“The last two years at the Patriots, when it came down to stacking the board, Bill and I were getting frustrated with the stacking because the game had changed and evolved,” Pioli said. “We were talking about how the value of the third corner (is) really (that of) 60 percent players. And someone who is a 60 percent player was… the third corner is the starter in today’s game. And it was back then. We were talking about guys who could be third corners and not ranking them high enough. They weren’t given high enough grades.”

“The reality is, the third corner, the third receiver, the sub safety, you can’t just say, he’s a backup corner,” Pioli continued. “The value of that backup corner is much greater. What I spent a lot of time doing is re-doing our whole grading system. Thomas (Dimitroff) and I, then spent more time re-doing the grading system. Me, Bill (Belichick), Ernie Adams, and Thomas and then we started using that the last couple years. Then, Thomas leaves and took it down (to Atlanta), Phil (Emery) took it from Thomas. And when I came to Kansas City, I tried teaching this system that’s different. Because everyone essentially uses the same grading system and fortunately Phil knew it. So, when I hired Phil, he came in and he helped teach it.”

“It’s not anything that’s genius,” said Pioli, now the Chiefs GM. “It’s not anything. It’s just trying to look at today’s league and understanding matching value vs. just saying the guy’s a starting running back. The value of a third running back or a sub-package running back, a guy who can pick up the blitz – Kevin Faulk – well, he may not be a starter, but he has tremendous value. He’s not really just a backup running back. So, I don’t know if any of that makes sense… Phil has taken it up there (to Chicago).”