Scott Pioli admits he made mistakes during his tenure as Chiefs general manager

Pete Grathoff
·2 min read
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Things weren’t all bad during Scott Pioli’s tenure as Chiefs general manager, but it wasn’t the greatest four-year span in franchise history.

Pioli was general manager from 2009-2012, and the Chiefs had a 23-41 record. The Chiefs won the AFC West in 2010, but there were many problems off the field, as former Star writer Kent Babb outlined at the time.

During an interview this week on the NFL Network, Pioli admitted to making mistakes as the Chiefs general manager.

The admission came when Pioli was on “Good Morning Football” and was asked if the Chiefs should be concerned about tight end Travis Kelce’s trip to Argentina to see his girlfriend, Taylor Swift.

“Here’s the deal: for 10 or 11 years, Kelce has made a lot of good decisions,” Pioli said of Kelce. “He’s made a ton of good decisions to make sure that he’s prepared for every week to be a tremendous professional. He has proven that. He’s got a track record. He has shown the team that.

“The other thing is this: Andy Reid, and Brett Veach have a culture. It’s a culture where there is a great deal of accountability. So I don’t think that this happened without Andy and Brett knowing. I’m sure they talked about it. Everyone knew that it was going to be seen. But again, I wouldn’t get too worried about a player like Travis Kelce because, again, he’s done everything that he needs to do.”

Pioli then shifted the conversation to his time with the Chiefs.

“One of the shortcomings I had as a leader when I ascended to the general manager role was at times micromanaging things and players when I thought they were maybe putting themselves in too much peril,” Pioli admitted. “It’s kind of like being a parent, where you don’t want to see someone make too big of a mistake. I made that mistake in trying to overmanage or micromanage certain things, and it worked the other way. So I think right now, they did the right thing as long as there was clear communication between Andy, Brett and Travis Kelce.”