The situation is “fluid.” That’s the term used by Scott Pioli in a recent interview to describe the Kansas City Chiefs situation at offensive coordinator. While other teams determine a set list of candidates and go to work on that list to determine the “winner”, Pioli is apparently still unsettled in the process and is willing to take his time to help Romeo Crennel find his offensive right hand.
Joel Thorman at Arrowhead Pride has the quotes from Pioli’s interview on Sirius radio, “From the offensive coordinator position, we’re talking internally, we’re talking externally,” Pioli said. “There’s a lot of moving parts here as you know right now because even though there’s been a lot of changes there are a lot of people remaining under contract with other teams that…they don’t have to necessarily give you permission if they don’t want. So it’s still fluid right now.”
This implies a lot about the situation and specifically that they might not even know who they can or cannot place on their candidate list. While it’s not said, it stands to reason that there’s at least one candidate in mind who they are unsure if they can even interview.
If that’s true, then the reason the Chiefs might not be moving forward is that they don’t want to settle for Plan B if they don’t have to. Let’s say, for example, that Maurice Carthon or Jim Zorn is a possibility for the position, but those guys are already in-house and under contract. So there’s no reason to move as quickly as other teams. While fans are frustrated, this means that Pioli is still holding out for a favorite candidate who hasn’t been given permission to leave his current team (or is in a holding pattern himself for unknown reasons).
Of course, this is all speculation, but it makes sense that Pioli can take his time knowing there’s at least someone he feels good about already on staff. Whether that will please Chiefs fans is another story, but Pioli’s quote seems to point to a Plan A that isn’t a known quantity at this point. Perhaps that’s someone with the Pats or Giants or it’s someone currently unavailable with another team.