Long before Dane Brugler became one of football's most trusted draft analysts, he was at the verge of joining the Kansas City Chiefs.

Speaking on the NFL Spotlight with Ari Meirov podcast, the longtime NFL Draft analyst revealed that he had been offered a front office role by Kansas City. However, with his wife expecting their first child, he decided the timing wasn't right.

"I had to make a decision because my wife's about to have a baby in a month and a half," Dane Brugler said on Wednesday. "So I had to tell John Dorsey and Chris Ballard no. I was heartbroken about it. This was what I had sacrificed for, but family comes first, and the timing just wasn't right."

After interviewing with several NFL teams over the years, he believed Kansas City was the place where everything had finally come together. At the time, John Dorsey was leading the front office, with Chris Ballard also part of the team.

"I really wanted to work for the Chiefs. Where they were at that point, with John Dorsey and Chris Ballard in the organization...I went there, interviewed, got the job, and I was excited. But they told me I needed to be in Kansas City at the end of July, and my wife was due with our first child at the end of July," Brugler told Meirov on the NFL Spotlight podcast.

According to Arrowhead Addict, that decision eventually led Brugler to The Athletic, where he built his reputation as one of the NFL's most respected draft analysts through The Beast draft list.

Although he never made it into the Chiefs' front office, he continues to work closely with scouts across the league, staying connected to the draft process from the outside.

Even after Brugler declined the role, the Chiefs remained supportive.

Could Dane Brugler have joined the Chiefs?

Turning down the Chiefs was a difficult decision for Dane Brugler, but the response he received from the team stayed with him. Instead of questioning his choice, former Chiefs executive and current Colts general manager Chris Ballard supported it.

"I still have a voicemail on my phone from Chris saying, 'Hey man, you made the right call. I'm proud of you.' I think it was at that moment that I realized the media thing was really taking off, and maybe this was the road I should go down," Dane Brugler said on the same podcast.

Instead of joining an NFL team, he continued building his career in football media. Today, he is known as one of the most trusted draft analysts, but he says his work still keeps him close to the scouting world.

"Working with scouts every day that are in the league and those friendships, that matters to me," Brugler added. "I'm talking to scouts every single day about different things, so I still get that aspect of it. And I get to kind of work with 32 different teams instead of one organization."

Today, Brugler remains closely connected to the league while covering the draft from a broader perspective.

Do you think Dane Brugler's career would have looked different if he had joined the Chiefs? Let us now comment!

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Written by

Debanjali Rakshit

Edited by

Arundhoti Palit