Chiefs Need Time to Fix Their Quarterback

“The first thing I wanted to do was help fix the quarterback,” said Kansas City Chiefs' new offensive coordinator Charlie Weis this summer referring to quarterback Matt Cassel. Weis has a history of developing quarterbacks, and his opinion carries a lot of weight around the league, no pun intended.

The local media took this to mean “See, he’s broken. Charlie Weis thinks he has to fix him.” The media believe that the Chiefs have pulled the strings on Cassel because they don’t trust him to throw the ball. Despite the Chiefs’ 3-2 record, the fans are running out of patience with the Chiefs’ passing game, which has been largely ineffective so far this year. Some fans are calling for backup quarterback Brodie Croyle to replace Cassel, though Croyle has a history of injuries and inept quarterback play. Some are already looking at next year’s draft to evaluate quarterbacks.

I think we’re looking at this all wrong. I have a theory. Are you surprised?

Most of us have heard the story about Matt Cassel’s college career. At USC, Cassel sat behind a couple of very good college quarterbacks in Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart. During his four seasons there, he completed 19 of 33 passes for 192 yards, barely touching the field. The Patriots saw something in him and drafted him in the seventh round of the 2005 draft. In New England he sat on the bench behind Pro Bowl quarterback Tom Brady for three years, maybe one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history. That’s seven years of practice with virtually no time facing live action. Practice is great, but nothing replaces playing in a real game.

During the last two years, Cassel has started 30 games for New England and Kansas City. We need to think of these 30 starts as Matt’s college career. Not his pro career. I believe that Charlie Weis has decided to start over with Cassel, much like a team would with a newly drafted quarterback. They are going back to the beginning and working on the basics of the quarterback position. Footwork. Reads. Accuracy. Protecting the ball. And avoiding sacks.

If you look at Cassel's numbers the year he played for New England, they're quite impressive. He's certainly shown that he has some ability when he's surrounded by good coaching and a better supporting cast. For the Patriots he started 15 games, completing 327 of 516 pass attemps for 21 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions. And what was even more impressive were how his numbers progressed throughout the season. As Cassel gained confidence, and the coaches gained confidence in him, he blossomed into a very effective NFL quarterback.

But still Kansas City fans grow restless. And I keep thinking about Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers.

In Roethlisberger’s rookie campaign in 2004, he started 13 games, but only threw the ball 295 times. He completed 196 of those attempts for 2621 yards. His numbers were very similar in 2005, where he started 12 games, completed 168 of 268 attempts for 2385 yards. But compare that to 2009 where Big Ben completed 337 of 506 attempts for 4328 yards.

Philip Rivers didn’t become the starting quarterback until his third year in the league, but the Chargers still worked him in slowly to the passing game. In 2006, Rivers started 16 games and threw for 3388 yards. And in 2007, Rivers again started 16 games and threw for only 3152 yards. Pretty pedestrian compared to the last two years where he topped 4000 yards each year.

I’m not predicting that Cassel is the next Philip Rivers or Ben Roethlisberger. The NFL is littered with talented athletes who never become star quarterbacks. But I think to conclude that the Chiefs don’t trust Matt Cassel is to take the wrong message from what Weis is trying to accomplish. “The first thing I wanted to do was help fix the quarterback.”