KC Chiefs' Matt Cassel Has Some Drew Brees In Him

Mitch Holthus, the voice of the Kansas City Chiefs, talked with Soren Petro on 810 WHB on Monday of this week and had an interesting tidbit regarding the development of QB Matt Cassel.

"They've watched Drew Brees a lot," Holthus said of Cassel and Chiefs head coach Todd Haley. "If Matt's done a study, it's been Drew Brees. I don't know if you guys have met Drew or not, the dude's like six foot. He's just not very big. He's so good at his footwork and he gets to his back points so fast. It's something Matt's been working on and [Sunday] it showed up better than ever. "

This piqued my interest, to say the least.

The easy comparison for Cassel is Tom Brady because of the New England connections. The comparison to Brees, though, might be more accurate and was especially evident last week against the Seattle Seahawks when he lit up their blitz. 

Indeed, Haley tells Jim Corbett of USA Today that Brees' mechanics are on the Chiefs radar.

"The easy thing is to look at Matt and say, 'Well, let's try and make him like Tom Brady,'" Haley said. "But his foot speed and athleticism is so much better. Drawing the parallel to Drew has been a huge key because of Matt's foot speed."

Now, I don't think Haley is saying Cassel is Brees. I don't think that at all. Instead he's taking parts of Brees' game and trying to add it to Cassel's. Haley said earlier this week that the Chiefs were in a pass-run option for much of the second half because there was apparently something he saw in the defense that they could exploit.

This is all part of the big picture. I remember in the offseason one of the goals for Cassel was making quicker decisions and getting rid of the ball faster. That fits nicely into beating the blitz. What this does is gives the Chiefs more options and makes them, frankly, nearly unstoppable on offense when they execute the way they did against Seattle.