GM Scott Pioli received quite a bit of praise for their 2010 draft class. Media folks handed Kansas City A's left and right and said things along the line of, 'This is why Pioli was hired.' Of course we don't really know how that class will turn out.
But Todd Haley has a feeling how it'll turn out.
"I have a feeling that we'll look back and say this group was the genesis of something special," he said in comments to USA Today.
Those words aren't that surprising but I find them interesting because it's not something we heard last year.
The Chiefs were rushed in everything last year -- and that includes the draft. Pioli was working with scouts he didn't really know and thus essentially froze most (if not all) of them out. Haley was hired in February and had a little over two months to prepare for the draft -- all while compiling a coaching staff, reviewing the roster and making necessary personnel moves.
Of course, that draft class can be as "special" as Haley wants and the chances of the team succeeding without Matt Cassel succeeding is, well, almost impossible. It's a quarterback league and while the 2010 class holds a lot of hope, it doesn't mean squat if the quarterback doesn't perform.
"If there'd been cracking, or I'd seen weakness or a guy going down, I'd be worried," Haley said of Cassel. "But I think he's mentally tough and physically tough. He handled a pretty adverse situation with all the responses you're looking for. … He passed all the tests."
Check out the full USA Today article. It seems like we're seeing more from Haley and national media outlets like USA Today this year compared to last.