Sunday Sleep Deprivation Summary

Alright. Let's not fool around. There's no sleep deprivation symptoms going on right now. After being holed up in front of the computer for most of 12 hours for this draft, my eyes and my brain are fried, but I wanted to share this...

There are three videos up on the Chiefs Web site right now, and if you're a Chiefs fan, you should watch them. I'll explain why once you have. One is a Draft Q & A with Scott Pioli, one is with Pioli and Todd Haley as they discuss round one, and the other is just Haley talking about rounds three and four.



Ah, ah, ah. Don't be cheatin'. Get back there and watch 'em.

Okay. Here's the deal. Actually, let's bullet point this:

* Everybody was freaking the funk out about the Chiefs pick, i.e. "Why didn't they make trades," "What was with the Dorsey trade rumors," "I can't believe it's not butter," etc.

* Everybody just needed to calm the flock down.

* If, having watched those videos, you don't think that these dueling brains are 400,000 times the improvement over what's been in place for the past 10 years, then you, my friend, are insane.

* For all of the bashers, I gotta give Carl Peterson respect for the job he did, or attempted to do, in his time in Kansas City.

* Having said that, Scott Pioli is going to make him look like a mental dwarf.

* I imagine fewer busts, fewer emotional ties when it comes to keeping guys around, and frankly, that includes draft choices, which was, in my nimble-minded opinion, Peterson's biggest crutch. That is, he was frequently guilty of the mentality that said, "Hey -- we went out and drafted this guy on the first day (or what have you), and we, of course, are smart, so that means it's worthwhile to keep this guy around. We'll wait and see what happens, even if that means five Ryan Sims years.

* The other thing that Pioli demonstrated to me, in those clips, is tolerance. That is, he understands the nature of the beast that is the media. If a reporter asks him why he took Joe Schmoe, he doesn't get all fiery-eyed and act the fool. He answers the questions because he knows they're coming, and he doesn't care.

* The most important thing, though, is that he seems to be the Clark Hunt model (hence the hire) of a shrewd evaluator of football talent. That's not to say that Peterson wasn't. Peterson, as we all know, was a great businessman. Pioli, however, will build something better between the hash marks.

* The line of those three clips goes to Haley, though. He appears in two of the three PCs, and in two of them, the question of "Did you plan to draft this much defense, or did it just fall to you that way" was asked a solid three times. On the last occasion, Haley offered his best attempt at patience/PC when he said, "Obviously, if you been around here a little bit, you had some trouble stoppin' people." That's about the nicest way you can possibly say that Herman and his crew should wear crash helmets for their own safety.

* So, I gotta be honest: I was hoping for some front seven, some O-line, and a receiver. They gave us two front seven, an O-line (even if it is home-grown), some secondary, a receiver, a tailback/special-teamer, and hell, a tight end they probably won't even break camp with. And of course a kicker with that last pick in the draft. Remember when we took Medlock in the fifth? Oh, boy. Those were delicious times.

And of course, they've already signed like five undrafted free agents. As Pioli repeatedly said, "The work's not done. There's a lot of ground to cover." He also said they feel good about the ground they covered this weekend. And I do, too. It's a bit hard -- but, come on, we all do it -- to have specific expectations for a draft. It's like going to see your favorite band play a concert and hoping they play X,Y, and Z (Editor's Note: Unless it's Rush, and you want them to play "YYZ." That's entirely different scenario altogether.). If they don't play it, you're bummed. You're the guy in the lot saying, "I dunno. It was alright, I guess," while 10,000 others are walking around with best-show-ever looks on their faces that you just don't understand.

Funny thing is, I had (Note: I said it was tough.) expectations, even though I knew better. Funniest part is that they were met. I'm not grimacing over any of our picks, and at the same time, I'm not drinkin' any Kool-Aid or ready to stamp the approval on the draft as a whole. I just feel good about it moving forward, and am ready to see how things develop this summer. In closing, I'll leave you with one final bullet point:

* You know all of those rumors about Todd Haley being tough, those allegations about him being an a-hole and a jerk, all those clips of him getting in the faces of his players. Well, I'm convinced of one thing: They are fucking real.

Not just that, but like, hard core, legions removed from football real. Having watched Haley footage, sleep-deprived and frizzle-fried, I'm officially kind of afraid of him. Like, he might be the guy that jams his car in park and gets out to stab you in the neck with a broken-off No. 2 pencil if you piss him off in traffic. Insult him at the stadium? You just signed off on three quarts of simmering cups of hot cocoa down your jersey. Gonna be inappropriate towards his family? I hope you like being rolled up in a paisley throw rug and finding yourself nestled at the bottom of the Missouri. I'm going to lay my head down on the pillow feeling confident that that guy has a dark, buried mafia background somewhere, and I'll sleep soundly knowing that I don't know him.

Good night. Go Chiefs, and whatnot.