Chiefs Lock Up Matt Cassel Until 2014

NFL News - July 14, 2009 - Written by Bruce

The Chiefs have made big moves since the start off the 2009 off season. First it was the hiring of former New England Patriots GM Scott Pioli to take over control of operations in Kansas City. Second Scott Pioli hired NFC Champion Arizona Cardinals offensive coordinator Todd Haley as the new head coach. Third on the list of improvements was acquiring a quarterback to run the offense and Matt Cassel was the guy.

Cassel was franchised by the Patriots last year signing a one year franchise deal worth 14.5 million. Then the Patriots traded Cassel and Mike Vrabel to the chiefs for a second round draft pick, hell of a steal if you ask me. Matt Cassel was a career bench player in college and backed up Tom Brady in New England till after Brady got hurt in week one last year. Now the Kansas City Star reports that Matt Cassel has signed a 6 year deal estimated at 63 million dollars with 28 million guaranteed. That's a lucrative pay out for a guy that has spent his whole professional career as a back up.

The Chiefs are making serious strides in the right direction in tyring to turn this Kansas City franchise back into a playoff team. Matt Cassel has a young core of weapons to assist him in wining football games in 2009. Wide receiver Dwayne Bowe is only entering his 4th season as an NFL wide out and RB Larry Johnson is only 29 years old, a young group of players for the Chiefs future. Cassel started 15 games last year and passed for over 3,000 yards and compiled 21 touchdowns. Good numbers for his first year starting at quarterback since high school. Cassel will have all of mini camp to get ready to start for the chiefs in 2009 and, just knowing he is the guy in Kansas City might boost his confidence enough for the Chiefs to be the Dolphins of 2009. The Dolphins only won a single game in 2007 and then turned it around to win 11 games in 2008.

If your a fantasy enthusiast you might want to think about drafting Matt Cassel in one of the late to mid late rounds. The Chiefs new head coach Tom Haley is known for passing the ball often late in games win it matters most. Cassel will likely have rough spots during all 16 regular season games. Still making 63 million dollars over 10 million bucks a year as the 230 overall pick in the 2005 draft is pretty successful already if you ask me.