Kansas City Continues Metamorphosis Into New England West, Hires Romeo Crennel

First, the Kansas City Chiefs grabbed Charlie Weis to be their offensive coordinator. Now, they’re pulling the same “rebuilding the Patriots” trick on defense, hiring Romeo Crennel to be their defensive coordinator. ↵↵This was a funnier joke last year, when the trades for Matt Cassel and Mike Vrabel seemed like a little bit of nepotism between Bill Belichick and his former personnel guy Scott Pioli. But Pioli honestly seems to want to build a franchise in the Patriots’ model by building with the exact same blocks the Patriots used. ↵

↵↵It hasn’t worked so far. Cassel was average this year, the defense has yet to resemble the gritty, smart units of the Belichick-Crennel heyday for more than a game, and the breakout star of this season, Jamaal Charles, is a young potential franchise running back, something the Patriots haven’t really had in a decade. And in bringing in Weis and Crennel, two highly respected coordinators who were failures as head coaches, Pioli may undermine his hand-picked coach, Todd Haley, whose pedigree now pales in comparison to his staff’s accomplishments. ↵

↵↵The idea of Pioli importing the Pats to the heartland isn’t hard to grasp: These are good coaches, and players who have been effective in a system like what he is trying to build. But it isn’t clear if those coaches were good, or simply products of the Belichick cocoon. Chiefs fans are left to hope for the former, and keep an eye out for Troy Brown. ↵

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