Could Tyler Thigpen Be The Chiefs Starter?

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Scoff if you want, but, remember, Brodie Croyle failed to beat out Damon Huard when the job was all but handed to him by the Chiefs last preseason. This year, the Chiefs are in full-on rebuilding mode, and will give Croyle the first opportunity to be the starting quarterback. If he fails, however, don’t necessarily expect the Chiefs to turn to Huard. They might turn to second-year QB Tyler Thigpen.

The Chiefs obviously like Thigpen. After he was realeased by the Vikings last year, the Chiefs signed the Coastal Carolina University single-season and career passing leader (in basically every category, folks) the next day. They also didn’t draft a quarterback back in April. To me, that is just as big of an endorsement of Thigpen as it is of Croyle. Clark Hunt is going to be somewhat patient with this rebuilding effort. At the same time, I think the entire front office would like to know if they have a quarterback on the roster they can move forward with by season’s end. That being said, they will want to take a look at Thigpen should Croyle get hurt again or flop.

From ESPN:

Some observers believe Tyler Thigpen will push Croyle. The quarterback job will be Croyle’s if he performs well, but it is surely the biggest unknown heading into training camp and it will be one of the most closely watched stories in the AFC West in the preseason.

Personally, I don’t think Brodie played well enough last year to walk in on day one of the preseason and be handed the job. He should be first in line, but I think Thigpen or someone not presently on the roster (like Byron Leftwich or Chris Simms) should be in the running for the job. I think competition breeds success, especially at that position.

What does everybody else think about Thigpen and a potential quarterback position battle?

Tags: brodie croyle, Damon Huard, kansas city chiefs, tyler thigpen

CurtMerzFan

"Now before him - you damn right. (Besides maybe Joe Cool himself)"

Man, nobody gives Bill Kenney any respect... too bad, that guy was the real deal on a really lame team.

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SEANBCOOL

DJ, that's a bunch of bull. I think I speak for almost every Chiefs fan when I say I loved having Trent Green under center. Damon Huard only got popular when he stepped in post-injury and did such a great job. And, FYI, I think Huard would have given us a better chance to win our playoff game against the Colts.

MasterBlaster

Jesus, we so should have snagged Brohm.

Scott

"Chiefs fans always hate their starter and the backup QB is always the most popular guy in town. Some things never change."

Ahh...I call bullshit. I know I wasn't bitching when Mr. Green was back there tearing up the record books before he bought a one way ticket to concussion city. And I really don't remember anyone else being pissy either.

Now before him - you damn right. (Besides maybe Joe Cool himself)

Sudden

Croyle is without question the starter at New England. And Herm will give him at least 8 games to succeed. But if this team is 0-8 and Brodie Croyle has thrown only 50% completion and 2:1 INT:TD ratio, consider Tyler Thigpen to be auditioning for the 2009 starting job.

DJ: Chiefs fans don't always hate their starter in favor of their backup, only when we're right. Remember Grbac vs. Gannon. Gannon could've won that playoff game, instead Grbac came back in to lose it for us. Gannon would go on to take our hated division rivals to a Super Bowl.

Chiefs fans always hate their starter and the backup QB is always the most popular guy in town. Some things never change.

Reminds me of 'Pigpen' from the Peanuts. It'd be great to get a pic of him playing at Oakland, covered in dirt from the baseball field.

I expect that if Croyle goes down (he'd have to REALLY suck before they'll bench him) that Thigpen will be the guy. With the current youth movement I think they'll have no problem putting him in.

Of course, I can see it going the other way too. If we're in the middle of a close game I can totally see Herm putting Huard in since he's more of a sure thing.

But that may depend on the state of the offensive line. Huard proved over the last two years that he can be a good, even above-average QB, but he's GOT to have substantial protection. He's worthless without it.

If the young line is still flailing around at that point, I'd go with Thiggy in a heartbeat. We don't need a repeat of the disaster at Denver. Huard got smacked around like a bitch. I pulled for him being the starter before last season, but I had to say thank God when he finally hit the bench.

And by the way, I hate Tyler Thigpen's name. I know that doesn't matter but really.. Thigpen? It's the least cool name on the whole team.

We could call him T.T. for short.

Barring injury, Croyle will get 16 games this season unless he's horrific. And I'm not expecting horrific.

chiefzilla

Croyle is the starter, period. Barring injury, he is the starter. Thigpen isn't even in the equation and any talk that he is in the equation is merely to motivate Croyle to think someone's breathing does his neck.

Thigpen has arm strength and mobility. But he's also short and has ZERO big game experience. While Croyle faced a tough SEC conference his entire college career, Thigpen faced primarily D-IIA teams and none of them overly competitive. That's not to say that Thigpen isn't going to be success, but he's much more of a longshot.

More importantly, you can't just give Thigpen second-team reps then plug him in as the starter in game 1. Every time Croyle takes a first team rep, he's building timing and chemistry with Gonzalez and Bowe. It would be silly for the Chiefs to allow Croyle/Bowe to develop that kind of a connection and then go with somebody else to start the season.

Croyle will be the starter. Period. And I believe he gets AT LEAST 8 games to prove what he can do.

nflchoice

Think they should give him a shot. Cannot hurt when you do not have a franchise quarterback .

Croyle's the guy. Give him a chance this year, and he will do better. If he doesn't, I'm all for letting him go and trying something new. But he has all the tools to do the job, and I thinking his coming-out party is the '08 season.

Also, don't totally count Huard out. Remember how well he performed 2 seasons ago when Trent Green went down? 11:1 TD-INT ratio. And the one interception he did throw was only because it bounced off a lineman's head. That is unreal. I definitely think that he could be the guy -- at least for a little while -- if Brodie doesn't pan out. Damon Huard is a great ball control QB, and it showed when our running game was stronger.

The only thing I like about Thigpen is his number.

Zach

Well most teams only carry 3 QBs unless the guy can do something else. So I think if we brought anyone else in Huard would be the odd man out.

I think Carl and Herm are to stubborn and believe they have a guy in either Thigpen or Croyle so they wont bring anyone else in. Damon has one more year on his deal and they will let him play it out.

xxxlp

I like Brodie Croyle, I really do, well lemme re-phrase that, I like his potential. But I think our offense will be the 'safe-pass only' 'run the ball hard' 'field position' kind of offense this year, especially since we're rebuilding. Brodie just doesn't fit into that, he's a 'slinger. I think Thigpen is sort of a Ben Roethlisberger type, during their SB run. He passed when he had to, he scrambled when he had to. But most of the time the Steelers just let him hand the ball off. Our play action is going to be huge this year. I think if Thigpen is in, we can do more things, personally I still hope we go out and bring in at least one veteran to compete this year, so all 3 of our guys step up.

All great points...

Maine_Chief

I think he has a shot. Every QB must have a few things he can do well to succeed in the NFL. Thigpen can scramble, he has a strong arm, and he didn't look overwhelmed in mop up duty as a rookie last year. That third part is the key, because the Tom Bradys and Derek Andersons are more successful than the Akili Smiths or Ryan Leafs not because of physical skill. It's that innate ability to actually go out there and just do it that turns low rd picks into starters. So we will see if Thigpen really has "it", but I do agree the failure of the Chiefs to draft a QB makes you think they like him a lot.

Also being that he is mobile and strong armed - and Chan Gailey is our OC - can anyone say "Kordell-lite" (without the slash stuff obviously)? Stewart was not great but he had a big arm, could run, and he had a power running game. Hmmmmmm....