More photos » by Jeff Roberson - AP

about 1 month ago: Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert, front, fumbles the ball as he is hit by Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh in a driving rain during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009, in Columbia, Mo. Nebraska recovered the fumble. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Browse more photos »

Kansas City Chiefs GM Scott Pioli is known for being detail-oriented and heavily involved in his team's scouting department.  He watches hours upon hours of film and attends college games in hopes of finding the next member of the Right 53.  

And the NFL Draft is still seven months away.

On Monday, Scott Pioli talked with 610 Sports and, after touching on a few things like the heartache (but team improvement) in the loss to the Dallas Cowboys, he talked about some of the work he's starting to do.

"Mondays and Tuesdays are busy days here because you're getting injury reports back, you're not sure the health of guys, some of the information you find out on Monday, some you find out on Monday night, so I'm going to make sure everying's okay here," he said.  

"Then I'm going to head out to some schools and meet the team out on the road.  This is the time of year schools are starting to get into your conference schedules so we've got some better football here."

As we told you last week, Pioli attended the first three quarters of the Missouri vs. Nebraska game last week.  We weren't exactly sure who he was targeting but, after these comments, we've got a pretty good idea.

"I had a chance on Thursday night to go to the Nebraska/Missouri game," he said, "which was an interesting football game.  There are a couple of top players on defense, or who are believed to be top players on defense who were playing in that game, one for Nebraska and one for Missouri, and a number of other interesting players.  There were a lot of NFL players out on that field the other day."

Top player on defense for Nebraska? Ndamukong Suh, defensive tackle.  Top player on defense for Mizzou?  Sean Witherspoon, linebacker.  The host, Roger Twibell, mentioned Suh's name and Pioli responded, "You know what they say, always be afraid of a man named Suh."

Pioli said he's looking at a "broad scope" of players because the team needs now, may (and probably will) be different than in April.

"Between now and the draft there wil be an additional time," he said,  "when free agency starts to change or improve the football team.  Our needs today, as we look at the draft, may be different than the months of March and the early part of April as we approach the draft."