Under the circumstances it’s going to be tough and that’s how the decision was made.

Time For Clark Hunt To Speak Up

Lyle Graversen — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 13:00:31 +0000

I was originally going to give my observations on the latest Kansas City Chiefs loss in this post. I just don’t have it in me. At this point none of the details seem to matter any more. Until the big picture gets addressed does it matter if Brady Quinn looked a little better than Matt Cassel? Does it matter if Branden Albert and Dwayne Bowe can play next week against Denver? Does it matter if Dontari Poe showed a couple flashes again? Does it matter that we got THREE running out of bounds related penalties on special teams in ONE GAME? Maybe it does, but I’m just exhausted from caring about those little things all week long only to get blown out by mediocre teams by 20+ points come game day.

Stop and think about it. In the last month we have been dominated at home by two of the most historically inept teams in the history of the NFL, the Raiders and the Bengals. These two teams have been national punch lines for decades and now they both look better run, more talented, and like they are more dedicated to winning. It doesn’t get much worse than that.

Oh wait….yes it does.

The stands are half empty, 50% of the people that were there were wearing black in protest of the current state of the team, people are wearing bags over their heads, there are rumors out there that fans were not allowed into the game with anti-Pioli signs, and someone actually listed the Chiefs as a cause of death in their obituary.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are blowing right on past teams like the Raiders, Browns, Bengals, and Lions and are headed to a whole new level of embarrassment.

Why?

Because the team has given us no reason to have any hope for the future.

Being terrible with a hope for the future is one thing. Being terrible and thinking that the owner doesn’t care and may not do anything about it is another.

That is why Clark Hunt can’t hide any longer.

He MUST give the people that support his team a reason to believe. Is it my hope that me comes out later today and says Scott Pioli has been fired? Yes, but as much as most fans would love that, he doesn’t actually have to fire anyone right now to help the situation. He just has to let the fans know that he’s upset and disappointed and that Chiefs fans can rest assured that he will make sure that the necessary changes are made so that this doesn’t happen again.

He should tell the fans that’s he’s embarrassed by what’s happened to his team. He should tell them that he’s going to look at every last part of the football operation from the front office, to the coaching staff, to the players and figure out who is part of the solution and who is part of the problem. He should reassure fans that his number one priority is getting this fixed and returning this team to the prestigious organization that his father created.

I know a lot of people would question how believable these statements would be without any actions to back them up, but at least he would be on the record as upset and dedicated to changing things. His silence, fair or not, is interpreted as acceptance and that is fueling the hopelessness and frustration that fans are feeling. Bud Adams, the owner of the Titans put his entire organization on notice after a 51-20 beat down to the Chicago Bears. His team responded with a 37-3 win on the road at Miami the next week. The Kansas City Chiefs have become WAY too used to losing. They need a fire lit under them. Romeo and Pioli lack the credibility to do it at this point since the players know that they may not be around much longer (hopefully). Clark Hunt is the only one that can do it.

His team is a joke, a laughing stock, the worst team in the NFL. It’s beyond the players just playing better. It’s beyond the coaches coming up with a better game plan. It’s beyond Scott Pioli finding better players. This team needs a new direction. Clark Hunt is the only one that can demand that.

We’re waiting Clark. We WANT to believe! We WANT to show up in the tens of thousands, draped in red from head to toe. We WANT to stay until the very last whistle, screaming our heads off the entire time. You just have to give us some hope, a reason to believe that you’re as passionate about getting this fixed as we are. We need some sign that this team means more to you then a bottom line. We need you Clark, we need you to speak up, and our patience is running out.

As always, thanks for reading and GO CHIEFS!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Clark Hunt, This Is What People Think Of Your Business

Lyle Graversen — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 18:27:37 +0000

Dear Clark Hunt,

As I hope you know by now, fans of your team are fed up. Many believe that you don’t care as long as you are making a profit. That may or may not be true. Time will tell and your actions (or lack there of) over the coming weeks will speak volumes to those of us that live and die by this team.

If you do truly care about the product you are putting out and the feelings of the fans that support your team with their time, money, and passion you won’t need any more motivation to make some changes. However, if you are only driven by the almighty dollar, as your detractors say, here is a little added incentive for you.

While you may always have the big fat check from the NFL TV contracts, my guess is that a successful business man like yourself understands that in order to make as much money as possible on a product, that product must have a positive public perception. Otherwise, not only will local ticket sales tail off, but the money that comes in via merchandising, advertising, sponsorships, etc. will also suffer.

With that in mind I’d like to draw your attention to what the national perception of your team is. Here is a collection of comments, rankings, and observations from various national media members that have all come out in the past few days. This is what the country now thinks of your multi-million dollar company.

Gregg Rosenthal – NFL.com
“Seventy-nine teams have started 1-5 since the NFL’s new playoff format began in 1990. None of them have made the playoffs. The 2012 Kansas City Chiefs are not the team that is going to break this streak………..It’s not just about the 1-5 record. It’s how the Chiefs have lost, by 28 points to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 18 points to the Buffalo Bills and 17 points to the San Diego Chargers. They aren’t competitive against mediocre teams…………Pioli is highly unlikely to change head coaches again if he sticks around. So this is more about chairman Clark Hunt. The Chiefs want to be a stable franchise. We sense Hunt would like to show patience with Pioli. The rest of this season is about Pioli’s future. If the Chiefs remain a dumpster fire and finish with just a few wins, it will be hard to keep Pioli around.”

NFL.com Power Rankings:
Ranked #32
“This is getting ugly very, very fast. Brady Quinn continued the underwhelming quarterback play, which isn’t surprising. What is surprising is how the defense has been getting torched this season. Tampa Bay produced 463 yards of offense despite only having the ball for 26 minutes. That speaks to lots of big plays or “chunk” yardage, like Mike Williams’ 62-yard touchdown catch. Or another 62-yard grab by Tiquan Underwood (Tiquan Underwood?!). Or Doug Martin’s 42-yard catch-and-run. Take your pick. Oh, and on the subject of picks, the Chiefs aren’t getting enough of those, either — at least not enough to make up for all the yards allowed.”

ESPN Power Rankings:
Ranked #32
“The wheels have come off, and it doesn’t matter who the starting quarterback is.”

ESPN’s Bill Williamson (AFC West Blogger) reacting to Power Rankings:
His range for KC (31-32)
“The film doesn’t lie. The Chiefs are awful right now. This ranking won’t make the team’s beleaguered fans any happier.”

Yahoo! Sports Power Rankings:
Ranked #31
“The banner people got their wish, and you’re not going to believe this, but Brady Quinn playing in place of Matt Cassel did not magically solve all the Chiefs problems. I know, I was surprised, too. The Chiefs are off this coming week, and then come back to the face the Raiders, renewing a rivalry every bit as exciting as the one between Jacksonville and Tennessee.”

Yahoo’s Michael Silver:
“While Pioli has failed at building a strong organization, he has succeeded in helping Hunt save tens of millions of dollars over the past few seasons by taking advantage of the uncapped year (and other CBA-related nuances) to penny-pinch on payroll. If and when Pioli does sign an extension, that will be the real reason why.”

Pro Football Talk Power Rankings (done by alleged Pioli buddy Mike Florio)
Ranked #32
“With the first pick in the 2013 draft . . . .”

Doug Tucker, AP and Yahoo! Sports:
“Six weeks after launching the season with quiet hopes of winning the AFC West, the Kansas City Chiefs have staggered into their bye week 1-5. It’s not just any old 1-5. It’s an ugly 1-5. Every loss but one has been a blowout. The offense has not scored a touchdown in the last eight quarters. Their lone victory came on an overtime field goal in New Orleans. Not once has Kansas City been ahead on the scoreboard when the ball was snapped.”

