Peterson Deflects Talk Of Miami

From Harvey Fialkov of The South Florida Sun Sentinel:

Longtime Chiefs General Manager Carl Peterson said farewell Tuesday to an organization he helped run for the past 20 years, and in his parting speech gave special thanks to Dolphins General Manager Jeff Ireland.

Peterson, a guest of Dolphins co-owner Stephen Ross at Sunday's playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens, said he has no plans to retire but wouldn't speculate on recent reports that he would join the Dolphins' front office.

"I don't deal in speculation. Never have and never will," Peterson told reporters at the Chiefs' headquarters when asked about a possible job with the Dolphins. "That's pure speculation. At this point, it's not even worth discussing, because it hasn't been discussed. I'm not even thinking of that at this point."

Peterson did say he wouldn't mind being a consultant of sorts, but vice president of football operations Bill Parcells already has one of those in Jupiter neighbor and former Packers GM Ron Wolf.

"I'm going to sit back and see what may become available. I'm in no rush to do anything. This business can wear on you," Peterson said. "Maybe I can be a consultant."

As far as thanking Ireland, Peterson gave Ireland his first job in the NFL as an area scout from 1997 to 2000.

"I'm so proud of him and what he's been able to do in his career, here and in Dallas, and now he's a general manager in the National Football League," Peterson said of Ireland.

Peterson's ties to Ross go back to their days together with the Baltimore Stars of the old USFL in the 1980s.

During Peterson's 20-year association with the Chiefs, Kansas City amassed a 176-143-1 (.552) regular-season record, made nine playoff appearances, won the AFC West four times and reached the AFC Championship Game in January 1994.

While Parcells has remained mum on the subject of exercising an escape clause from his contract if and when H. Wayne Huizenga sells his majority share of the Dolphins to Ross, Huizenga and linebacker Joey Porter both were told Parcells wasn't going anywhere.

"He told me he was going nowhere, so I took the man for his word, so I never [got] caught up into it," Porter said Monday.

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