Chiefs GM Scott Pioli Tried to Get a 7th Round Pick for Bernard Pollard
by Joel Thorman on Sep 7, 2009 7:26 AM CDT
in 2009 Kansas City Chiefs Training Camp
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When the news broke of three year veteran Bernard Pollard being one of the names on the Kansas City Chiefs cut list last Saturday, there were a myriad of emotions, with most of them representing disappointment.
If you were like me, it wasn't so much, 'Why did the Chiefs get rid of Bernard Pollard?' I knew why they didn't want him. My question was more, 'Why did the Chiefs get rid of Bernard Pollard for nothing?'
Apparently not, according to Peter King of Sports Illustrated.
"Bernard Pollard out," King writes in the latest MMQB. "Chiefs GM Scott Pioli thought he might get a seventh-round pick for him, but no one stepped up."
So, heading into this thing, Pioli's judge of talent was pretty accurate. I imagine the previous regime would have placed a higher value on Pollard. Just a hunch.
I've heard the theory that Pollard was cut by Todd Haley to make a statement. Apparently not. If no one else in the league would give up a seventh round pick for him then his services were pretty useless to not only the Chiefs, but plenty of teams across the league.
I'm very interested to see who the next team to pick him up is and when they'll pick him up.
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He's a safety from another era
He was great for some hard hits and decent run support, but his pass defense was always suspect. Given the current league-wide emphasis on the pass, his lack of value doesn’t surprise me.
Too bad the big special teams plays weren’t more frequent. For the life of me, I don’t understand why there isn’t more emphasis put on blocking punts in the NFL. Sure, it’s a risk business, but those are game-changing plays. With a little coaching (especially on how NOT to run into the kicker), I would think the risk-reward trade-off would tilt towards “reward”.
I wouldn't say he was even good at run support
Sure, he can hit but my lasting memory of Pollard will probably be the all the tackles he missed. The most haunting being the time a couple of years ago when Maurice Jones-Drew was barreling towards him and he walked on by without Pollard even getting a finger on him. Embarrasing!
Wow...
were we so conditioned to crappy play that one of our “best” players isn’t even worth a 7th round draft pick?
Even the makers of Madden 10 thought Pollard was average to above average. :-P
We really sucked these last few years, guys.
Penn State to Kansas City...Always a winning combination.
i said it the other night
We’ve all been bashing Pollard for a while and now when he gets cut many people were upset. Why? As I keep saying we have to trust this regime. They were handed a pile of chicken poop and asked to make chicken salad out of it. Its not going to be easy as this team has so much dead weight and was mismanaged for a long time.
by golfbard on Sep 7, 2009 7:41 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
An "illusion"
created by the big hits when he didn’t whiff! Those hits made us not notice the lack of coverage skills. Remember how many times an opponents receiver broke totally clear in the secondary where Pollard should have been. It happened quite a bit but his “bonecrusher” hits made us “forget” or overlook at least!
Well said!!
We were conditioned to losing with a glimmer of hope after seeing we actually had hope for Thigpen and Pollard last year.Amazing that Lawyer Milloy got picked up instead of someone that much younger, I thought he went to pasture five years ago.
Thought this might be the case, but this smells like PR damage control
I had no doubt that Pioli and co. would try to get something for any player they cut. As tight-lipped as this regime is though, you have to wonder where King is getting his information from and why. If the brass over at Arrowhead ever browsed AP they would have seen the cries of dismay.
Don’t get me wrong. I think its a good thing that they put this info out there. And the fact that there is no word on the nets about Pollard even visiting a team after 24 hours definitely backs it up. He will be signed somewhere, but he’s not a hot commodity. The information lock down allows the Chiefs to be surgical with there information to lance any bad feelings brewing in the community without mixed messages.
The Don strikes again.
I doubt it
The mere fact that no one has talked to Pollard for over a day after release would make the point for them. I don’t think Pioli & Co are all that worried about the dismay of bloggers…especially when the facts speak for themselves if we would only look at them. I was very surprised by Pollard being cut but have no problem at all accepting that it is in the best interest of the team. If they start making decisions and doing damage control over what they see here…I will start to worry very much about the future of the team. As it is, they will do what they see fit and damn the torpedoes full speed ahead.
