KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) -The end of Carl Peterson’s 20-year tenure as general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs was planned.
That tenure came to a close Monday with the announcement he’d be stepping down at the end of the season. The speculation was that Kansas City’s disheartening, last-second loss to San Diego on Sunday was the tipping point.
Turns out, Peterson and Chiefs owner Clark Hunt already had set up his departure – at least everything except the timing.
“This has been in discussion with Carl and Clark for a while,” Chiefs coach Herm Edwards said Tuesday. “I was always informed that Carl was going to step down some time at the end of the season or before the end of the season and just felt that at this point in time it was best for the football team.”
Edwards wouldn’t elaborate on how long Hunt had been discussing the GM’s departure, saying he preferred to keep it between them. As for the timing, he said the team wanted to get a head start on finding a replacement for Peterson.
t interviewed, and at this point they felt they should be in the position to start the process now rather than wait until the end of the year,” Edwards said. “It’s for the team’s benefit and that’s what Carl’s about. That was the right thing to do, he felt, for Clark and the organization.”
Edwards and Peterson had a few disagreements in their three years together, the biggest being the direction of the franchise: Edwards reportedly wanted to rebuild the team through the draft from the start, Peterson wanted to wait.
The Chiefs finally went in Edwards’ direction this past offseason, purging most of the older players and replacing them through the draft.
Edwards wasn’t interested in discussing any past friction.
“I don’t look back. I really don’t – I don’t have time,” he said. “I think when you look back, you get to make excuses. I don’t live my life making excuses. I always say you get a set of cards and you play them and you play them to the best of the ability you have.
“You know in this life you don’t get to make all the decisions. You don’t worry about that. You just control the decisions you get to make.”
As for one more important decision – whether he has a job next season – Edwards isn’t going to worry about that, either. He’s going to prepare for the final two games just as he always has, letting everything else take care of itself.
“I think what you do is you do the best job you possibly can with what you’re dealt with,” he said. “That’s what you do and I’ve never lived my life any other way. You take it head on and go as hard as you can, and that’s where it’s at.”
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