Clark Judge, CBSSports.com:
“Romeo, Romeo, where aren’t thou? At the bottom of the heap, that’s where.”

Jen Floyd Engel, Fox Sports:
“As it turns out, Brady is that good. He and coach Bill Belichick are why the Patriots have been so good for so long. This does not qualify as earth-shattering or soul-crushing news unless, of course, you are the Kansas City Chiefs (or more succinctly, their fans) and you bought into this idea that Scott Pioli was really why New England won, was the genius behind the genius and was going to bring “The Patriot Way” to KC once he was hired as general manager………This is how Pioli ended up in KC, where he has proven himself not to be a genius or really even very good at his job. This is his fault, kind of, insomuch as he has been unable to land himself another Brady. Nothing can take away from Pioli’s obvious role in all of those Super Bowl rings and years of success in New England. He played a part for sure. As we watch this ugly train wreck go down in Kansas City, let us also remember the absurd amount of luck that came in finding Brady.”

Are you getting the picture, Clark? These aren’t just comments about a team losing, many of them are actually mocking your team for how bad they are.

Do you see what has happened to the national perception of your business? You have a bigger problem than just some fans cheering your injured QB or griping about the team on a blog. The value of your franchise is starting to decline because EVERYONE now sees that the quality of this organization is suffering. Not just a little, but so much that the Kansas City Chiefs are becoming a national punch line.

Sadly, the bad perception of your organization may run even deeper than the fans and the national media. Ask yourself this, Clark, why wouldn’t Peyton Manning even consider talking to your team about coming to KC? Why wouldn’t Jeff Fisher even interview for a coaching position with the Chiefs? It seems that the NFL’s best and brightest don’t think much of this business that you are running either.

It’s time to step up, Clark. I don’t care if you do it for fans like me who live and die with every win and loss, for your own bottom line, or just because you have a big ego and don’t want to be associated with losing and made fun of. The point is that there is NO sensible reason to just stay the course right now. This course is one that is running your biggest money maker into the ground.

It’s time to fire Scott Pioli and get this team headed in a new direction.

That’s not just fan rhetoric, Clark, it’s also good business.

As always, thanks for reading and GO CHIEFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Scott Pioli Offered 2-Year Extension, Says Report

Patrick Allen — Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:03:34 +0000

Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

There were rumors all week (none of them especially credible) that Kansas City Chiefs GM Scott Pioli was offered a 2-year contract extension by Chiefs owner Clark Hunt.

Now, there’s a credible source.

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports is reporting that Hunt did indeed offer Pioli an extension. The deal has apparently not yet been signed by Pioli because of some of the language in the new deal.

From La Canfora:

According to my sources, he was offered a 2-year extension earlier this season by owner Clark Hunt. Nothing has been signed yet. Nothing has been agreed to. There’s some issues with language in there so we’ll see where that goes. But that in itself is a strong statement of loyalty from Clark Hunt at a time when the fans and the local media have been calling for the GM’s ouster. Both Pioli and the Chiefs declined to comment on this report.

Given how bad the Chiefs are at playing football this season, it is kind of mind-boggling that Pioli would be offered an extension. Still, Hunt has publicly been a big supporter of Pioli’s.

After today’s game, Pioli might want to hurry up and sign that deal before Hunt changes his mind.

My Two (Chiefs) Cents

Andrew C. Gilbert — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:00:06 +0000

It’s been a rough week for the Kansas City Chiefs and their fans. That is also probably the understatement of the week. Negative attitudes are at a high, and there are so many things at work that it’s difficult to sort things through and address things equally and/or fairly. But here’s my perspective on the varying issues, maybe you’ll agree, maybe you’ll disagree, but hopefully I can bring a few things to light which may have previously gone unconsidered. Some of what I say will be supported by facts, some by speculation in the absence of publicly available facts (such as Pioli’s “master plan”, assuming he has one), but the main intent is to present information or perspective that may not be currently represented (or is, at least, underrepresented). As some (if not most… if not all) of these views are likely to be unpopular or underrepresented, I’m prepared for a hailstorm of comments to the contrary. In the interests of perpetuating a well-reasoned, well-thought-out discourse, I kindly request such comments remain cordial.

Chiefs Ownership

Though owned by the Lamar Hunt family, through Hunt Sports Group, through Unity Hunt LLC, when one thinks of Kansas City Chiefs ownership, one thinks of the family-elected CEO and Chairman Clark Hunt. Simply saying the name “Clark Hunt” will send chills down a large number of Chiefs’ fans spines.

Clark Hunt has been associated with cheapness, caring more about the bottom dollar than team success/glory, and caring less about the Kansas City fanbase and community. That he lives in Dallas, TX is usually a shot taken by fans and media as indication of his lack of caring for the fanbase and community, and that cap availability numbers inaccurately represent how much a team is spending on its players have given him the label of being cheap.

I do not agree with a lot of the negativity surrounding Clark Hunt. For those of you who read my article two weeks ago, you should know by now that the Kansas City Chiefs have not been cheap in their player spending, having amassed the highest paid team in the NFL this season according to salary cap figures. If you did not read that article, it may be more conducive to your fair assessment of Clark Hunt to do so now. The article provides insight into team spending for all NFL teams and how certain aspects of salary cap management function. To summarize the article for the sake of expedience, Clark Hunt isn’t being cheap on the player spending. This also feeds into how much Clark Hunt cares about the bottom dollar. Though I’m sure the Hunt family’s business interests in the Chiefs would keep them from wanting the organization to start functioning in the red, the same could be said of any business’s or organization’s owner(s) ever. Something can only be supported for so long when it’s not earning revenues equal to or greater than its expenses. That’s just basic economics.

In regards to his consideration for the fanbase and for the Kansas City community, more consideration is being given than the Hunt family has been commonly assessed. One of the chief complaints is that the on-the-field product is not equating to what a lot of Chiefs fans consider to be fair prices for stadium attendance. They don’t feel they’re getting the bang for their buck; a sentiment that is amplified in rough economic times where how one spends what money one has is greatly scrutinized by the spender. So, how does the Chiefs’ gameday experience stack up against the 31 NFL teams? Every year Team Marketing Report in Chicago, IL researches this very question. Here is a chart of the average ticket prices for a fan to attend a game at each of the NFL stadiums; it should be noted the cost and quantity of premium seating is not included in these averages:

Rank	Team	Avg. Ticket	Rank	Team	Avg. Ticket
1	CLE	$54.20	17	NO	$74.99
2	BUF	$58.36	18	MIN	$75.69
3	JAC	$59.54	19	ATL	$76.78
4	OAK	$62.23	20	HOU	$78.77
5	CAR	$63.32	21	GB	$78.84
6	TEN	$64.61	22	WAS	$79.13
7	KC	$64.92	23	SD	$80.30
8	SEA	$67.26	24	DEN	$82.23
9	DET	$67.60	25	SF	$83.54
10	ARI	$68.00	26	IND	$85.34
11	STL	$68.89	27	BAL	$91.92
12	PHI	$69.00	28	DAL	$110.20
13	CIN	$69.01	29	CHI	$110.91
14	TB	$69.72	30	NYG	$111.69
15	MIA	$71.14	31	NE	$117.84
16	PIT	$74.32	32	NYJ	$117.94
Source: Team Marketing Report

The average NFL ticket price is reported as $78.38, well above what the average ticket price to Arrowhead costs. Even factoring out the five highest ticket prices (all above $100) the average ticket price for the 27 lowest price teams is $71.84, still firmly above the Arrowhead average. What may be of additional interest is that Team Marketing Report also tracks the percentage changes in ticket prices for each NFL team. TMR determined that the average NFL ticket price has increased by 2.5% compared to last season. Fifteen NFL teams saw no change in their ticket prices. Of the remaining seventeen teams nine increased ticket prices [the lowest being the Seahawks by 1%, the highest being the Bears by 9.2%], and six lowered ticket prices. The Kansas City Chiefs are not only counted among the six NFL teams that lowered ticket prices, but KC decided to decrease their prices by the second-most percentage* [2.6%]. As part of their report, TMR provided the NFL average cost dating back to the 2007 season; even going back that far, the current Chiefs’ pricing does not meet or exceed the league average.

