Could Al Saunders Come Back To The Kansas City Chiefs?

Just two weeks ago, Al Saunders was a possible replacement for Bill Muir as the Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator. It was believed he could be leaving the Oakland Raiders organization after serving as their OC last year. However, new head coach Dennis Allen wants Saunders back and he wants to give him a bit of security.

Jason La Canfora is reporting that the Raiders are bringing back Saunders until 2013 with his new contract. Saunders has a keen offensive mind and a complex playbook, but a quarterback with a strong arm and valuable experience like Carson Palmer should do well with some consistency and a coordinator like Saunders at the helm. All in all, this is a great move for the team.

Last year, the Raiders were within a game of winning the AFC West title despite the initial issues of Palmer’s return to the NFL and loss of offensive MVP Darren McFadden for most of the season. Given a full off-season the Raiders should be quite competitive and have good reason to believe they have a chance at the AFC West title.

According to NFL Network's Jason La Canfora, the Kansas City Chiefs are deciding who there new offensive coordinator will be and there are currently three candidates: Jim Zorn, Al Saunders and Brian Daboll.

Pro Football Talk points out that Zorn is already on the head coach Romeo Crennel's coaching staff as the quarterbacks coach but he has little experience as an offensive coordinator. Saunders was the offensive coordinator in Kansas City from 2001-2005 and was the offensive coordinator in Oakland last year but is out of a job with the Raiders due to the hiring of Greg Knapp. Daboll is the new name on the Chiefs' offensive coordinator radar. He was the offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins this past season and he was the coordinator for the Cleveland Browns in 2009 and 2010. He has ties to Crennel from their time together with the Patriots.

For more on the Chiefs' offensive coordinator search, head to Arrowhead Pride.

The Kansas City Chiefs have interviewed current quarterbacks coach Jim Zorn and Oakland Raiders coordinator Al Saunders for its vacant offensive coordinator position. Kansas City is looking to fill the position where it can turn its attention to preparing for the draft and free agency as well as filling out the rest of its coaching staff. Despite the urgency, new head coach Romeo Crennel indicated that he might interview more candidates before making a decision.

"I might interview another one or two" before making a decision, perhaps early next week.

As far as Zorn and Saunders goes, Zorn would be the choice if Crennel desires to keep continuity within its offensive unit. Saunders hire would be viewed as more of a complete overhaul with all of the players being forced to learn a new system.

"If you hire a coordinator, you have to let the coordinator run his program," Crennel said, "and if the program is a different program than what the players are used to, they have to adjust."

The decision is an extremely critical one for Crennel who will also serve as the team's defensive coordinator and will have little time available for offensive decisions. Crennel also indicated that whoever is hired as offensive coordinator would have input on the hiring of several vacant offensive coaching vacancies with the team.

For more on the Kansas City Chiefs be sure to check out Arrowhead Pride. For more news and analysis from around the NFL head over to SB Nation's NFL Football page.

An old face might be back in a familiar spot in Kansas City with the Chiefs as their offensive coordinator the second time around. Bob Gretz has the story on a name we've mentioned before, and says that Al Saunders could be the man in Kansas City as the team searches for Bill Muir's replacement.

Saunders is known for his prolific yet complicated offensive schemes, but he's worked wonders in the past at Arrowhead. Apparently that history and knowledge is enough to get him an interview with current head coach Romeo Crennel. Bob Gretz has the story:

"And, visiting the Chiefs yesterday to talk about the offensive coordinator’s job was Al Saunders, former offensive coordinator under Dick Vermeil and long-time assistant coach with the franchise. Last season, Saunders was with Oakland as the Raiders offensive coordinator. "

"Al is there today talking with Romeo," Vermeil said Wednesday in Indianapolis as he was making the rounds of radio row. "He wants to see if there’s any chance to go back to Oakland, but if not he’d love the Chiefs job."

If he does come back, perhaps a name to keep an eye out for would be Jason Campbell. The Raiders starter at the beginning of last year was having a nice year as the Raiders quarterback and he could add an intriguing option for competition for Matt Cassel (assuming the Chiefs don't surrender the farm for Robert Griffin III or make a play for Peyton Manning). Saunders runs a complex offense, but it works well with a quarterback who knows it.

Either way, fans will likely be very glad if Saunders is the man at this point.