On December 15th Chiefs owner Clark Hunt announced Chiefs President, CEO and General Manager Carl Peterson would be stepping down at the end of the season. The timing of the announcement with two weeks left in the season comes down to two reasons. 1)Clark Hunt wants all available candidates to know the job is open, before the Cleveland job opens up and before Detroit signs the guy they may want. 2) Most importantly he wanted to get the word out to fans that Carl Peterson would not be back before the Chiefs mail out their season ticket renewals.

Over his 20 seasons as G.M. Carl Peterson has made Kansas City a football destination, before King Carl the Chiefs were a laughing stock. Then he signed Marty Schottenheimer and drafted Derrick Thomas. He also changed the culture of Chiefs fan base, he opened up the parking lot for tailgating, he got the Chiefs games broadcast on FM radio and made the Chiefs a all weekend event with pep rallies in Westport.

All of those moves led to the Chiefs being perennial playoff contenders which in turned expanded the fan base and led to a 17 year home sellout streak. Carl Peterson sold tickets and won football games, whichever G.M. comes in to replace Carl will be hard pressed to duplicate his success. Since news broke of Carl’s departure hundreds of names and scenarios have been thrown out as possible replacements from Scott Pioli to Marty Schottenheimer, Dick Vermeil, I even heard a heard a rumor that the Chiefs would bring in Art Shell in a Bill Parcells type role who would then hire Bob Stoops as head coach. Many of these rumors are laughable but some have merit, below is a list of the top contenders and pretenders for the Chiefs GM job.

Pretenders

Dick Vermiel: Vermeil has not come out and said he does not want the Chiefs GM job he has simply said he has not been asked. Problem is Clark Hunt does not want another Carl Peterson buddy brought in, he has said he wants “a fresh set of eyes on the organization”. Plus Vermeil had a poor drafting history when he was with the Chiefs, all of these facts point to the former coach staying retired at least from the Chiefs.

Floyd Reese: The current ESPN analyst has not been shy about his desire to get back into the NFL, he publicly campaigned for the Lions job. Reese has a stellar draft record 3 of his 11 1st round draft picks have been rookies of the year, that is a 27% conversion rate. The thing that will hold Reese back from contention is the fact that towards the end of his run in Tennessee he saddled the team with a lot of bad contracts that put them in salary cap bankruptcy for several years.

Marty Schottenheimer: There has been a public clamoring for the former Chiefs coach to return as the GM and bring Bill Cowher to coach this team. The only way this scenario would play out is in Cleveland where both individuals have roots.. If Marty was brought back that would be a good thing for Herm Edwards who has a working history with Schottenheimer going back to when Herm was a scout with the Chiefs.

Contenders

Mark Dominik: Buccaneers director of pro personnel has been in Tampa for the past 14 seasons and worked in several different capacities in the front office. He has a history with Herm Edwards going back to when they worked in Tampa together and he is also familiar with the Chiefs having spent two seasons in Kansas City. Tampa Bay’s draft history and free agent acquisitions over the years is a impressive body of work to put on a resume and the Chiefs will have to give Domonik serious consideration.

Chris Polian: Currently the Colts VP of football operations his father Bill Polian is the current GM and has been the architect of the Buffalo, Carolina and Indianapolis Super Bowl teams. Bill Polian has built a nice dynasty to hand down to his son when he retires, so why would Chris come to K.C.? The Chiefs would need to lay it on thick about the barbeque and the great fan base. They could present a offer to lure Chris Polian if he is ready to step out of his fathers shadow and make a name for him self.

Scott Pioli: This is Clark Hunt’s primary target, and Pioli is patient enough to wait for the right situation. He turned down the G.M. jobs in Seattle and Atlanta, similar to Chris Polian this will all come down to if he wants to make a name for himself or if he is comfortable will being known as Bill Belichick ’s right hand man. Expect hunt to be very aggressive in his attempt to lure Pioli and expect that pursuit to start as soon as the Patriots season comes to a conclusion.