*Only the Bengals decreased their ticket prices by a greater percentage[4.2%]; however TMR’s research showed that, of the six clubs that decided to decrease ticket prices, the Bengals were one of two clubs that decided to lower ticket prices following lower fan attendance during the 2011 season; the second team being the Bills.

TMR also researched the average premium ticket costs and the cost of beer, soft drinks, hot dogs, parking, programs and caps as part of their study. Their figures on beer and soft drinks are based on the smallest sizes available at each stadium, and their figures on caps are based on the least expensive, adult-size adjustable caps at each stadium. In these categories, the Kansas City Chiefs exceed the league average in only two of them: 1) Hot Dogs – in excess of 66 cents, and 2) Average Premium Ticket costs in excess of $26.30.

As part of their report TMR created a cost index comprised of the costs of four average-price tickets, two small beers, four small soft drinks, four regular-size hot dogs, parking for one car, two game programs and two of the least expensive, adult-size adjustable caps. The reported cost index for such a gameday experience for each team is as follows:

Rank	Team	Cost Index	Rank	Team	Cost Index
1	JAC	$342.70	17	ATL	$430.12
2	CLE	$343.80	18	PIT	$433.17
3	CAR	$351.25	19	HOU	$439.02
4	KC	$360.68	20	DEN	$440.34
5	BUF	$361.45	21	GB	$448.24
6	ARI	$367.98	22	NO	$451.96
7	OAK	$381.90	23	IND	$452.34
8	TB	$391.28	24	SF	$456.56
9	TEN	$394.43	25	WAS	$461.53
10	CIN	$397.03	26	SD	$466.20
11	PHI	$397.48	27	BAL	$520.69
12	MIA	$400.54	28	NYG	$592.24
13	STL	$401.58	29	NE	$607.26
14	DET	$403.38	30	CHI	$608.64
15	SEA	$408.04	31	NYJ	$617.25
16	MIN	$415.78	32	DAL	$634.78
Source: Team Marketing Report

As can be seen, the Chiefs rank as the fourth cheapest team in terms of the cost index. TMR determined that the average NFL cost index has increased by 3.9% compared to last season. Only two NFL teams saw no change in their cost index. Of the remaining thirty teams twenty-six saw an increase in cost index [the lowest increase being the Cardinals by 0.3%, the highest being the Bears by 16.3%], and four saw decreases in their cost index. The Kansas City Chiefs are not only counted among the four NFL teams that lowered the overall cost of an average gameday experience, but KC decreased their prices by the second-most percentage [1.6%] with only the Jets showing a greater decrease [1.9%].

So though some, including The Arrowhead Adventurer, may not care for certain organization initiatives, such as the switch to paperless tickets (thereby depriving fans of the memento of ticket stubs), savings are being passed onto the fans by making such changes (I, for one, always tended to rip/disfigure ticket stubs from any events I’ve attended and, as a result, do not partake in that particular keepsake practice… as such, I’d personally prefer more efficient line movement).

Does this forgive the disparity between on-the-field product and the associated costs? Not incredibly. We’d still all like to see the Chiefs be more competitive and in championship contention; an increase in quality without an increase in cost. But at least you’ve been afforded the opportunity to see what other teams’ fans are paying out on gameday, and I think we can all agree that being a Jets fan has to suck considerably more by a quality to cost comparison.

As for the Hunt family living in Dallas, this is the way it’s always been. Lamar Hunt’s ability to finance a football team came from the wealth earned by his father, H.L. Hunt, in conjunction with Hunt Oil. Though Lamar Hunt’s branch of the Hunt family tree no longer holds a stake in Hunt Oil, there are many other business ventures they do own a stake in which are, for the most part, based in Dallas. In the early days, when the Dallas Cowboys (who at the time were much less successful than the Dallas Texans) started taking attention away from Lamar Hunt’s beloved football team, and he resigned to the fact that sentiment was not enough to continue functioning in Dallas when the previous three seasons found the organization in the red, he sought to move that team to a city that would give a damn. The speculated options at the time were for a move to be made to either Oakland or Kansas City. After what was described as a “cloak-and-dagger” affair, Kansas City’s mayor and Hunt agreed to stage a season ticket run to determine if the new city would be devoted enough to the sport to garner the team with the attention Lamar felt it deserved. Obviously Kansas City met Lamar Hunt’s expectations as we know that he moved the team there; however, what may not be known is that Kansas City fell far short of the set season ticket goal (25,000 tickets) in that they only sold tickets in the 13,000-14,000 tickets by the given deadline. Lamar still felt that the city showed enough devotion and passion (despite not meeting the ticket sales threshold) that he decided to move the Texans to Kansas City.

Nowhere is it mentioned or even suggested that Lamar Hunt agreed to pull up his family’s stakes to move to Kansas City. A lot of tradition and business interests already existed in Dallas for that to have been part of the deal. That same family tradition continues to this day. The Chiefs are but a part of Hunt Sports Inc., and Hunt Sports Inc. is but a part of Unity Hunt LLC. To expect numerous businesses, and a family’s tradition, to be uprooted for the sake of one of those business ventures (though the Kansas City Chiefs are the most recognizable) is asking a lot, and probably too much

Does this mean that the Hunts and the Chiefs don’t care about Kansas City? Not in the least. By my count the Hunts through the Kansas City Chiefs have 15 steady community service programs devoted to helping various aspects of the Greater Kansas City Community. Players are encouraged to actively participate in giving back to the community. And new initiatives such as the Chiefs partnership with the University of Kansas Medical School are geared towards ultimately helping the Kansas City community as a whole. These are not the actions of an ownership that doesn’t care about its fans or its team’s city’s citizens. In fact, their devotion to the community is a large part of why I am of a fan of the organization and have remained a fan through the tougher years; they may not always win (or even be competitive) but the organization’s devotion to contribute beyond what the game dictates is, by my estimation, admirable and should not be diminished by how they play 16 days a year.

Also, when it was obvious things were not progressing under Carl Peterson and Herm Edwards, Clark Hunt made a move to obtain one of the most decorated executives in the football industry, and spared no expense to bring him in to help the franchise (something an owner that doesn’t care wouldn’t do), which brings us to:

Chiefs Management

I don’t know what to think about Pioli. On the one hand Kent Babb has painted a pretty bad picture of Pioli. On the other hand, Babb also neglected to look into team finances and painted the Hunts as cheap on players though they appear to be anything but*, and generated negativity on that front where negativity wasn’t due.

Aside: I’m still astounded by that one. I’m a legal assistant in Pennsylvania, devoting nearly 60 hours a week towards my day job with a wife and 2-year-old daughter also garnering my attention, and I was still able to do more thorough research on that front (cross-checking my findings across many independent sources with no team affiliation for slant) and reported this as part of my contribution to this website. It was Kent Babb’s day job to do such things for which I’m sure he got amply paid, and he couldn’t do that much??? I guess I’m saying I’ve re-read Babb’s articles with a grain of salt as I am not satisfied with his research abilities (or lack thereof).

