Kansas City, Mo. ? Almost every time life takes an important turn for Herman Edwards, Carl Peterson and Dick Vermeil are there for him.

They gave him encouragement when he graduated from high school and headed for college in 1972. They were guests at his wedding in 2002.

In between, they taught him how to work and how to play. As he rose to the top of his profession, they hired, advised and guided him.

On Sunday, of course, they’ll try their best to beat him. But it’s fair to say that without Peterson and Vermeil, the president and head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, somebody else might be the head coach of the New York Jets today.

“Those guys have been in my life for a long, long time,” said Edwards, who has been in charge of the Jets since Peterson recommended him for the job in 2001.

“They were a great influence, there’s no doubt about it. They really set the table for my pro career as a player and as a coach and a scout. I can’t be more grateful to both of those guys.”

Vermeil and Peterson tried to recruit Edwards to UCLA in 1972, but then their destinies became seriously intertwined in 1977 when Edwards was ignored in the NFL Draft.

Peterson, who had followed Edwards’ college career closely, moved quickly to sign him as an undrafted free agent for the Philadelphia Eagles. With Vermeil as his coach, Edwards began a long and distinguished career as one of the NFL’s top defensive backs of the ’70s and ’80s.

The relationship that took root in Philadelphia has not simply endured over the years. It has grown stronger.

“We’re very, very close friends,” Vermeil said. “We’ve shared some wonderful experiences together, Carl and I and him. You never know what somebody is going to end up doing in life. But it doesn’t take long to recognize when you’re coaching Herman Edwards that he is somebody special.”

Peterson remembers the skinny, earnest kid who kept insisting he could run a 4.5-second 40-yard dash.

“I timed him about 10 times, and it was always 4.6,” Peterson said with a grin. “He would say, ‘I can do better, Mr. Peterson. Can I do it again?”‘

As soon as his playing career was done, Edwards called his old boss.

“He said, ‘I want to get in the NFL.’ I said you’d better get some experience,” Peterson recalled. “So he got a job at San Jose State as the secondary coach.”

Three years later, Edwards told Peterson he was ready for the NFL. A few days later, he moved into an office in Arrowhead Stadium as an executive in the player personnel department.

But it didn’t take long for then-coach Marty Schottenheimer to offer him a job as an assistant coach.

“Herman took a day to think about it,” Peterson said. “I knew where he would go. He just kept getting better and better.”

With the help of Peterson’s recommendation, Edwards was hired as an assistant head coach at Tampa Bay. Then in January 2001, Terry Bradway, a member of the Chiefs’ personnel department and another Peterson protege, was hired as general manager of the Jets.

Finding a new head coach was his first important task.

“I told him, ‘I would certainly interview Herman,”‘ Peterson said. “Of course, Terry knew him, too, because they’d both worked for the Chiefs. When Terry called and said, ‘We’re hiring Herman,’ I was thrilled.

“There are special people in your life that you meet along the way. You can see they’re going places.”

The Jets are certainly happy. They’ve been in the playoffs three of Edwards’ four years as head coach and expect to be again this year.

But first up is Sunday’s season opener at Arrowhead.

“When it goes down to Dick and Carl, you’re talking about meeting two guys when you were 17, you didn’t know where you were going in life,” Edwards said. “It’s a family deal. But come Sunday at noon, it will be a shootout.”

The night before the shootout, however, will not be business as usual.

“We very probably will take them to dinner Saturday night,” Peterson said. “I don’t usually do that with the opposing head coach.”