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Peterson is talk of Kansas City

By Mark Vasto

Carl Peterson, longtime Kansas City Chiefs president and general manager, is embarrassed.

"When I turn on the radio and all I hear is people talking about the Chiefs ... I'm embarrassed," Peterson said at an informal Kansas City gathering a few weeks ago. "When I grew up, football was for winter and in the summer you talked about baseball."

For the past 18 years, it's been statements like that which have helped keep Peterson at the very highest levels of the NFL's executive order and the longest-tenured general manager in American professional sports.

His comments about baseball's Kansas City Royals were a subterfuge, of course ... and you don't survive in as ruthless a game as the NFL without employing various methods such as this. Peterson had been the talk of the town for the past several weeks, and media scrutiny was intensifying over his handling of former Chiefs quarterback Trent Green.

A look at the Green situation perfectly encapsulates the way Peterson does business. With heir apparent Brodie Croyle waiting in the wings, Peterson rewarded backup quarterback Damon Huard with a three-year, $7.5 million deal for his standout season in 2006, and, in so doing, created a quarterback controversy in this football-crazy town.

By signing Huard before the draft, Peterson had, essentially, laid his cards out on the table. Surely, those around the league surmised, Peterson was going to deal Green at the draft, and with all that money tied up in Huard and Croyle, Green could probably be had for a song. Right?

Wrong.

With his former coaches at the Miami Dolphins eager to sign Green and dump the injured Daunte Culpepper, the Fins offered Peterson a seventh-round draft pick as compensation. Peterson rejected the offer, stating he wanted a fourth-round draft pick for Green if he became the Dolphins' starter and a fifth-round pick if he didn't. Green and the Dolphins were upset. Peterson didn't care, stating he would be happy to start the season with Green still a Chief. The Dolphins worked out a contract with Green and went back to Peterson after the draft was concluded, figuring time had softened Peterson's stance.

Instead, Peterson went to Scotland to play golf and visit family. Phone calls to Green's agent were not returned.

Peterson had to cut his trip short, but not to negotiate.

"I got a call from [my wife] that our cat was dying," Peterson told "A Sporting View."

A week later, Green was traded to the Dolphins. The terms: The Chiefs get a fourth-round pick if Green plays more than 70 percent of Miami's offensive plays and a fifth-round pick if he doesn't.

And with drama like this, he wants fans to discuss the Royals?

"Don't get me wrong," Peterson said with a smile. "I'm happy that people are talking about the Chiefs!"

2007 King Features Synd., Inc