Chiefs go 9-7. LJ makes 1400 yards. DBowe makes 1200 yards. Defense #18.
I agree that they will do what they see fit regardless of our opinions
But I also think that if they can head off a fan base psuedo-problem with a simple sourced story to a national journalist, they would. It’s simple and doesn’t cost them anything but the price of a cell phone call.
You just have to look at the other stories surrounding possible Chiefs stories. There is no information getting out of the front office unless it’s allowed out.
True
But my guess would be more that King called and asked and got a simple answer. It was a done deal at that point so Pioli would have no reason to maintain the Big Red Curtain. I think Pioli is extremely shrewd and I do agree that they will do their best to control the story coming out.
Chiefs go 9-7. LJ makes 1400 yards. DBowe makes 1200 yards. Defense #18.
Yeah
I don’t think he cared about the dismay of the fans but the overall idea of controlling the message is true, I believe.
Denny Thum cares
I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Denny mentioned that this move won’t help early ticket sales. Not that I think it’s a huge deal (I’m not a Pollard fan at all) but I do know that Dennt and Scott talk about such things and a convo like this could easily have loosened Scott’s lips a bit.
This is my signature line. It is full of awesome and win.
by KCSatchmo on Sep 7, 2009 9:42 AM CDT up reply actions
I just don't think Pioli would care too much about what the fanbase thinks about a player
He’ll make the move that is best for the team regardless.
Example: Tony Gonzalez leaving the Chiefs and, since he’s from the NE mold, Richard Seymour and Mike Vrabel leaving the Pats.
Pioli can control a lot of things
But when you are shopping someone, you can’t keep that under wraps. King could have gotten the info from any of the teams that Pioli talked to about a trade. Most things we don’t find out about until they happen or Pioli wants us too, except for trades
Herm is gone things are better with that one move!!
by bringbacktheglory on Sep 7, 2009 8:25 AM CDT up reply actions
And the fact that Pollard was being shopped did get out
But none of the details. This is a very specific report. King would have had to have queried 31 teams to find out what the offer was and how they responded. It is much more likely this came from KC. Either that or King is making assumptions on what he heard from one or two teams that had been contacted by Pioli.
Bottom line:
What is the lowest thing that you can get for a player? Wouldn’t it seem that there was probably not any information coming out of KC except that we were shopping Pollard but got no bites; therfore, we couldn’t even get a 7th rounder for him!
You could definitely be right. And if it were anyone but King I would jump onboard
King is usually very careful about what does and doesn’t print. All these guys have is their reputation. See Mort.
At the end of the day your bottom line is probably the bottom line. Isn’t more fun to have the image of Pioli planning and executing like he’s Micheal Corleone taking down a rival family?
“Our GM can kick your GM’s ass”
Dude, give it up. Pollard is another of King Carl's 2nd round reaches.
His only claim to fame was being blocked into Tom Brady’s knee.
Prespective
People are pretty set at positions, a month or two ago you’d likely get a pick but why trade if you can get him for free. Would you have traded for Jeff Garcia?
You would trade
for anyone that you wanted rather than take the chance of someone else getting him instead. He is a UFA that any & every team can now go after, haven’t heard of any yet, but if someone did want him & thought someone else might as well, why get into a bidding war (contract & incentive-wise) for his services?
Tape and training camp only show so much...
And that’s the problem with a new coach and GM. You have to have more time watching someone play before you can judge them. If it takes until the end of pre-season, then so be it.
Also just think…we end up with a better covering safety, we end up giving up less points and getting more sacks. Instead of the QB just throwing it towards Pollard if he gets pressured ;)
Penn State to Kansas City...Always a winning combination.
And its not like other GM's dont have 3 years of tape on Pollard
He is a known commodity around the league. They know what they would get and weren’t intrigued enough to bite.
He is not a smart player
Pollard has for years taken bad angles and never learned to wrap up opposing players. He missed way more than he gave a crushing blow, I still remember a game against Miami where he had the player in his hands on the sideline and just failed to make a simple tackle (twice) that lead to long TD runs.
A player that is out of position and giving up huge plays as often as they create positive plays is not worth keeping. He doesn’t fit the NE mold that we seem to be going after here with smart players over talented ones.