In Michael Holley’s book “War Room”, it is indicated (and I’m paraphrasing here) that when Pioli arrived in Kansas City, the Chiefs staff and scouts were complacent and unmotivated, which (by that point in the book) were distinguished as work habits in conflict with Pioli’s own work ethic. Holley (in juxtaposition to Babb) painted Pioli as a hard worker who would sooner have his work product exceed his paycheck than his paycheck exceed his work product.

If that is his work ethic, and the incumbent staff did not put their hearts into their jobs and strive towards the goal of making the Chiefs organization a championship product, I can understand the turnover ratio. There are no salary cap concerns in the front office; severance packages maybe (and they could be pillaging Hunt’s pockets for all we know), but not a set number that the organization may not exceed in accounting terms. If these people were not earning their paychecks (admittedly by Pioli’s standards), then I can understand Pioli taking swift action in terminating them and bringing in new people. I can even understand him bringing in people he knew from his time with the Patriots (as he likely had previous knowledge of these individuals’ work ethics, knowledge and talents).

The desire to have people who work for you do their damnedest and take more pride in doing their work in excess of expectations rather than taking the mentality of “I’m doing just as much as I think my pay warrants” (such people usually overestimating how much pay they’ve ‘earned’ through the work they’ve actually done) is also something I can understand, and would explain the so-called “wire-tapping”. I work for government, we have the same systems in check. E-mail, phone logs, etc. are monitored to determine how much company time the worker is spending on personal business (i.e. how much non-work they’re performing during hours they’re getting paid for). It isn’t incredibly shocking that a multi-million dollar business would partake in such monitoring. Again, if the workers were as complacent as Michael Holley indicated, it may be of utmost importance to changing the culture of football operations from people who care more for how much they could soak the organization for than how much they could contribute to the organization’s success.

If Pioli (or any other GM that could’ve been, or could still be, brought in) wanted to change a complacent culture satisfied with doing the bare minimum and having little interest in a championship that was gained by more than luck (if hard work was the alternative), I think we’d all be supportive of that change.

That being said, I doubt the candy wrapper story was made up, to which I can only say this: I can understand wondering why the hell you’re paying maintenance to do a job they’re obviously not doing (the wrapper was sitting for about a week after all… which by my count is at least 4 days too long, even if they were understaffed or only cleaned two to three days a week), but the taking of the wrapper as evidence makes the whole incident automatically extreme (and sounds on par with Mitch Hedberg’s “donut receipt” joke). That definitely could’ve been handled a lot better.

As far as his plans for rebuilding and his apparent secrecy of these plans are concerned, it’s frustrating as hell only being able to speculate what his intentions are/were. I, for one, believe (or maybe just really hope) that the plan was/is to build up the supporting cast first and drop in the intended franchise QB last. This would help prevent “David Carr Syndrome” or other 1^st round busts such as Brady Quinn was in Cleveland. Instead of custom building an entire team to one guy’s talents (thereby making it more difficult should that one guy go down), it would entail building a talented team and allowing the last guy (QB) to adjust to the talents around him (thereby making it less disastrous should that one guy go down temporarily). To get the QB first and build the team around him is akin to making the QB the entire foundation’s cornerstone. If it’s later learned that that cornerstone is not of the quality it was believed to be, the building stands to get irreparably damaged. To get the QB last is akin to building a quality structure first and using the QB as the capstone. If the capstone is of lesser quality than was expected, so what? It’s less damaging to the structure to replace a damaged capstone than to replace a damaged cornerstone. The downside is that, as fans, we don’t know if this is the plan until it happens. It could very well be. It could very well be that Cassel was perceived to be the guy for real (rather than a QB deemed adequate to man the helm while the rebuilding took place… I guess in my metaphor “the scaffolding”). Will Pioli say? No.

Which brings us to the secrecy. I can understand this to an extent. Part of the existence of a salary cap in the NFL is to promote competition and to provide no team with an unfair competitive advantage due to finances. But each team wants a competitive edge to build the strongest team possible within the restrictions of these limited resources. Kansas City is not a large market, so the competitive edge of “come here, we’ll make you famous” isn’t much of one for Chiefs execs (past, current or foreseeable future). Fan loyalty can help lure talent, but that’s more our thing than a FO thing. The Chiefs don’t have overwhelming, modern day championship prestige (yet). So what competitive edges can there be? I would reason that not letting your competition know your goals heading into deals would prove to be a great advantage. If everyone expected KC to draft a QB in the first round of next year’s draft (let’s say they finished with a pick lower than No. 1 Overall), and a move was made to jockey the team in the position to draft the QB of their choice, how much greater would the trade cost be knowing that the team’s intent is to draft a team’s most valuable asset (QB)? If, however, you lowered your trade partner’s expectations to believe that your intent is in the interest of drafting a lesser position player, that deal will likely become less costly (meaning that your own team can hold onto more assets, be it player, asset, or money to re-invest in another portion of the team). It’s a competitive edge built on manipulating others’ speculation of your intents, and there may be considerable success in doing so; unfortunately, the decision to put your competitor’s speculation in doubt also casts doubt within your fanbase’s speculation.

As for owning up to his mistakes, I’ll go back to Babb and the salary cap situation: Babb (local media) fabricated a negative misconception of something the Chiefs were actually doing well and it spread like a fire causing a wave of damage in its wake. That was with bad knowledge of a situation the team was actually doing pretty well. What could be expected of this same local media if Pioli admitted to an actual error? Holy bejeezus, that would not end well.

Overall, I can appreciate wanting personnel dedicated to making the franchise a perennial contender, and I can understand building the supportive components of a team up first before dropping in the franchise QB. It’s not the broad goals behind (what I think is) Pioli’s rebuilding plan I question, so much as Pioli’s execution of this plan. Keep the ideology, but do better at enacting the plan (or, Clark, find someone else who can).

Eric Winston

Spoke in a moment of passion. While morally justified in sentiment, he lacked the censorship to scope his claims down to only indicate the fans that partook in the behavior. CBA dictates that players are open to media. He spoke to media in conjunction with this clause. So, I really can’t begrudge him the action of speaking with the media.

I’ve been saying for weeks that negativity from fans affects the players more than fans might think. After weeks of negativity, and the greetings of a negative banner on Sunday, he construed some cheers as being in the morally negative bent. Looking through comments on various sites pertaining to this issue, it’s easy to find people admittedly partaking in this deplorable behavior (cheering a player getting injured), so Winston’s perception of the intent behind some of these cheers does hold some merit.

There is some understandable and justifiable betrayal felt on behalf of the fans (at least the portions whom, in a moment of passion, Winston lumped in with the bad ones), but attempting to look at thing empathetically from Winston’s point of view, the portion of fans that cheered Cassel’s injury are a part of the same fanbase whose overwhelming response to his FA visit convinced him to stop seeking potentially greater fortune, and a greater media market, elsewhere and to settle for less money if it meant great fans. He made a major life choice based on how great the fanbase presented itself to him, and in short time saw just how negative the fanbase/local media could get [the local media is crawling with negativity, fans (though not all) have been acting out in negative fashions for weeks (even if just verbally), and it culminated with a portion of those fans doing something so deplorable and anti-supportive of the players]. Given that consideration, I wouldn’t be surprised if Winston felt a little bit of betrayal, too.

Ultimately my point on this is that fan attitude does affect player attitude, and this whole fiasco is a case in point.

Fans who cheered Cassel’s injury

Winston was correct in stating that this is not the Roman Coliseum and the players are not gladiators.

