Chiefs hire Brett Veach as their new GM after a bizarre offseason

The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t expect to have a new general manager in 2017, but they had to find one once they surprisingly parted ways with John Dorsey. On Monday, the Chiefs announced that co-director of player personnel Brett Veach will be their next general manager.

Veach got his start in the NFL a decade ago with Andy Reid and the Eagles. He’s been considered a top candidate to replace Dorsey for some time now. He started working for the Chiefs in 2013, coming over with Reid.

When the team announced it was parting ways with Dorsey, team owner Clark Hunt said, “I notified John that we would not be extending his contract beyond the 2017 season and, after some consideration, both John and I felt it was in his best interests and the best interests of the team to part ways now.”

A subsequent report from the Kansas City Star’s Terez Paylor revealed that Dorsey’s communication and management styles were reasons for the Chiefs’ decision. Paylor spoke with several sources inside the organization who said that Dorsey’s approach to leadership rubbed some people the wrong way.

“He’s not a big disciplinarian or big on chain of command,” a team source said, via Paylor, “so people did what they wanted.”

It was clear the Chiefs hadn’t planned to make a GM change, or they probably wouldn’t have let Chris Ballard leave in January. Ballard, who had been the Chiefs’ director of football operations, was hired as the Indianapolis Colts’ new general manager.

Dorsey’s firing looks even stranger when you look at the moves he made this offseason. In March, he made Eric Berry the highest-paid safety in the league. Dorsey followed that up in April by trading two first-round picks to move up in the draft to select Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs’ quarterback of the future.

Kansas City also unexpectedly released receiver Jeremy Maclin in June. The receiver, who has a good relationship with Reid, was angry that he found out about his release via a voicemail from Dorsey.

Right before the team announced that Dorsey was out, it gave Reid a new extension.

The Chiefs are the reigning AFC West champions and are expected to compete again in 2017. They just have to hope Veach signing puts an end to this rocky offseason.