Urgency Puzzling In Pioli Courtship

Hey, where's the fire? What's the rush?

For nine years, Scott Pioli's been in the Patriots front office.

On Wednesday, he found his clip-on tie and went to his first job interview since he got to New England.

He visited the Cleveland Browns. They wanted to talk to him about becoming their general manager. Pioli wanted to listen.

Now, while Pioli's been linked to many GM opportunities during his time in New England, he was only approached twice before the Browns came calling. He was offered the Seahawks job in 2005 without even going on an interview. He turned down their five-year, $15 million offer. After the 2006 season, he declined an opportunity to speak to the Giants about their GM job that went to Jerry Reese.

That's important backstory to understand as the speculation about Pioli jumping from the Patriots reaches a fever pitch. The 43-year-old is a measured decision maker who doesn't wander around the pub batting eyelashes at every patron.

He's going to listen, process, weigh and decide. Which is why, despite the Browns reported interest in getting Pioli to decide quickly, its now been reported that there is no deadline for Pioli to make a decision.

Meanwhile, Pioli also will interview for the Chiefs GM job next week.

Some - including Mike Florio at profootballtalk - believe Pioli might be trying to drive up the Browns financial offer by dragging his feet on a decision and entertaining a Chiefs offer. Florio wonders if Pioli - the son-in-law of noted eye-batter Bill Parcells - might be leveraging the two teams against each other.

Again, it's worth noting, he's been in New England for nine years. He's never been on an interview until this past Wednesday. He's going to weigh their situation (there may not even be a financial offer on the table yet), listen to the Chiefs consider his situation in New England (it's been a pretty good job so far) and make a decision.

In short, he's going to operate the way he always has. Slowly and carefully.