Kansas City Chiefs give Chicago Bears permission to interview Chris Ballard, per reports

It's a good thing when other teams want to hire your guys and that's the case with the Kansas City Chiefs and their front office. According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Terez Paylor of the KC Star, the Chicago Bears have requested permission to interview Chris Ballard, the Chiefs director of pro personnel, for their open GM job. Per the reports, the Chiefs have accepted and Ballard will interview in Chicago this weekend.

#Chiefs granted permission for the #Bears to interview personnel director Chris Ballard, source said. He’ll be in Chicago Friday or Saturday

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 1, 2015

Ballard's name was thrown around last year, including in Tampa Bay when Lovie Smith was hired. But he did not interview for that job last year. Andy Reid and GM John Dorsey have both said they won't stand in the way of someone like Ballard moving on up.

"Chris is a tremendous person and very sharp at what he does in the personnel side of things," Chiefs coach Andy Reid said of Ballard this week. "He and (Dorsey) work hand in hand. I think he has a bright future in this business and quite potentially as a general manager."

"Do I think he can handle it?" Dorsey said this week. "I do."

Ballard has ties to Chicago as he spent more than a decade in the Bears scouting department. I'd be curious who the Chiefs would bring on in the instance Ballard gets a job someplace else. Dorsey's personnel ties go back to Green Bay, where he spent most of his career.