Mods can we rename the lounge Pioli Watch?

[PunkinDrublic]

This is easily the most anticipated news we've all been waiting for since Montanagate back in the day. Yes I was on this board when we signed Law and this is much more intense.

[Stinger]

Might I suggest Bi-Polar Planet or the Padded Room Lounge. Man I love this time of year on the planet.

LMAO LMAO LMAO LMAO

[Hoover]

this needs to be merged in to the Pioli monster thread to show his proper respect.

[talastan]

No!!! I can't take anymore of the Pioli watch thread. I'll wait for ESPN to release something and then I be okay. No more fat chicks.....:Lin:

[J Diddy]

this needs to be merged in to the Pioli monster thread to show his proper respect.


the pioli thread is like dark matter gobbling up the universe

soon it will be too big too handle

[RustShack]

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[MGRS13]

Clearly we should just wait till we sign him so it can become Pioli planet.

[Mr. Laz]

mods can we rename the thread starter PioliDrublic?

[Warrior5]

the pioli thread is like your mother....

[Danman]

The big Pioli thread wasn't THAT bad. For the first 50-60 pages

[Sully]

I was waiting for hey gang planet.

[dorseybowe]

Pioli's draft highlights are jimpiable.

Here's a handful of highlights from the resume of the most sought-after executive of the offseason:

Jonathan Ogden and Ray Lewis, 1996

It seems easy now to call the selection of Ogden -- an 11-time Pro Bowl selection and perhaps the greatest left tackle of all-time -- with the fourth overall pick of the NFL draft a no-brainer. But five other offensive tackles went in the first round of that draft, and only two of them made even one Pro Bowl.

The Baltimore Ravens, with Pioli then in his first season as director of pro personnel, then selected bruising linebacker Ray Lewis with the 26th overall selection.

Four years later, Lewis and Ogden were cornerstones of a Super Bowl champion; both are locks for Canton. Yes, it's easy to find talent in the first round of the draft, but it's easy to miss badly, too -- and Pioli hit a pair of home runs.

Vinnie Testaverde, 1998

The name of Bill Belichick became inextricably linked with that of Testaverde when Belichick picked the veteran over the popular Bernie Kosar to quarterback the Cleveland Browns in 1993, a move that turned fans against him for good.

But Belichick, later a defensive assistant with the New York Jets after he was fired by the Browns, would have had little to do with the negotiations to bring Testaverde to New York five years later. That responsibility would have fallen in large part to Pioli, for whom Testaverde played both in Cleveland and with the Ravens.

The Ravens had released Testaverde after a season in which the 34-year-old threw almost as many interceptions (15) as touchdown passes (18) and missed the final three games of the season with a knee injury. Pioli, in his second year as the Jets' director of pro personnel, snatched him right up. Testaverde then threw for 3,256 yards and 29 touchdowns and quarterbacked the Jets -- 1-15 two seasons earlier -- to the AFC title game.

Curtis Martin, 1998

Bill Parcells, who coached Martin for two seasons with the Patriots, got most of the headlines. But as director of pro personnel, Pioli had to have quite a bit to do with the decision to spend $36 million and first- and third-round draft picks to get Martin.

It was a steep price, even for a running back who had rushed for at least 1,110 yards in each of his first three seasons. But it paid off in spades. Martin rushed for at least 1,200 yards in each of the next four seasons and went to the Pro Bowl both in 1998, the year that turned the Jets' franchise around, and in 2001, by which time Pioli had left to join Belichick in New England.

Tom Brady, 2000

Self-explanatory, really.

Mike Vrabel, Roman Phifer

...And the outcasts turned champions, 2001.

Defensive tackle Chad Eaton left for a big-money contract in Seattle. Stalwart linebacker Chris Slade was at the end of the road in a decorated career. In response, Pioli and Belichick signed a handful of otherwise unwanted players like Vrabel (who couldn't crack the Steelers' starting lineup), Phifer (released by the Jets), defensive tackle Anthony Pleasant (not retained by the 49ers) and cornerback Terrell Buckley (allowed to walk by the Broncos).

And it was that defense -- as well as the play of Brady in relief of Drew Bledsoe, the franchise quarterback Pioli inherited when he arrived -- that shut down the St. Louis Rams in one of the greatest Super Bowl upsets in history.

That's just a sampling. Pioli since has hit the jackpot time after time with his personnel moves: Adalius Thomas and Rodney Harrison through free agency; Logan Mankins in the draft; Corey Dillon and Randy Moss in trades.

Belichick, of course, has had quite a bit to do with everything Pioli has done, particularly in the nine years since the pair left the Jets for New England. But should Pioli take a pay raise with the Browns or Chiefs this week, he'd leave a huge hole in the Patriots' personnel team.