The Kansas City Chiefs Backup QB Problem

From the FanPosts -Joel

It's been four days since the "practice" the Kansas City Chiefs had against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but the one constant from everyone's mouth is: 'The season is over if QB Matt Cassel goes down.'

The fear of Chiefs fans everywhere could become reality, as it happens every year to a majority of teams for at least one game due to everything from concussions to, oh say, an appendectomy.

So it raises the question: Do the Chiefs need to go after a veteran to back up Cassel or do we have the answer here in camp? 

This dilemma is multi-fold for the Chiefs. First, there aren't very many quality quarterbacks who do not have a job right now. But let's take a look at all angles and possibilities, shall we?

THE FREE AGENTS (Not listing all, even though JT O'Sullivan was tempting)

Jake Delhomme- 36 years old, injury prone of late. Clearly his best days are way behind him. He did serve a small role as a mentor for Colt McCoy and even joined him in offseason workouts, but he has been cut by two teams in two years (and it's never good when it's the Panthers and Browns). Cassel does not need a mentor and we as a team most likely will not require his services. I do hope he lands somewhere but I don't think it's likely.

Jim Sorgi- Of course! Jim Sorgi, the guy has backed up two Super Bowl champs, and must have tons of experience that he could bring to the Chiefs. If you, like I, like to wager on the occasional football game, then you are quite familiar with seeing Sorgi play in week 17 over the years for the Indianapolis Colts. It's not pretty. While he would bring brains and his mentality is built for the "right 53", this does not serve as an improvement over our current backups.

Troy Smith- He is an interesting choice. Solid athlete, mobile in the pocket, not an accurate passer. Could he be a servicable backup? I honestly think out of this group he would be the biggest possible on-field contributor. His 51.7 career completion percentage is a little frightening but it's a role he is accustomed to. Still, I do not envision GM Scott Pioli and Todd Haley finding him to be worthy of acquiring.

Brian Brohm- Sorry. No.

Brodie Croyle- Moving along, shall we?

THE RETIREES

Kerry Collins- I, like many, have admired Collins' victory over his personal demons, and there have been very few quarterbacks over time who have seemingly laid it all out there when given the chance like Collins. When you think of the craziness that had to be going on in Tennessee, it's a credit to Collins that not one negative thing was said about him and that he went to work ready to play every day, healthy or hurt. I genuinely think he is done though and while I think his demeanor would be good for our young guys, that's Cassel's job to do. Fare thee well Kerry.

Brett Favre- I am not serious about this, but how amazing would a Favre-Haley showdown on the sideline be?

Marc Bulger- The missing fourth Raven? Marc was out for all of 2010 and while some of his former teammates think he has a lot left in the tank, my feeling is if he did he would have marketed himself a little better than calling it a day.

THE CONTENDER

Tyler Palko- I am not going to ever completely slam a Chief. I will be honest about them though. I live in the Northeast, so Big East football is always on, even if it's sometimes the Louisville-Syracuse game. Palko was not even a good/great quarterback at Pitt. I realize the connection coach Haley has with Pittsburgh, and he and Tyler have a great relationship. He theoretically "knows the system" inside and out. You or I could spend years on the sideline and know the system as well. I think Tyler is a great option for a third quarterback for a team, I really do. If Haley appoints him the No. 2 guy for good, we go with it and hit up church a lot more than usual.

THE GUY

Ricky Stanzi- Is he ready? Nope. Is he the second best quarterback on our roster? Absolutely. Listening to Bob and Josh on 610 Sports this morning, I keep hearing the "Well, he's just a rookie" excuse. It's a viable one, but here are some other rookies that just got their playbooks and are going to be called on potentially at some point: QB Cam Newton, QB Andy Dalton, QB Jake Locker, QB Colin Kaepernick. I am not ready to order my Stanzi City Chiefs t-shirt yet, but when it comes down to it I would roll the dice with Stanzi over any of the aforementioned quarterbacks. Will he take some lumps? Sure, but this is the one guy the team and Chiefs nation would rally behind the strongest in this author's opinion. In summation, the talk about a veteran quarterback should be shelved for now and we need to move forward with Stanzi as the backup.

This all hit me as I woke up this morning and the "rookie" label, while true, is not something that should keep us from promoting Stanzi to the backup position and possibly considering the release of Palko. With that said, Matt Cassel is really "the guy", and let's be thankful we have him and let's hope he has an injury free campaign.

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