Kansas City wanted to sign Peyton Manning this offseason, and when that didn’t work out, there was some talk that the Chiefs might draft a quarterback in the first round. That didn’t happen either, however, and Chiefs General Manager Scott Pioli says that’s fine, because the Chiefs don’t need a quarterback.
According to Pioli, starter Matt Cassel and backups Brady Quinn and Ricky Stanzi have the Chiefs well positioned at the most important position.
“I think that we have a really good quarterback,” Pioli said on WHB in Kansas City, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. “I think we have three good quarterbacks. I think the guy who’s set to be our starting quarterback is a good quarterback, he’s a good starting NFL quarterback. . . . I think as he gets more opportunities, Matt is gonna continue to show people that he’s a good NFL quarterback. It’s interesting. I’ve been out and about town with my family, and I talk to fans, you talk to fans, you hear different things, and there’s a lot of times where I hear from people — there’s people out there that don’t understand the criticism of Matt, or this growing groundswell in pockets of Matt allegedly not being a good enough quarterback.”
Cassel didn’t look like a really good quarterback last season, but Pioli remains convinced that he is one, and he also believes Quinn and Stanzi are capable. And he said using a first-round pick on a quarterback this year would have been a mistake.
“I think we would’ve been reaching,” Pioli said. “By the time we made our first pick there were three quarterbacks off the board.”
Pioli and Kevin Kietzman of WHB got a little testy with each other as Kietzman pressed Pioli about why the Chiefs couldn’t have traded up in the draft, with Pioli at one point asking, “Are you going to let me answer?” when he felt Kietzman was interrupting him, and Pioli zinging Kietzman with, “I hope you become general manager of the Denver Broncos” when Kietzman told Pioli that he would have traded the Chiefs’ entire draft to move up and take Andrew Luck first overall. Pioli doesn’t seem to like the relentless questions from some in Kansas City about whether the Chiefs can win with Cassel.
And Pioli surely knows that the questions will not go away until the Chiefs do win with Cassel. So Pioli just has to hope he’s right that Cassel is a really good quarterback.