Another member of the Patriots cabinet has been poached - the Chiefs have today pried Scott Pioli away from the Patriots and made him their new general manager. It's expected that director of player personnel Nick Caserio will assume Pioli's vacated vice president of player personnel position.

I'd be lying if I said this move won't have any impact at all on the Patriots; Pioli is being hailed as one of the key components to the Patriots dynasty that took home three Super Bowl rings, and rightfully so. But as we saw with the departures of Weiss and Crennel a couple years back, the Pats are more than capable of overcoming the losses of important front office and coaching staff figures better than any team in the league. I'm not saying those two Executive of the Year awards Pioli won in his time here weren't merited, but we all know who the big dog in town is, and as long as he's the head coach of the team, they'll never go too far astray. As the hilarious Jerry Thornton said over on Barstool, "He's the Borg; the rest are all just part of the Collective." Never has a Star Trek reference been more merited; well done, JT.

What remains to be seen is whether or not Pioli can succeed without the mind Belichick and the money of the Krafts. He's got some interesting talent to build around on offense with youngsters like Thigpen and Bowe, but LJ is likely on his way out, and that defense was underwhelming at best last season. Plus, they'll be bringing in a new coach, so they'll be rebuilding for a while it seems. Regardless, this is the type of situation a guy in Pioli's situation dreams of as he has a chance to prove his worth without living in Belichick's shadow; whether he's successful at that endeavor will likely not be known for at least the next three years.

In related news, the Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that Patriots special teams coach Brad Seely will be joining Eric Mangini with the Browns. Slightly less important than the departure of Pioli, I'd say.