For those that use the flawed logic that NFL stadiums are constructed in the image of the Roman Coliseum so football is like the modern equivalent, you should probably know that the architectural design of NFL stadiums is not intended as an allegory to ancient Rome. The Romans designed the Coliseum as they did because it architecturally allowed for greater seating capacity. The properties of such design haven’t changed, and this is why stadiums are made in such a fashion. Incidentally, uncomfortable-as-all-get-out bleacher seating may also be used to accommodate more people. It’s an attendance maximization thing, not a throwback to days of yore.

For those that use the logic that “it’s okay to cheer MMA and boxing, so why not a football player’s injury?”, you should probably know that the rules are different going into each contest. Beating the crap out of each other is an integral part of MMA and boxing matches, and the participants willingly submit themselves to such punishment. Incidentally, it’s not unheard of for professionals in these sports to schedule matches several months apart to accommodate for the fact that they’re going to get brutalized and need copious amounts of time to recover in between bouts. Injuries in football, on the other hand, are incidental to the sport (not integral) and any action done by a player to intentionally injure another (or even that increase the odds of injury, such as helmet-to-helmet shots) are generally frowned upon. Remember that whole Bounty scandal thing? Yeah, the main part of that was the targeting of players for the purpose of injury (that money may or may not have been put towards these goals is secondary). Remember all those fines players accrue for helmet-to-helmet hits? Yeah, that’s what those are about, too.

There’s no denying that big hits or hard hits get a viewer’s adrenaline going, or that it is pants-crappingly awesome to see a player pop back up from such hits like they’re no big deal. But sometimes those players don’t bounce back up, and that’s when it’s time for humanity to kick back in. Maybe if the injury is a more minor one (ankle sprain, broken finger, etc.) to an opponent’s superstar, you can thank your lucky stars that your team got a reprieve from his awesomeness for the rest of the game, but when you get into potentially life-altering injuries such as concussions, ACL tears and the ilk, it’s time to dial it down.

To those of you convinced that Cassel’s injury is the only thing that would take him out of the line-up and that your voice isn’t being heard, you may be right, you may not be right. Maybe Cassel really was the best QB on the squad (I just vomited in my mouth a little). That being said, I personally didn’t care for the public display of discord by use of a banner flying over Arrowhead; such displays have the potential to place the fanbase as a whole in a bad light. That being said, I respect that you care so much about your team to spend extra money for such a display,

I would suggest and alternative: it may go against younger generations’ grain to not make public statements (ala Facebook or Twitter), but there’s a thing called letter writing that involves a pen and paper which would be more low key (as in less inflammatory to the fanbase) and cheaper, too. I’m in no way condoning sending threatening letters to One Arrowhead Drive (that’s kind of illegal), but sending letters highlighting your devotion to the team and expressing your disapproval of certain things that are being done which you don’t agree with (preferably with well-reasoned arguments, as you’d be taken more seriously) might be much more effective. As I write this, it occurs to me that Lamar Hunt was fond of conducting business via letter writing (even as technology advanced into allowing more instant communications), so to do so as a fanbase may very well strike a personal chord within the Hunt family as it pertains to fan concerns. The least that could be expected? Solid evidence of fans’ concerns that can’t be as easily discarded and ignored as pressing a “Trash” button in e-mail. Pioli flipped over a candy wrapper, how much attention do you think will be paid to stacks of letters filling up the joint?

Hopefully some of what I said has shed new light on certain things. Again, some of it is speculation, so my guess is as good as yours, but hopefully you have gotten to considering alternative intents. Tune in next week when I’ll be looking forward to 2013’s expected cap hits/player personnel moves. As always, Go Chiefs!!!

Findings of a Chiefs Fan Who #gotaclue

Andrew C. Gilbert — Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:00:29 +0000

Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

Well, Chiefs fans, for those of you who read my article last week, you should’ve walked away knowing a little bit more about salary cap management. You may or may not have jumped to my rallying cry to show the player and team some love, and let the NFL world know that when they go up against the Chiefs they’re not just going up against the players and coaches, they’re going up against every Chiefs fan that bleeds red and gold.

Whether you did or not certainly depends on the individual. Some of you may be too disgusted by Clark Hunt and Scott Pioli’s management of your beloved Chiefs to look past your perception of them and root for the players. After all, Hunt and Pioli are cheapskates (to use the nicer term), right?

Well, according to Spotrac.com, it appears that, of the 32 NFL teams, the Kansas City Chiefs are spending the most cap dollars of any team on active player contracts in 2012.

I’ll wait for you to seek medical attention for your broken jaw; mine slammed pretty hard off of my desk, too…

That was not a misprint: the Kansas City Chiefs, owned by Clark Hunt and family, managed by Scott Pioli, appear to be paying the most of any team on active player contracts this season. Take a look for yourself:

Rk.	Team	Total Active Contracts	Rk.	Team	Total Active Contracts
1	KC	127,933,241	17	NO	105,287,029
2	CHI	126,358,124	18	HOU	103,155,468
3	NYJ	125,227,294	19	MIN	102,975,537
4	SF	123,707,285	20	PHI	102,821,893
5	DEN	117,001,639	21	DAL	102,014,104
6	DET	116,158,991	22	WAS	100,947,807
7	NYG	111,211,940	23	TEN	99,407,782
8	PIT	111,016,166	24	ARI	99,013,354
9	JAC	110,538,183	25	BAL	98,095,030
10	TB	109,348,529	26	CLE	96,861,684
11	ATL	109,067,644	27	STL	96,283,634
12	CAR	108,688,191	28	NE	95,961,861
13	GB	107,837,787	29	SEA	95,477,975
14	MIA	106,579,214	30	CIN	92,477,712
15	SD	106,384,272	31	OAK	84,747,000
16	BUF	105,705,583	32	IND	79,641,342
Source: Spotrac.com

Now, I want to be clear. Spending “the most cap dollars… on active player contracts” does not necessarily mean that the Kansas City Chiefs are using/accounting-for the most cap dollars overall, it means that they’re paying the most cap money towards players currently on the team.

What does that mean?

Though most news outlets will report cap space availability for teams, this is a new day and age, and comes with it a new CBA, wherein available cap space money can be rolled into the next year without the need for teams to exploit loopholes*. This will affect how much cap dollars a team can spend on its players in a given season. This can really alter each team’s cap room which, in turn, will make cap space availability numbers a little less useful without context.

*It used to be that NLTBEs were accounted into the cap during the season they were set, and were the only cap dollars that could be rolled over, provided the player the NLTBE was assigned to didn’t earn it. So to rollover remaining cap monies, teams could make a ridiculous NLTBE late in the season that had no way of happening, say setting an NLTBE in Week 15 that would have your 3^rd string QB receiving all remaining cap dollars if he could throw 10 TDs by the end of the season. He, of course, wouldn’t, but since the NLTBE was accounted for, but not met, the money could be rolled over into the next season. The new CBA made adjustments to this by just letting teams rollover cap dollars without the need for trickery, and having NLTBEs count against the next season’s cap should they be met.

Ex: Let’s say Team A rolls over $1 million from last year’s season into this year’s season, and Team B rolls over $20 million. If after spending, both teams find themselves with a cap availability of $1 million, it won’t be because both teams spent the same amount of money. Rather, Team B would’ve spent more money as it spent both the league defined cap, plus $19 million of the $20 million it rolled over; whereas Team A would’ve only spent the league defined cap, and just didn’t touch its rollover.

But even that is only a portion of how people can confuse salary cap availability with money spent by the club on its active players’ contracts. In the NFL’s salary accounting policies and procedures, there is a certain thing that negatively impacts a team’s salary cap, that doesn’t seem to get a lot of media attention: dead money.

