Those who are pulled into
this great sucking maw of draft overkill face grave and often embarrassing consequences. Consider Brady Quinn, invited to come to New York to sit with fellow top picks two years ago – or so he thought – and then finds himself alone on the set with cameras focused on his dejected and confused face as the names are called and his isn’t one of them. Think of him now as yesterday’s news with rumors that he will be dealt away by the Cleveland Browns, who eventually picked him, but who want another chance at a top pick.
Soon, his successors in this pseudo-drama will find themselves as forgotten tomorrow as Quinn is today.
From all we have seen and heard so far, Scott Pioli
desires neither the public approbation nor the media’s favorable nods as he goes about his task of building his team. While other general managers babble on to cronies at the networks or on-line, his public comments are modest,
even as the kudos rained down after his hiring, and he is reluctant to play the public savior, as many would have him play. This is a wise move if only for reasons of bringing expectations in line with realities. Carl Peterson was a larger-than-life figure
in his 20-years here and in the first half of that time was seen as something of a savior
of a franchise that had been wandering in the NFL backwater for almost two decades. Scott Pioli,
seemingly a much more private man, sees his role entirely different and in his few appearances before
the cameras and scribblers has stated more than once about his work in New England: “we weren’t that smart.”
From all indications, that is how it will go in Mr. Pioli’s time in Kansas City and no doubt many will find it a refreshing change from the past, although the past
wasn’t too forthcoming either if you think about it. No, the draft is very much a mystery as the man who now guides it in Kansas City and beyond the first round the picks are largely unknown to most common folk anyway, except the draftniks who, of course, nod affirmatively or negatively when the names are called, as if they know something no one else knows. It’s all part of a game and it’s likely to be played out in Kansas City by very private individuals in
undemonstrative ways but elsewhere with all the drama the media can concoct.