Chiefs Owner Clark Hunt: We Ended Up Getting A First Overall QB
Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
The Kansas City Chiefs embarked in a new era this offseason when owner Clark Hunt made the decision to fire then GM Scott Pioli and head coach Romeo Crennel and to replace them with JOhn Dorsey and Andy Reid.
Te Reid Dorsey era is now in full swing in KC. The duo made a bit of an impact already, trading for San Francisco 49ers QB Alex Smith, re-signed WR Dwayne Bowe, franchising LT Branden Albert and allowing DE GLenn Dorsey to depart in free agency.
This weekend, however, Dorsey and Reid are laying the foundation for the organization’s future as they make selections in the 2013 NFL Draft.
Hunt spoke to the media yesterday, following the second day of the draft. Right off the bat, he wasasked what impressed him sofar about Reid and Dorsey.
“Well I just think they were thorough,” said Hunt. “John is somebody who has been around the National Football League, literally his entire professional life and the last 20-plus years involved with the Green Bay Packers, for most of that on the scouting side, on the college draft. And he brought a knowledge and a calmness to the process. And I spoke to him frequently throughout the process. He had his guys in there churning. Every time I spoke to Andy, he said yeah John’s in there, can’t get him out of the war room watching tape. They did their evaluation and when it came time to make the pick, there was a lot of confidence in the decision. There wasn’t any second guessing, he and Andy were on the same page, which is something that was very important to me and they’re both very excited to have Eric as part of the Kansas City Chiefs.”
Hunt also added that although there were no premium QBs at the top of the draft, he wasn’t unhappy that this was the year the Chiefs were picking first because KC was able to trade for Alex Smith.
“You know at the end of the season, I certainly had those thoughts,” said Hunt. “I was like, ‘why could this not have been last year when there were the quarterbacks sitting there, we had a need at the quarterback position.’ When we were able to pull off the trade on Alex Smith, really, for me, that issue went away. We ended up getting a first overall quarterback, he just happened to of been taken [eight] years ago and we were able to trade for him with a second round pick this year. And then with what we did in free agency, we were able to address a lot of our needs and put ourselves in a position where we could take the best available player. We didn’t have to draft somebody to come fill a hole here or there. We were able to take the guy John Dorsey felt would be the best for the Kansas City Chiefs over the long run. So actually it turned from being a little bit of a negative to very much of a positive because we were going to be able to get a player that would help us, not only this year, but down the road.”