Stirring the Pot

Oh, the drama! It appears that the latest buzz in Chiefs-land is whether or not Brian Waters has been mistreated by his new GM or head coach. Bill Williams, who blogs on the AFC West for ESPN.com has declared this to be bad news for the Chiefs. As a fan with a blog, I am required to share my incredible insight on this matter.

I want to be as delicate and kind as I can in this first point, so let me simply point out that this article was written by Jason Whitlock. Having read nearly all of Whitlock's articles since he first came to Kansas City, I think he most excels in stirring the pot. Outside of that I'm really not sure what the point of this article is. There isn't a single quote from Pioli, Haley or even Waters! It doesn't feel like objective journalism, but rather an attempt to paint Pioli and Haley as bad guys.

I think the two of them have plenty to do without discussing all of their plans with one of their players. Is Waters good? Certainly. Does Pioli need to fill him in on what's going on? Not at all. There's a new sheriff in town and things are going to work differently.

As for Haley's comment that 22 players off the street could win 2 games ... THAT'S HILARIOUS! (And I think some of last year's players were actually off the street.) Reality check: the Chiefs were horrible last year. Absolutely horrible. Pioli and Haley were given the reins to turn the franchise around. Will Waters be a part of the team in five years? Not a chance. But Clark Hunt has made it clear that he wants stability at the top, and the plan is for Pioli (and Haley unless he bombs) to be around a lot longer than five years. I'm going to side with Pioli and Haley on this one. Waters needs to focus on being ready to play in the fall and let the GM and head coach focus on the direction the team is headed.

It's great to have a star tight end or pro bowl left guard, but neither of those guys is Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. If Brady or Manning were playing for the Chiefs right now, it's possible Pioli would be interested in letting them in on the plan. But they don't play for the Chiefs. Instead Pioli has to try and find one of those guys. I'd rather he spend his time working on that than run things by Brian Waters to see if he approves of the direction the team is headed.