Should The KC Chiefs Inquire About Brandon Weeden?

Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

The Kansas City Chiefs need to completely retool their QB depth chart this offseason and that means it is important for the new regime to look beyond the 2013 NFL Draft.

One QB that could potentially be available is Cleveland Browns signal caller, Brandon Weeden.

Cleveland selected Weeden #22 overall in last year’s draft. He is a QB that sports some excellent tools but he entered the 2012 Draft with age concerns. Weeden began his professional sports career in baseball, not football. He was originally drafted by the New York Yankees as a pitcher. He bounced around the minors for a while before deciding that his baseball career was unlikely to take off. He enrolled in Oklahoma State in 2007 and by 2010 he was the starting QB for the Cowboys.

Because of his unique past, Weeden was 29 by October of his rookie season. Age concerns likely hurt his draft stock a bit in 2010. Still, it is pretty impressive that despite all that, he was fourth QB taken in what turned out to be a very talented draft class.

As a rookie, Weeden had his ups and downs. He began his career with a putrid performance against Andy Reid’s Philadelphia Eagles. In perhaps the ugliest football game of the season, Weeden threw four interceptions and no touchdowns, completing only 34% of his passes.

Yet the very next week, vs the Cincinnati Bengals, Weeden was 26 of 37 for 322 yards with two TDs and no interceptions.

The Browns went on to lose their first five games, with Weeden struggling at times with interceptions. After that five game stretch, Weeden had five TDs and nine interceptions.

Despite the poor start, the Browns finished the season 5-5 under Weeden, who sat out the season finale against the Steelers (the Browns lost) with an injury. That 5-5 stretch included an overtime loss to the Cowboys and a heartbreaking 17-13 defeat to the Colts that then Cleveland head coach Pat Shurmur coached the Browns out of winning.

During the season, the Browns changed ownership. After the season, the Browns hired a new GM and a new head coach. The new regime is reportedly not high on Weeden.

From the National Football Post:

"Is trading Brandon Weeden a possibility for the Browns? Some around the league think so. The belief is that the new management team of Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi don’t think much of Weeden, and they could try to deal him when they can get something for him."

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports is also reporting that the Browns want to upgrade over Weeden.

Meanwhile, ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper said recently that he isn’t sure that if Brandon Weeden was in the 2013 Draft, that he (Weeden) wouldn’t be the top rated QB.

"“Nobody right now is in this draft saying, ‘if I’m Cleveland, I’ve got to take this quarterback even though I have Brandon Weeden.’ There’s no quarterback that screams out, saying, ‘take me, even though you have Weeden because I’m that much better.’ There’s nobody,” said Kiper. “So I don’t think Cleveland’s going to be able to find that guy.”"

If the Browns are so badly wanting to dump Weeden, the Chiefs should pick up the phone and see what Cleveland wants for him.

Weeden finished the season with 3,385 yards passing, with 14 TDs and 17 interceptions. While he struggled at times in Cleveland, there were quite a number of factors working against him.

For starters, the Cleveland offense was very, very young. Weeden’s receivers were Greg Little (2nd year player), Josh Gordon (rookie) and Travis Benjamin (rookie). The Browns also featured a rookie running back in Trent Richardson.

It should be noted that Browns receivers dropped 32 passes in 2012. Little, in particular, has struggled catching the ball since coming into the league. Yet as the season wore on, Little finally began improving and not coincidentally, so did the Browns’ record.

The 2012 Browns were pretty much a college team on offense, at least at the skill positions, in 2012. Yet they still managed to put together a much more respectable season than our own Chiefs, with all their veterans and Pro Bowlers.

When I asked on Twitter a couple of days ago, if the Chiefs should be interested in Weeden, my timeline exploded with scoffs from fans.

“No!”

“Noooooo!”

“Um, no.”

“Weeden sucks!!!”

Those are just a few examples of the comments I received.

Yet I ask you, Addicts, who do you want to play QB for the Chiefs next season?

The reality of the situation is that the Chiefs need three new QBs. Cassel and Quinn need to be discarded. Ricky Stanzi has shown absolutely nothing since entering the league and while I am fine with him coming to camp again this preseason, the new regime can’t count on him as an option at this point.

The Chiefs should absolutely draft a QB and I am hoping they take Geno Smith but even if they do, I still won’t feel comfortable with the team’s QB depth. The Chiefs will need to make other moves.

So why not inquire about Weeden? He outplayed both of KC’s QBs in 2012. He has a year as a starter under his belt. His age won’t be a detriment for about seven years. Right now, it is an asset. He played in a west coach system under Pat Shurmur so he should be able to acclimate to Reid’s offensive style quite easily.

Also, there aren’t many options out there for the Chiefs. Matt Moore, Seneca Wallace, Nick Foles, Matt Flynn and Alex Smith may be the only realistic options available. I’d rather not bother with Moore or Wallace. The Eagles reportedly want a bundle for Foles. Nobody really knows if there is a market for Flynn. As for Alex Smith, he’ll be more expensive than all of these guys, if acquired through a trade.

If the Chiefs can get Weeden for a 5th round pick, they should pull the trigger.

I’m not saying Weeden is the QB of the future for the Chiefs. But I am saying he is talented enough to bring in to compete at the position and young enough (in his career) that it is impossible to say whether or not he can be an NFL starter.

This ESPN Cleveland article makes an excellent point:

"Why is it that a rookie QB who threw for 3,385 yards (second most among possibly the best rookie class ever and only the third 3,000 yard passer for the Browns since Bernie Kosar) is being thrown to the curb as if his NFL storyline has already been written"

The Chiefs need to do more than double down at the QB position this offseason. Along with some of the players in the draft, guys like Foles, A. Smith and Weeden need to be given serious consideration by both the front office and the fans.

It’s all well and good to say “Geno will bust” or “Alex Smith is a Matt Cassel clone” or even “Weeden is old and he sucks,” but these are the options available to the Chiefs. Weeden may be a diamond in the rough, a backup or just a placeholder option until the Chiefs really do find their QB of the future. Regardless, he’s an upgrade at the position in every way.

What do you think, Addicts? Should the Chiefs call the Browns about Brandon Weeden? And if not, let us know your ideal QB depth chart for 2013.