PHOENIX — The Kansas City Chiefs are a model franchise. Which means Clark Hunt is a model owner.
Hunt is back in the Super Bowl yet again after winning the trophy named after his dad, Lamar, for the third time since 2019. But the younger Hunt, who’s now 57, wants an even bigger prize: The Vince Lombardi Trophy, awarded to the winner of the Super Bowl.
Before Hunt’s Chiefs face Jeffrey Lurie’s Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in Super Bowl 57, he made the rounds at NFL Opening Night.
Pro Football Network caught up with Hunt, who is officially the Chiefs’ chairman, CEO and part-owner, for a few minutes during Kansas City’s turn on stage.
Kansas City Chiefs’ Clark Hunt Talks With PFN
PFN: You’re back in the Super Bowl for the third time in four years. Has this been beyond your wildest dreams when you named Brett Veach general manager in 2017?
Clark Hunt: “I’d like to tell you I was counting on playing in five AFC Championship Games and making the Super Bowl in three of the five years, but that would be a lie. It’s really a credit to the job that Brett has done, and his staff, and also the coaching job Andy Reid and his staff has done.
“And the two of them work so well together, which I think is a big part of the success that we’ve had. Brett knows what Andy needs from a scheme standpoint to make it work, and Andy trusts Brett to bring in guys that not only fit the scheme but are great character guys as well.”
PFN: It’s never easy to get the Super Bowl, but it’s really hard to consistently build a winner when a lot of your cap is going to one player (Patrick Mahomes). Brett’s ability to identify players in the draft and hit on all of those picks has to be a key to your success.
Hunt: “Well, there was a lot of commentary about the Chiefs this offseason and the changes that we made. With trading Tyreek Hill, bringing in a lot of young players, some free agents also in the receiving corps. There was a question, quite frankly, whether we were going to be able to get back.
“But Brett really hit it out of the park with those draft choices. I think the AFC Championship Game was a great showcase for the job that he did. Those rookies during the course of the year, they had some struggles like all rookies do. There’s a learning curve and they’re going to make some mistakes. But on the biggest stage to this point in their career, they all played fantastic. I think we had seven of the rookies who made really important plays that we wouldn’t have won without.”
PFN: When Veach came to you and said, ‘We might trade Tyreek Hill,’ what was reaction? Did it take a minute to adjust to it? What were your thoughts?
Hunt: “We had an ongoing dialogue about it. Initially, we thought we were going to be able to re-sign him, which was the goal that we started with. But as the receiver market got away from us, he was real honest.
“He said, ‘This is going to make it impossible to keep Tyreek.’ And certainly, you never want to say goodbye to star players, particularly somebody who had been so important to the success we’ve had over the last three or four years. But at the end of the day, it was the right decision. Credit to him for having the guts to make the call and then doing so well with the picks that we received.”