Today the football world was shocked to learn that Chiefs had cut ties with John Dorsey who had been the team’s General Manager the past four seasons. When considering where Dorsey could go from here, Oakland looks like a real option.
On the surface, a move such as Dorsey coming to the Raiders would be one of those ‘jump over to a rival to spite your old team’ moves. At least for Dorsey’s part.
From the Raiders’ perspective, it would be a situation of getting a man with intimate knowledge of a rival. In much the same way as signing a player away from the Chiefs as they did with the likes of Sean Smith last offseason and Rodney Hudson the offseason before that.
But the idea of Dorsey coming to the Raiders isn’t just plausible for reasons of rivalries and competitive advantage. There are longstanding ties there.
Undoubtedly a positive the Chiefs saw in Dorsey was his familiarity with Reggie McKenzie whom the Raiders had hired as their GM the season before the Chiefs brought Dorsey onboard.
McKenzie and Dorsey’s ties go WAY back.
Dorsey played his last NFL season in 1989 and joined the Green Bay Packers in 1991 as a scout. McKenzie joined the Packers in 1994 as a Pro Personnel assistant
By 1997 Dorsey had worked his way up to Packers Director of College scouting. That same year McKenzie became Director of Pro Personnel.
McKenzie would later move to Director of Football Operations while Dorsey held the Director of College Scouting position for a total of 15 years. When McKenzie left for Oakland, the shuffle had Dorsey assume the title of Director of Player Personnel for one season before getting the call from the Chiefs.
The Raiders have people in place at both Director of Player Personnel and Director of College Scouting. Those positions are filled by Joey Clinkscales and Shaun Herock respectively. There are, of course, no known plans to replace either of them.
But when you see someone who could both be of great value to your organization and a good fit, you find a position for them.
A prime example of that came just this offseason when the team hired former Chargers Defensive Coordinator John Pagano. The team didn’t fire current DC Ken Norton Jr in order to bring on Pagano. They just created the position of Assistant Head Coach — Defense.
In Chiefs’ owner Clark Hunt’s statement upon Dorsey’s firing, he said it “allows John to pursue other opportunities,” which suggest Dorsey is not looking to take a break. The talks of an extension with the Chiefs over the past few months suggests that as well.
Most other teams at this point in the offseason are already staffed, so joining a familiar face in Oakland in order to stay employed as an NFL personnel man just makes too much sense.
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