There was a lot of talk before and during the lockout that it might greatly affect those teams going through significant changes. Kansas City Chiefs head coach Todd Haley spoke today about his gratitude for not being one of those teams.
While some training camps seem like they’re dramatic and unable to really get moving, the Chiefs are placing one foot in front of the other toward a game readiness and proper conditioning with a core of players and coaching staff that have strong ideas about what they’re trying to do with a clear vision of implementing those ideas. Other teams like the San Francisco 49ers feature a rookie head coach in Jim Harbaugh with a possible rookie starter at QB, a holdout of their best player with Frank Gore and several coaching and personnel changes in between. It’s night and day from the training camp that Kansas City will experience this August.
“I think the continuity of our staff going into year three is really important to us,” said Haley at today’s press conference. “I sat in our staff meeting last night and had that feeling of, ‘Boy, what a difference three years later.’ It’s the feeling, the communication, all those things. I’m grateful that we’ve been able to move forward in that manner and keep great continuity staff and player wise. We have a good core of guys that get it.”
While some players will come and go, it’s nice to know the Chiefs are not only in good hands but they’re hands who have been around for some time now. Haley seems more relaxed and comfortable in his role as an NFL head coach, and it seems Scott Pioli knew what he was doing when he waited for his man three offseasons ago.