Former Chiefs DL Tank Tyler talks Todd Haley and more

Oct 26, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Fans show their support for the Kansas City Royals with flags before the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and St. Louis Rams at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

Reach: Take us through your final days in Kansas City.

TT: “Haley took my starting spot because I didn’t pick my key up on time. From that point on, I didn’t start for the rest of the season. In fact, he sat me down for the majority of those games. Within the fourth or fifth games I was inactive, I got out of my game.

One Monday night, I was sitting down at the Capital Grille about to have my favorite meal, when he and Pioli called me down to the office and told me I was being traded to the Panthers. I wasn’t prepared to go back home at that moment. I really hadn’t made any money in Kansas City. That wasn’t the plan I had. I didn’t want to leave Kansas City. I was stable there in what I was doing and felt like I was a leader on that team. Todd Haley had a different agenda and a different view on me. He had an ego problem and he didn’t like to be wrong. I beat that with my actions. He tried to put Ron Edwards in my place and I beat him out of that spot, rightfully.”

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Reach: What might Haley’s motivation have been for blackballing you after you were traded?

TT: “I think a lot of coaches probably wanted to know what went on in Kansas City that Tank Tyler had to be traded at the height of his career. That’s an important question and all of those coaches I tried out for reached back to Todd Haley to find out what went on in that time. I’m not sure what Haley told them, but I think that’s contributed to why I’m not in the NFL.”

There’s entirely too much gray area to know how much truth there is to Tyler’s claims, but much of what he had to say in our 60-minute interview seems perfectly reasonable and consistent with the more widely-reported Chiefs’ headlines at the time. The Pioli-Haley regime appeared to splinter before they got their own ouster at Arrowhead. Clearly some things were amiss there, but there’s just no good way to know how much of that affected Tyler’s relationship with Haley.

Next: Tank's twilight in the NFL and the future...