What is dead money? (you ask because you don’t use contractions)

Dead money is generated when a player leaves a team (usually by being cut, but sometimes through retirement or a trade*) and certain parts of their contracts were either guaranteed or solely within the club’s responsibility to pay (e.g. signing bonus). It gets its name because, even though the player is no longer with the team, and therefore doing the team no good, the money must be absorbed and paid for by the club, and it does cause a cap hit. So any dead money that exists keeps a club from spending that much more money on players who are (or can be) signed to the 53-man roster.

*For those left wondering, whether you thought to ask yourself or not, players willfully leaving, or willfully being allowed to leave, via FA don’t generate dead money, as their contract would’ve been fully satisfied, and there’d be no money left unpaid for a team to absorb.

Ex: Team A and Team B each have a salary cap of $100 million (for the purposes of this example there were no rollovers). Team A has dead money to the tune of $10 million. Team B has dead money to the tune of $2 million. After spending the money on this year’s team, it’s reported that Team A has $1 million in cap availability and Team B has $5 million in camp availability. At face value, and since availability gets reported much more heavily than dead money figures, it appears that Team A is spending more money on their current team than Team B. This is an incorrect assumption. After deducting each team’s dead money from their initial cap, Team A had $90 million to spend for the year, and Team B had $98 million. So though Team A appears on the surface to have spent more money on current player contracts (what with $1 million left compared to Team B’s $5 million left) doing the math shows that Team A has actually only spent $89 million on this year’s roster [$100 million (cap) - $10 million (dead money) - $1 million (available money)]; whereas Team B has actually spent the greater sum having devoted $93 million cap dollars on this year’s roster [$100 million - $2 million - $5 million].

Let’s take a look at each team’s dead money figures:

Rk.	Team	Dead Money in 2012	Rk.	Team	Dead Money in 2012
1	GB	462,449	17	DEN	5,359,943
2	DET	467,645	18	CLE	6,254,856
3	SF	519,336	19	STL	6,290,277
4	CIN	1,240,266	20	JAC	7,672,336
5	NO	1,442,125	21	SEA	9,059,852
6	CHI	2,043,840	22	PIT	9,648,021
7	KC	2,117,187	23	MIN	9,675,205
8	TEN	2,320,218	24	SD	9,873,578
9	TB	2,594,766	25	BAL	10,215,625
10	NYJ	2,724,951	26	BUF	11,634,582
11	NYG	3,024,749	27	DAL	12,635,743
12	ARI	3,276,475	28	MIA	15,197,987
13	ATL	3,526,774	29	HOU	16,382,685
14	PHI	4,921,269	30	NE	17,962,912
15	CAR	5,296,573	31	OAK	21,757,394
16	WAS	5,357,521	32	IND	37,896,499
Source: Spotrac.com

It should be noted that $460,000-520,000 in dead money is pretty well par for the course for any team in a given year, just due to cuts to fringe players. Here you’ll see the Chiefs have the 7^th least amount of dead money affecting this season’s cap with $2,117,187. Interestingly enough, Demorrio Williams accounts for $1.6 million of this figure, with the remaining $517,187 being spread between 7 different (former) players with Gabe Miller accounting for the second highest figure ($148,875) and Brandon Bair, the least ($4,666).

Another pitfall in using cap availability in judging how much a team is spending on its players’ contracts is, as I touched on last week, that LTBE goals will, for accounting purposes, appear as cap hits on the current season’s salary cap, but whether or not players will earn this/these goal(s) is, of course, not a guarantee until it happens.

So to a common observer who a) doesn’t consider how rollovers affect the cap, b) doesn’t consider dead money and c) doesn’t consider how things such as LTBEs must be taken into account, it’s a quick and easy jump to assume that the more cap space a team has available, the less money that team is spending on its current team. This is the Kansas City Chiefs’ current plight. Fans see that $14.5 million in cap space is remaining, the third most in the league, and assume that Clark Hunt and Scott Pioli are cheap bastards (to use the less nice term). Many Chiefs fans are furious that they’re not spending more. However, as stated at the beginning, of all 32 teams, the Kansas City Chiefs appear to be spending the most cap money this season towards active player contracts.

But how can that be? Wasn’t it just reported back in February that the Chiefs had $63 million in cap space remaining?

At the time that that report was released a few things were taken into account that increased that figure, while several things were not taken into account that would lower that number. Basically, the reported figure was artificially larger than it actually was.

Namely, the $63 million figure included the $24 million (approx.) that the Chiefs rolled over from last season*, but it did not include contract escalators (which, by the way, tend to be non-negotiable devices built into contracts) which amounted to approximately $18 million. Nor did this figure include the money the team was required to pay out to players for NLTBEs offered to them and achieved during the 2011 season and estimated to be about $5 million. Nor did it include money for RFA Tenders (which really wound up just being Jovan Belcher’s for $1.9 million).

*The Chiefs announced through their official team site that they were rolling over $20 million; however sites such as NFL.com, ESPN & Spotrac reported the rollover as approximately $24 million. Given these sites reputability and independence from the organization, we’ll assume the higher number

After deducting the values that were not deducted prior to the report’s release, the Chiefs’ so-called available funds dip to about $38 million (a much more believable figure). Now deduct for Routt’s signing, Dwayne Bowe’s franchise tag and Jovan Belcher’s RFA Tender and we’re down to about $22 million, which is what was reported just before free agency.

Now deduct for the signings of Winston, Boss, Hillis, Quinn, and the rookie class, deduct for the re-signing of Travis Daniels, add money that was freed up through the restructuring of Tyson Jackson’s contract, deduct for Abram Elam and Edgar Jones, and we’re down to $16.5 million. As suggested in last week’s article, it is likely that the $2 million differential between this $16.5 million and the current $14.5 million is due to LTBEs being set for this season.

Okay, so now I see how they went from $63 million to $14.5 million, but if how much the Chiefs are paying on active player contracts is correct, it only appears to be about $8 million over the league defined cap… Pioli just did an interview a week or so ago where he said the Chiefs were spending about $20 million cash over the cap this season.

You are correct in your observation that the contracts amount to about $8 million over the league’s defined base cap. That being said, Scott Pioli is correct that the team is spending about $20 million cash over this same cap.

Alright, now you’re just $*%#@!# with me.

There is a difference between how much cap dollars a team spends in a given season, and how much “committed cash” it spends in a given season. While some things, such as base salary, workout bonuses, roster bonuses, etc., count equally towards both cap dollars and committed cash [Ex: $1 million base salary accounts for $1 million towards the cap and $1 million towards the cash], other things, such as signing bonuses and option bonuses, are accounted for differently.

Ex: Eric Winston signed a 4 year deal that comes with an $8.4 million signing bonus. The entirety of this signing bonus was given to him right away; however, it’s prorated over the course of the 4 year deal so that it hits the cap equally each contract year. So this particular deal is hitting the cap by $2.1 million this year, but hits the committed cash by $8.4 million this year.

Obviously, Winston’s contract isn’t the only contract lending to the difference in cap dollars and committed cash, but at least you can see how the difference comes about.

__________

So, are Pioli and Hunt cheap bastards? Looking at cap availability alone one would think “yes”; however, everything else seems to indicate otherwise. When the Chiefs announced the rollover of last year’s cap space into this season, Clark Hunt stated that the rollover money would be put to use in continuing to re-sign the Chiefs free agents, as well as to go out and sign some free agents from other teams.

The FO lived up to Clark’s word.

