Kansas City Chiefs Notes: Scott Pioli, Romeo Crennel, Pro Bowl Draft

Dec 2, 2012; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli before the game against the Carolina Panthers at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

PIOLI’S BACK (IN THE NFL)

Former Kansas City Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli has been hired by the Atlanta Falcons to be the team’s assistant general manager. Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff and Pioli worked with each other for six years in New England.

Dimitroff’s statement:

"Scott is one of the most respected and adept talent evaluators in the NFL and a member of three Super Bowl championship teams. We have worked together well in the past and been friends for more than 20 years. We have had the opportunity to experience a lot of success together, and I am very pleased that he has agreed to join our personnel team so we can work together again.We have made the commitment to improve every aspect of our organization this offseason, and with the addition of Scott to our personnel department, we have taken an important step to enhance our scouting staff."

Pioli had a record of 23-41 and hired two head coaches in four years as Chiefs general manager. His draft grades are still pending, but early returns are pretty poor. Ryan Succop is the only productive player to come out of the 2009 draft that is highlighted by third overall pick Tyson Jackson. Eric Berry, Dexter McCluster, Justin Houston and Dontari Poe are all Pro Bowl players this year, but little in the way of depth has come from the 2010-2012 drafts so far.

Atlanta will have the sixth overall pick in the NFL draft. Good luck with that, Atlanta.

ROMEO TO HOUSTON

It has been a good week for former Chiefs as Romeo Crennel has a new job in Houston as the defensive coordinator for the Texans. This move had beenBranden Albert Rumors, and KC’s 2014 Schedule” href=”https://kckingdom.com/2014/01/13/kansas-city-chiefs-notes-romeo-crennel-branden-albert-rumors-kcs-2014-schedule/” target=”_blank”> anticipated earlier in the month but had not been made official until Monday.

Coaching defense wasn’t too much of a problem for Crennel in his two seasons as defensive coordinator in Kansas City. In both seasons the defense finished in the top 14 in points and yards allowed, though neither of those units finished in the top 10. When Crennel was promoted to head coach after Todd Haley was fired then things got dicey. The defense plummeted to the bottom of the league, while the Chiefs finished 2-14 in 2012.

Whether or not Crennel can still lead a great defense is unknown, but he has had recent success in calling solid defenses. Maybe with a great player like J.J. Watt on his team it will help him overcome some of the issues he has as a coordinator.

Joining Crennel in Houston will be former Chiefs and Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel, who had been the defensive line coach at Ohio State for the past three seasons. He will coach the linebackers in Houston.

PRO BOWL DRAFT PART ONE

Dontari Poe was selected by teammate Jamaal Charles to be on Deion Sanders‘ team in day one of the 2014 Pro Bowl draft. Poe will join Ndamukong Suh and Gerald McCoy on the defensive line. J.J. Watt is also on that team. That’s should end up being pretty decent, no?

Day one featured the interior defensive and offensive lines, fullback, special teamer, punter, and long snapper. Day two will fill out the rest of the roster, where eight Chiefs players are still waiting to be assigned to a squad.