Matt Cassel has said he’s ready to compete to be the starting quarterback for the Chiefs this year. He’d better be.
Both Chiefs coach Romeo Crennel and General Manager Scott Pioli told the Kansas City Star that there will be a quarterback competition this offseason.
“There will be increased competition at every position, including the quarterback position,” Pioli said. “Who that is, I don’t know. Maybe it’s Kyle [Orton], maybe it’s another free agent, maybe it’s a draft choice, I don’t know. Very few people can perform at an extremely high level without competition.”
Orton, who started the last three games of the season after Crennel took over for fired coach Todd Haley, is an unrestricted free agent, but both Pioli and Crennel seem to want him back to compete with Cassel.
“Kyle did a good job in those three games, and you can’t take that away,” Crennel said. “I wouldn’t be sitting here if he didn’t do the job he did.”
A Cassel-Orton competition sounds like something Crennel would like to preside over in training camp.
“What happens in free agency remains to be seen,” Crennel said. “I know competition makes everybody better, and we’ll just have to see what kind of competition we’re going to have at the quarterback position.”