Pioli may be feeling some heat
It is good to understand the league isn’t taken with Pollard’s talent from the standpoint of justifying Pollard’s release. But Pioli may be beginning to protect his own backside.
The Practice Squad is made up of Chiefs. The RT he picked up was one of his guys from the Pats. He swung a deal with his Father-in-Law to get a couple of suspect linemen. Pioli, since the acquisition of Vrable/Cassel from the PATS, has not been the wheeler-dealer we thought he’d be.
I would like to think that the Chiefs will pluck a few more players off other teams’ practice squads before the season begins. What have the Chiefs scouts been doing? Maybe there isn’t anyone on a practice squad that could make our team. We’ll see.
I am a HUGE Pioli/Haley supporter. I think Haley has been impressive as a coach. But we haven’t seen the Pioli magic, yet. Or am I missing something?
The magic
Will not be coming from big-names that make our mouths drop open. The magic will come from placing 53 guys on the roster who all do the job they are supposed to even if they are not the most talented on the market. We are all going to think we are missing something with a lot of moves they make…but only they know what the job requirement really is and who is really performing the way they want.
Chiefs go 9-7. LJ makes 1400 yards. DBowe makes 1200 yards. Defense #18.
Well, I'd submit that you're probably missing something...
I recognize that alot of folks want Pioli to bring in some big, sexy names. Unfortunately, the big, sexy names probably don’t want to come to KC right now. It will take a winning season or two to attract some of the bigger names…
In the meantime, I’m pretty happy with a GM that got us a franchise QB and dramatically improved our linebacking corps with Vrabel, Biesel & Mays. Its a great start!
You should also keep in mind that the trade deadline is week 6 (I think), so there’s no telling what will happen before then. I still believe that Mr. Pioli has another move or two up his sleeve…
"Every day is an evaluation and if you’re not out there how can we depend on you? If you’re out there and you don’t know what to do, how can we depend on you?" Accountability -- Haley-style...
what can you do?
if a guy doesn’t fit, he doesn’t fit.
If you can’t find a partner, you can’t trade him.
sounds like, once the decision was made that he’s not in the plans for this team, they had no choice but to cut him.
I was shocked at first, but in retrospect, the writing was on the wall
* "I doubt anyone will miss Connor Barth except UCrawford"
* the LB corps may become the biggest strength of the Chiefs in 2009
* The OL is NOT as bad as you think it is... give it time, and you'll see improvement this season
I know all you Haley homers are out...
I like Todd Haley and Pioli don’t get me wrong. But come on with the Pollard bashing. Seriously? Who really thought Pollard would get cut last week?
I’ll tell you who, nobody. Its easy to look back and say whoa remember all those tackles he missed! What a GREAT MOVE CUTTING A STARTING SAFETY!
Lets be realistic. Yes he had flaws, we knew this. In my opinion, (and most others LAST WEEK) he made up for his flaws with big hits and exciting athletic plays. There are two possible reasons Pollard was cut, and not having enough talent to play in the NFL isn’t one of them.
The first reason is that he simply didn’t fit into the game plan. This happens all the time. Sometimes even probowlers get cut because the system moves on and they are no longer relevant.
The second reason is that there was some drama and hard feelings and personal disagreements with him and some administration or coaching staff.
Or a combination of both.
The point is, quit saying he was cut because he can’t cut it and the Chiefs are SO MUCH BETTER than his level of talent. Its simply not true. Drop the ego and wish a good player a great career.
Pollard just doesn't have an eye for the ball
Mike Brown gets interceptions and is good in coverage. DaJuan Morgan is starting to show the same thing.
The only thing Pollard was good at is running at someone with the ball and hitting them really hard, regardless of if he could actually make the tackle or not.
Agree and Disagree
No doubt Pollard wasn’t strong in coverage, and sure he missed some tackles…….but so did everyone else. I just think its sad how many people can bash a guy just because he gets released and is no longer on their favorite team.
Pollard always played hard, played hurt, and sure as hell never quit on the Chiefs.
Most of you may only remember his bad plays, but I definately remember some of his great plays, ones that don’t include big hits and forced fumbles.
How about his blocked punts during his rookie season, and so many near misses.
Running down Darren McFadden from behind last year ( yeah hes definately slow)
I’ll I know is I will miss watching him. Pollard > Page
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