Alex Tanney’s play at quarterback, which included 157 touchdown passes, for Division III Monmouth College didn’t make him very well known.
It took a YouTube video of Tanney throwing the ball off the goalposts from midfield along with various other “trick shots” to get his name out there. Based on the nearly 2.5 million views the video has gotten, people took notice. It’s hard to say what those kind of throws say about Tanney’s ability to make the NFL, but the Chiefs seem to be intrigued. The team announced Tuesday that they have signed Tanney as a rookie free agent.
His chances of the team might rely on who wins the backup quarterback derby currently going on at Chiefs practice. Brady Quinn and Ricky Stanzi are alternating days with the second unit, with Quinn holding a slight advantage at present according to Romeo Crennel. If that remains the case, the Chiefs would likely opt to hold onto Stanzi, a 2011 fifth-round pick, as a developmental quarterback.
If he beats Quinn out, and there’s a groundswell of support on that front, there might be an opening for Tanney to take over the developmental slot while Quinn looks elsewhere for a job. That might be a long shot, but there aren’t many other kinds for undrafted viral video stars who played in Division III.