Jan 13th 2009 3:34PM by Michael David Smith (author feed)
The Kansas City Chiefs have hired New England Patriots Vice President of Player Personnel Scott Pioli as their next general manager, likely signaling the end of Herm Edwards’ tenure as the Chiefs’ head coach.

Adam Schefter of NFL Network first reported the Pioli news, and although there’s no hard news about Edwards, it stands to reason that Pioli would want to bring in his own head coach. In Edwards’ three years as head coach, the Chiefs have gone 9-7, 4-12 and 2-14.

For the Chiefs, hiring Pioli makes a lot of sense: He’s highly regarded as one of the best personnel evaluators in football, and he’s played an integral role in assembling the Patriots dynasty.

For the Patriots, it’s the second time this week that head coach and general manager Bill Belichick has lost one of his top lieutenants, coming just two days after offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels left to become the head coach of the Denver Broncos.

UPDATE: Michael Smith reported on ESPN that Edwards had already come to terms with the fact that he was going to be fired whenever the Chiefs found a new general manager, and that Pioli will clean house with the coaching staff.