Beginning the 2011 season, the Chiefs had 27 players set to hit FA this past offseason. By controlling the player budget enough that Pioli had some idea of how much money could be rolled over, he was able to re-sign Hali and Flowers to extensions early on in the season, and re-signed Succop to an extension in December (and look how huge that turned out being this past weekend). The team also brought back Brandon Siler, Cory Greenwood, Jake O’Connell, Travis Daniels and Amon Gordon (with only Gordon not working out… by the way, no dead money was generated by Gordon’s short-lived contract). Bowe received the Franchise Tag and Jovan Belcher an RFA Tender which, though not as good as extensions, were at least enough to assure their return to the team (and had some other team picked up Bowe at the cost of 2- 1^st Round Picks, or Belcher for the cost of 1- 2^nd Round Pick, something tells me us fans could’ve lived with it). Of the 17 players that hit FA but were not retained, Carr and Orton are likely the only two to complain about. Six were contemplating retirement, four were just terrible, one couldn’t stay healthy with the Chiefs, and four were still perceived as desirable enough to be picked up. The Chiefs, in turn, picked up Routt, Winston, Boss, Hillis, Quinn, Abram Elam, and Edgar Jones as far as players on roster and hitting the cap go. They also picked up Kyle McCarthy, Martin Rucker and Jacques Reeves who all find themselves on IR and don’t count against the cap.

That’s a pretty good offseason. To be where they’re currently at cap-wise, but to have retained Carr, likely would’ve meant no Routt, no Boss and no Winston. To use more of the cap than is currently available (say by re-signing Carr but still signing Routt, Boss & Winston) means making a tougher time of re-signing the Chiefs pick of next seasons 17 scheduled free agents, and not having much money available to take advantage of other teams’ cap casualty cuts (i.e. next year’s Routts, Boss’s & Winstons).

Some of you might not like to hear it, or even want to accept it (even after all the work I just put in showing how they’re spending money and spending it wisely), but it appears the money isn’t being pocketed, and the current regime isn’t likely to end anytime soon. In fact, it looks like things are getting in order (non-Pioli-negotiated contracts are on the way out) and Pioli & Co. are just hitting their stride. But it should be a positive to know that Clark Hunt does care about the team’s success more than he cares about pocketing the money. Now if only the coaches and players can maximize their talents and do it on a consistent basis, we might just have ourselves a team worthy of championships…

Well, Addicts, if nothing else you’ve come away from this knowing more about your favorite NFL team. Maybe you’ve already given up too much hope to reverse the lynch mob, but the management seems to be giving all they can to the team and the fans; looks like it’s time for the team and the fans to reciprocate. While the team leaves it all out on the field on Sunday, why don’t we be there to back their efforts, and give Philip “Cry Me A” River(s) another miserable Arrowhead experience. GO CHIEFS!!!

Passing Judgement On Clark Hunt and Scott Pioli

Lyle Graversen — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:00:27 +0000

A few years ago my wife and I took a class through our church called “Financial Peace University.” It was a series of classes on how to get your finances in order put together by financial “guru” Dave Ramsey. It really helped us get ourselves on track. For those that aren’t familiar with Ramsey, here’s a brief summary. Debt is bad. If you have it, get rid of it. If you don’t have it, don’t get it. He says that the biggest problem with our society is that we have become too obsessed with instant gratification. It seems that anymore if you want a huge flat screen TV, you don’t think about if you can afford it, you just go out and buy it on credit and figure out how to pay for it later. Ramsey’s solution is not that you can’t buy a big flat screen, it’s that if you want one you save up your money until you can afford it and then buy it. That way the happiness you get from the TV doesn’t get replaced with regret when you can’t pay your bills down the road.

“Great financial lesson, Graversen, but this is a Chiefs blog, move it along!”

Alright, but I think you know where I’m going with this. For the last year Scott Pioli and Clark Hunt have been public enemies number 1 and 2 (you pick the order) with most KC fans. They’ve been called cheap, tight, and even evil human beings. The general consensus has been that these two men both care more about filling their own pockets then fielding a winning football team. Now I’m sure some of you that have read my columns before are expecting me to ride the positive vibes coming off the early free agent signings into a 100 percent Pioli and Hunt are great “fluff” piece. Hopefully, that’s not what this is. I’d like to take an honest look back at their tenures and see if there is a fair assessment that most KC fans could agree on.
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Clark Hunt Confirms Chiefs’ Interest In Peyton Manning

Patrick Allen — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 20:01:02 +0000

Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

The Kansas City Chiefs are interested in Peyton Manning.

According to…wait for it…ah hell, you’ve already read the headline so you know…

Clark. Hunt.

That’s right, the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs confirmed that the team is indeed interested in Peyton Manning. We already knew this from various reports but we hadn’t heard anything official from the team.

Until now.

“He’s one of the greatest players in the history of the league,” Hunt said. “He’s also an incredible person. We feel really good about the team we have in Kansas City going into the 2012 season, but we’ll look for any opportunity to improve and, of course, that includes Peyton Manning.”

Hunt would not confirm whether or not the team has offered Manning a deal but he did say that they would definitely be talking with the former Colts QB.

So Manning may well be on his way to Denver. And he may well visit Arizona and Miami.

But he’s probably going to stop in Kansas City too.

Let’s hope he stays there.

Stanford Routt, Next Steps

Double D — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 21:00:02 +0000

I, like most of you who closely follow all things Chiefs, find myself a little bit surprised, a little bit concerned, a little bit intrigued, perhaps a little bit excited, and mostly just a whole lot eager to see exactly how the recent signing of Stanford Routt plays out in terms of Pioli’s handling of the looming FA situations with Carr and Bowe. I think most who’ve studied these players would agree that Routt and Carr represent a pretty similar level of talent. They’re both about the same height and build, they both possess excellent verticals, Routt possesses the better speed of the two but also brings a little more physical style of play which has earned him the rep of drawing a lot of flags.

Tradeoffs (sigh).

I haven’t seen the 2011 charting stat numbers yet, but I can tell you that in 2010, Stanford Routt, when paired up with Nmandi Asomugha, was a top shelf pass defender. Football Outsiders, for example, ranked him with the 3rd highest success rate, with 66% of passes defended. Carr ranked 10th in that department with 61% of passes defended. In fact, both scored better than Brandon Flowers, for what it’s worth. Also worth noting is that Routt only gave up 5.7 yards per pass to Carr’s 7.1 yd/pass. Given all that, I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable to expect Routt’s production to parallel his 2010 situation playing alongside Flowers.

There are also rumors circulating in the media that Routt was somebody for whom Romeo Crennel actively lobbied. If true, I think that’s also pretty significant in terms of scheme fit. For a really well-written, compelling look into the player we’re getting in Stanford Routt, I recommend Doug Farrar’s (Yahoo! Sports) recent piece on him. Long story short, I personally feel this is a really good signing no matter how you slice it.

Now that Routt is inked, it seems that the popular assumption, or expectation if you will, is that all this means is that Pioli got himself a guy with skills very comparable to those of Carr for what we think could be 2 or 3 million less per year. Cynically put, Pioli avoided some unnecessary negotation stress by landing a comparable replacement for Carr who, oh by the way, just so happens to be cheaper to pay. Given that, one is then further tempted to think that the safe, conservative move now is to simply franchise Bowe and let Carr walk. CB dilemma solved, franchise tag dilemma solved, all good.

Well guess what? I’m going to go against the grain and offer an even better strategy. Scotty, I hope you’re reading this (I also hope that after reading this, you’ll finally start responding to those thousands of suggestion letters I’ve sent you dammit!).

Bowe, while inconsistent at times, has shown the potential to be a gamechanger. That’s worth something in the NFL. I think he can also be considered a foundational player for the Chiefs. Also worth something. Still, I believe that Bowe, rather than being tagged, ought to be locked up into a long-term deal before free agency hits. Unless you’re planning to shop him– in and of itself a risky strategy on many fronts– I see no reason not to just sign him to a comfortable, reasonable, market value contract.

