Scott Pioli Breaks Down The Chiefs’ Draft
Kansas City Chiefs GM Scott Pioli sat down with the media about an hour ago to break down the third and final day of the team’s draft.
He began by talking about how challenging this draft process was as the team had lost Phil Emery, its director of college scouting during the offseason. Emery took the GM job for the Chicago Bears. Pioli noted that coaches and scouts all had to do a lot of extra work to pitch in and get the club ready. He said it was a rewarding collaboration.
On to his quotes about the draft.
On RB Cyrus Gray:
"In the case of Cyrus, he’s one of the most productive backs in Big 8..or…what is it, Big 12 history. It’s still the Big 8 guys, isn’t it? (laughter) Tremendously productive back and a guy who is a, you know he and Tannehill were the leaders of that football team down there. I made a trip down there and saw this guy again and he played injured, played with a big problem all this year and continued to be productive and is a team leader for Texas A&M.”"
On DT Jerome Long:
"He played the nose for them, he played a number of positions on the inside. He’s probably not a nose build-wise for us. He’s just about 300 pounds, 6-4 a little bit taller, longer, linear type player who’s probably gonna come in and be lined up in the defensive end position but another guy who’s a team leader, high motor guy, tough guy and a really, really smart guy."
On Junior Hemingway:
"Our last pick at the end of the day was Junior Hemingway out of the University of Michigan. An interesting guy just because when he went to Michigan I think there was…a lot of his production was limited I think because of the offense that they ran up there. A guy who has really good physical tools, has good hands. Again, his production, I asked him when we talked to him on the phone, I don’t know how a guy catches two passes in the Sugar Bowl and wins the MVP only catching two passes but I guess he does the best with his opportunities. I want to know if there’s been any other player to win a bowl game MVP with only two receptions."
On seeing the team on the field:
"I can’t wait till it happens. I can’t wait for the first day of mini-camp, the first time we’re actually allowed to go out on a football field. Asa a team. As this whole new group."
On reaching the roster limit of 90:
"By the end of this week we won’t necessarily be to 90. There’s some veteran free agents out there and as the draft was going on…I don’t know what the rumor mill has heard or not heard but there are a number of veteran players that are about to become free agents in the next couple of days. We don’t have to get to 90 but it’s nice to have that cushion. We’ll eventually get there by training camp I assume."
On the Chiefs’ veteran unrestricted free agents that the team has yet to re-sign (Barry Richardson, Shabby and the like):
"We talked to the agents of a couple of those free agents prior to the draft, shortly before the draft and others weeks before and the players…some players want to wait until after the draft. They want to get to a certain point and they want to wait until the draft to see not only what we do but what other teams do that might be the best situation for them. So it’s a matter of, I think, what we do and what they do now, everyone will sort through it and they’ll figure out where they want to be and have a better idea of what they want to do."