How Helping the Chiefs Helps Belichick

↵Even at this early point, it seems clear that New England gave Kansas City an absolute bargain in requiring only the No. 34 pick in exchange for Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel. ESPN.com’s Tim Graham offers up recent assessments of Cassel’s trade value, and the price looked more like multiple firsts than a single second. Mike Florio has been in disbelief at the low return for the Patriots all morning.
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↵So why did Bill Belichick do it? Why does he want so desperately for Scott Pioli to succeed in Kansas City? Well, it helps Belichick’s own legacy to sprout off successful branches in the old NFL management tree. You see this often in college and pro basketball, but with coaches: Dean Smith begets George Karl, Roy Williams and Larry Brown; Brown begets Gregg Popovich. Of course, Smith didn’t need the help of his coaching offspring to become a legend. (Obviously, football has its own coaching trees too.)
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↵Belichick doesn’t need Pioli to succeed to get himself to Canton. But your “children” do reflect on you, and Pioli’s future success will surely come part and parcel with a mention of his New England roots. Also, if Belichick keeps losing his progeny, the whole league will be made up of Patriot disciples. So long as Eric Mangini is the only black sheep of the extended family, it can’t hurt to have friends a phone call away all over the place.
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↵There is, of course, a less savory possibility that involves some incriminating photos in Pioli’s possession. Liz Lemon only had to fork over $2,000. Poor Belichik has to give up a $14 million QB.↵