Pioli News Runs Dry

I’m confident the FBI would have a hard time cracking the inner workings of Clark Hunt’s search for a new General Manager. That’s not meant as a slight. Quite the contrary - it’s a high compliment. So what’s the latest to the Scott Pioli jigsaw puzzle?

There was only one press conference Tuesday in Kansas City, and that was for outgoing President/GM Carl Peterson to say his goodbyes to the media, employees and friends.

Everyone was hoping for a press conference that featured Hunt introducing New England Patriots V.P. of Personnel Scott Pioli as Kansas City’s new GM. That will have to wait until – well who really knows?

In watching Hunt at Tuesday’s press conference, I searched for any tell in his poker face as to the status of his talks with Pioli, or any other candidates for that matter.

I didn’t see anything and that led me to one singular conclusion. Hunt has his entire organization in lock down mode. How much information is seeping out of the Chiefs’ new offices? Not much, because team employees were asking me for updates.

Here is what we believe we’ve pieced together.

From all accounts there are indications that Hunt and Pioli met on Monday throughout the day, quite possibly in Kansas City. We were told by an NFL source that Hunt was likely to present Pioli an offer at some point.

Our guess is that happened based on today’s silence and the fact that Pioli’s people aren’t talking either. It’s safe to assume proposals are going back and forth between the two parties.

Does that mean a deal gets done? No, and Hunt doesn’t appear to be waiting for the Pioli negotiations to come to a conclusion, either.

According to ESPN’s Cold Pizza this morning, Hunt is expected to conduct an interview with San Diego Chargers Director of College Scouting, Jimmy Raye III. In other Chiefs related news, the Pewter Report indicated that Tampa Bay Bucs Director of Pro Personnel Mark Dominik, a Kansas University graduate, is on the short list of GM candidates for the Chiefs.

We’re not sure that short list has left the inside pocket of Clark Hunt’s suit coat, or that anyone has the combination to his briefcase, but we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. What we are sure is that the search for Peterson’s replacement is still ongoing.

The other thing we can verify from Tuesday’s press conference is that Hunt appears confident the search to date will eventually land his franchise the best candidate possible.

But as long as nobody is talking about Scott Pioli - even in his hometown newspapers back in Boston - it’s easy for Chiefs fans to speculate he’s still Hunt’s top target.