[Bumped.  Not to give you UCrawford overload but I think he hits on a few relevant points and offers an interesting solution to what many view as a problem in our front office.  -Primetime]

From his perch at Fox Sports, Kansas City (and Arrowhead Pride) favorite Jason Whitlock tossed out a few of his observations about the 2008 NFL season.  Most of it was standard Whitlock...some politics, lots of sarcasm, and one very interesting and clever observation about what being the head coach of the Oakland Raiders actually means for your career.

But here's the bit that caught my attention:

9. Lions fans won't like this suggestion, but Martin Mayhew should be given a chance to lead the long-suffering franchise.

Last week I was at the same college football game as the best general manager in professional football, Indy's Bill Polian. At halftime of the Kansas State-Louisville game, I picked Polian's brain about young GM prospects. To my great surprise he was extremely high on Mayhew, who was just promoted to assistant GM in Detroit.

Polian is convinced that Mayhew has a deep understanding of personnel and a tremendous work ethic. Mayhew was one of only four guys Polian identified as a future GM.

If you don't know, Polian built the Buffalo Bills Super Bowl teams, the Carolina Panthers team that advanced to the Super Bowl and, of course, the Indianapolis Colts squad that won it all. He knows what it takes to build a winner.

Here's an article with Mayhew's bio as of 2004.

Normally, anything coming out of the Detroit front office should be given a HUGE red flag, as should anything affiliated with the decision-making prowess of Matt Millen...and of course Jason Whitlock offers more than his share of half-baked opinions with any nuggets of good insight he provides (e.g. Ty Law will take us to a Super Bowl).  But when it comes to football, you simply don't get a smarter general manager or football mind than Bill Polian.  The guy built a Buffalo Bills team that went to four consecutive Super Bowls.  He turned the Indianapolis Colts from the laughingstock of the NFL into a playoff mainstay and Super Bowl champions.  So when Bill Polian makes an observation about a smart hire for a team, it's usually a good idea to take notice.  And Mayhew's history demonstrates a knowledge and experience base that extends well beyond his years in Detroit (background in scouting with the Redskins, contract and salary cap work with the league office, law degree from a prestigious law school, and a lengthy career as a player), and unlike many of the big names that have been getting floated around by unhappy Chiefs fans (Marty Schottenheimer, Bill Cowher, Charlie Casserly...all of whom are attractive primarily because we happen to know their names), Mayhew's a young man (unlike Casserly, Marty and Cowher), who isn't going to try to juggle two full-time jobs at once (unlike Cowher), and who's done a lot of work that focused on preparing him for being a general manager (unlike Cowher and Marty).

Currently Mayhew's got to be considered a top candidate for the recently departed Millen in Detroit, so of course there's every likelihood that the Chiefs never get a shot at him (especially since we still have the issue of our current general manager to resolve).  But considering the dysfunction that has surrounded the Detroit Lions' front office for the last 40 years (largely due to the inept management of long-time team owner William Clay Ford) there's also a good chance that Detroit blows the hire and Mayhew gets passed over for the promotion.  And at that point, the Chiefs should be very interested in giving this guy a hell of a look.

[Author's note:  Whitlock's article erroneously claimed that Mayhew was just promoted to assistant GM, which is inaccurate.  He was promoted to assistant GM back in 2004.  He was just promoted to acting GM for the duration of the 2008 season, but the Lions owner is saying that he'll be doing a complete review and overhaul of the front office after the season's over so Mayhew is not assured of a job with the Lions organization once the season ends...thus he is an attractive option for us for the 2008 offseason if the Lions decline to retain him, which is very possible.  Just wanted to clarify.]