Kansas City Chiefs guard Brian Waters appeared on 810 WHB on The Program, with Mr. Soren Petro clearing the air on the infamous initial meeting with the Todd Haley.
(Note: The Program is set up right down the hall from me and they've been pumping out some good content all week)
For those who have been under a rock this year Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star reported on the eve of free agency in February 2009 that Waters went to Kansas City to meet with then new coach Todd Haley and he was rebuffed being told, "22 guys off the street can win two games."
The public reaction, and specifically the one in this space, was that Waters was at fault.
Waters was asked about that entire situation and cleared the air.
"There were a lot of misconceptions about what was said and what wasn't said," he began.
"The idea that I just showed up magically out of the air and said, 'Hey come talk to me and meet me'. That did not happen. There were definitely numerous conversations via the phone before I ever stepped in the building."
Waters said he hadn't yet met Haley nor some of the new coaches in the building at that time.
"I'm the type of guy, when I walk into the building, I talk to everyone," he continued. "There was a conversation with Todd, and I'm not going to go into that but it was more of an impromptu conversation. I was sitting, talking to another coach and I was introduced to Todd and through there we kind of had a conversation. There were some positives and some negatives in the conversation and in the end they were worked out."
Petro then noted that throughout the rest of the season Haley had only positive things to say about Waters from then on out. Petro also had one of the better questions I've heard in a while.
He asked Waters, "Could you find 22 guys off the street and win?"
Waters' response?
"Yeah, if that road's in Canton!"
Nice work, Mr. Petro.
Waters also talked about the reason he's in Miami - Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.
"We're here and we're honored to be nominated by my teammates and then brought here as a finalist through the NFL's panel," he said.
"Just representing the Chiefs is probably the biggest thing -- and my community. More than anything, this is an honor for the people I work with."
Now, will he be back next year? I think this is an interesting question (even though the answer is easy) because Waters reportedly hired an agent this offseason and a lot of times when an agent is hired it's contractually related.
"I'm under contract with the Chiefs as I was last year. If I'm going to continue to play football, it's probably going to be with the Chiefs."