So why no tag for Bowe you ask? Well, first off because if you really want him, and you’ve come up with a good backup plan for Carr, then there’s really no reason whatsoever for not focusing all of your attention and energy on getting a deal done to make Bowe’s long-term presence as a Chief into reality. Not just that, but doesn’t it also help to further underscore that whole PR pledgy thingy to develop and retain core players?

As promising and exciting and foundational as Bowe might seem, it is also important to recognize that he simply has not proven himself to be among of the 5 best receivers in the league which, in a certain sense, is what the franchise tag kind of suggests. Pro Football Focus ranks him as the 12th best WR going into 2012 and 19th best among their Dynasty Rankings. Similarly, Football Outsiders ranked Bowe 51st in DVOA and 31st in DYAR for 2011. Not exactly what you’d call eye-popping production.

We all know that Bowe every once in awhile makes for some fun highlight reel footage, but does he honestly merit franchise tag money? Especially when you’re most likely not going to find many teams willing to exchange a high value pick for him? I think you see my point. Bottom line, paying Bowe like he’s a top 5 WR really doesn’t sound all that Clark-like to me. Lest we forget, Bowe was a 1st round draft pick– just how likely is it that we can get that for him now? ROI people, ROI.

Moving on, if Pioli can sign Bowe to a long-term deal before free agency hits, he’ll still have a franchise tag at his disposal, right? Well, please tell me then what would be the folly in using that tag on Carr? In fact, franchising Carr seems to me like the best of all possible moves at this point and I’m going to offer some reasons as to why that is so.

It’s a proverbial seller’s market for top tier CBs and this year is no different. Justifiable or not, Carr is almost certain to command an elite CB level of monetary respect out on the open market. What’s more, it seems there could be some healthy competition for a CB of Carr’s caliber. I can think of at least a couple of teams out there that are desperately needing major secondary talent who, oh by the way, also happen to have some pretty interesting draft pick horsepower to make a lucrative deal happen for the Chiefs. For example, both the Patriots and the Bengals are in need of quality CB help and both are holding on to spare 1st round picks. Just imagine all of the tantalizing draft possibilities that would suddenly open up for the Chiefs if that were to happen?

Move up and get a franchise QB? Check.
Pick up a couple of first round offensive linemen? Check.
Control the draft by moving down? Check.

So you say, “well Double D, suppose nobody is willing to pony up a high draft pick for Carr? Aren’t you then stuck with an overpaid secondary that you’re underutilizing most of the time because, well, as everybody knows, you really only need 2 good corners? Very, very risky. Very expensive (i.e., unClark-like). Not good. Or as my AA colleague Big Matt might say ‘Mattie no likey.’”

Not good? How about not so fast?

Merlin and I were texting back and forth on this whole deal the other day and he brought to my attention a pretty interesting fact of which I was previously unaware. To wit, an NFL nickel plays about 50% of all snaps currently. That is a lot. On top of that, the more success you have at containing teams on 1st down, the more likely it is that you’ll see the nickel utilized on successive downs. In fact, I think with the right personnel, a pretty compelling argument can be made for having the nickel formation as your base D.

When I think of Flowers, Carr, and Routt being on the field all at the same time, I start thinking “two’s company, but hey, three’s a party!” Arenas might excel at wrapping up receivers pretty quickly after the catch but he’s not exactly setting the world on fire when it comes to preventing that catch from happening in the first place. Just sayin.

As many on the message boards here have already suggested, the Routt signing may indeed turn out to be a very forward thinking approach on the part of Crennel and Pioli. In fact, passing against a defensive backfield comprised primarily of Flowers, Carr and Routt would be close to impossible. In this increasingly pass-friendly league, I have to think that that level of secondary presence would basically relegate opposing offenses to beating you with their running game, and maybe tossing in a few dink and dunks for good measure (which painfully brings to mind a certain low-scoring, rather flaccid offense with which I happen to be pretty familiar).

The only practical alternative to going with the run would be to simultaneously risk a lot of coverage sacks. Unless your QB can progress through his reads quickly and also get rid of the ball in a hurry, you’re gonna be in a heap of trouble. If a team goes run, we’ll have DJ, Berry, and perhaps Belcher up in there to contain it. If a team opts to pass, their dealing with a DB set of Flowers, Routt, Carr, and Berry with maybe DJ in coverage while Hali & Houston, along with either an ILB, S, or CB, are all breathing fire in your backfield.

Next– just stay with me here– we grab a very gettable guy in the form of one Paul Soliai as our NT. Tell me, how can that cannot be considered a run stuffing, block eating, shutdown, ballhawking, nightmare defense?

So, armed on defense, we head into the draft to start filling holes on offense.

Final (crazy?) thought. While neither has any experience at the position (at least none of which I’m aware), both Carr and Routt possess prototypical size and speed to play Safety, Routt perhaps moreso because of his physicality. Might this signing, combined with the retention Carr, offer more options and much needed depth at that position as well? I know, stupid idea, probably makes more sense to just plug Sabby Piscatelli whenever the need arises, right? I’m sure we’ll be just fine should Eric Berry happen to miss any games.

That’s my Double Take.

Sound off Addicts!

Because Love Isn’t Always Easy: Valentines For Chiefs Fans

Victor Wishna — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:00:25 +0000

Well, Chiefs fans, today is Valentine’s Day, and that means only one thing: margaritas.

However, while it might be our tradition to spend every Valentine’s Night at a Mexican restaurant (the tacky-red-paper-hearts-per-person quotient is much lower), I realize everyone approaches this fake holiday in his or her own special way. Even back in third grade—which, frankly, is where the celebration of this day should begin and end—when societal norms and, more specifically, Mrs. Brockmeyer demanded that we give paper valentines to everyone in class, we had to decide which valentines best represented us, as well as which of our secret crushes would receive the more risqué—and risky—messages.*

*Was “You rock, Valentine!” coming on way too strong?

Just as a set of perforated Transformers valentines (“Let’s roll, Valentine! You’re a Mega Friend!”) perfectly represented who I was back in 1984, today’s Kansas City Chiefs fans need valentines that speak to us, that capture the angst and occasional joy of this tumultuous relationship in which we’ve entangled ourselves. And among all the boxes of Harry Potter, Shrek, and Smurfs valentines at the local CVS, I couldn’t find any. So—you can guess what’s coming next—I had no choice but to make a few of my own.

Feel free to print, perforate, and share as you wish. Perhaps—just like the Indianapolis Colts on draft day—you’ll get lucky.

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Hunt Says Chiefs Will Carry Over Their Cap Space

Patrick Allen — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:18:19 +0000

Denny Medley-US PRESSWIRE

According to an interview given by Clark Hunt the week of the Super Bowl, the Kansas City Chiefs finished the season about $20 million under the salary cap. There had been reports of the team being as much as $27 million under the cap, however Hunt indicated that those estimates were a bit high. Under the new rules of the updated CBA, teams can carry over unused cap dollars from one year to the next.

This makes sense. Teams should have that flexibility with their money. For instance, if a team has a number of key players set to hit free agency they may want to save some extra cap space to re-sign those guys rather than blow that money on guys like Shabby Piscitelli.

With the extra $20 million, the Chiefs could outbid just about any other team NFL team for any free agent they might deem worth the money.

Per the terms of the new CBA, the extra money doesn’t just automatically carry over from one year to the next. The team must actually choose to carry the cap room over by submitting a written notice to the league before the start of the new league year. The teams don’t have to carry over all the money. The Chiefs could decide to carry over any portion of their extra $20 million.

According to Hunt, the team has already decided to carry over their space.

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