What a crazy couple of weeks.

If you’re like me, you’re still struggling to put together everything that happened. Granted, the Chiefs were fairly quiet, but I can’t disagree with a single move they made. Still, obviously, the question of how they are going to do this year depends on much more than how they themselves improved. This year’s schedule will be much harder and all of our upcoming opponents have been busy.

Thus, to see how our upcoming adversaries stack up, I bring you my second Opponent Power Ranking of the year.

Disclaimer: I did my best to put in the latest and most complete FA info on each team, but I only counted FA’s that have been definitively signed or resigned. By the time you read this, there could be a whole swath of new developments.

See what we got coming after the jump: (more…)

Without further ado…

Pick	Team	Player Selected	Player’s Position	Player’s School	Analysis
1.		Jimmy Clausen	Quarterback	Notre Dame	Yep. I’m going there. Look, the Rams have been drafting high for a while now. They usually go with the safe pick. Everyone is going to think they are crazy for passing on Suh but I think the Rams are going to look around at the teams in the playoffs. They’ll see names like Favre, Rivers, Manning, Brees, Brady and Warner. It is apparent you need a QB in today’s NFL more than ever. If the Rams don’t get one now, they aren’t getting one in this draft.
2.		Ndamukong Suh	Defensive Tackle	Nebraska	Detroit, already having a QB, pees their pants when the Rams take Clausen. Litterally pees their pants on their way to the podium to take Suh.
3.		Gerald McCoy	Defensive Tackle	Oklahoma	Tampa is now also freaking out because they had Gerald McCoy’s name circled on their draft board and suddenly Eric freakin Berry is available. They have planned their draft around the fact that Suh and Berry would be gone when they picked. The don’t gamble and they stick with McCoy.
4.		Eric Berry	Free Safety	Tennessee	Mike Shanahan won games with Jake Plumber as his QB. He can probably win games with Jason Cambell. He also isn’t stupid enough to go reaching for Sam Bradford here before he has a season to evaluate his new team. He is building a new program and Eric Berry is one hell of a start. No way does he let Berry slip to the Chiefs.

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Ingle Martin is a Tennessee native, and was a highly recruited athlete coming out of high school, where he led Nashville’s Montgomery Bell Academy (one of Tennessee’s perennially top football schools) to three consecutive state championships–serving as quarterback and kicker. After being sought after by a number of top-flight college programs (Tennessee, LSU, Alabama and Virginia to name a few), Ingle signed with The University of Florida as a Spurrier recruit, and red-shirted his freshmen year, serving on the scout team. His first year of action saw Martin punting, backing up Rex Grossman, and playing a little bit at wideout as well.  Grossman’s exit into the NFL (which has gone really well) gave Ingle the inside track on the starting job his sophomore year, which he won. After an average first four starts, (2-2 with losses to Miami (FL) and Tennessee) he was benched by rookie coach Ron Zook. Zook then replaced him with his own highly touted freshman recruit, Chris Leak. Ingle transferred to Furman University in South Carolina following the season.

There, Ingle led the Paladins to the Southern Conference Title in his first year, and after another productive campaign his senior year (in which he set a number of different school passing records), he was taken by the Packers in the 5th Round of the 2006 draft to back up Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. Martin joined the Titans in 2007 and spent the season on the practice squad before coming into this year’s camp as the number three quarterback behind Vince Young and Kerry Collins. He was cut towards the end of camp when the Titans went with only two quarterbacks on the active roster. He was immediately re-signed to the practice squad.

Just this past Wednesday, Martin was signed by the Kansas City Chiefs to a two-year deal to address some of the lack of depth at the quarterback position there due to injuries. Many of us in Nashville have been rooting for Ingle for some time, and would have loved for him to find success here, but this is a business and he saw a better opportunity elsewhere. While his status on the Chiefs roster will probably be questionable upon Brodie Croyle‘s return, you never know where you’ll catch on. Either way, we wish him well.

Reading this, a thought popped into my head. Martin hasn’t played in the same system for more than a year or two since high school. Other than when he was at Furman, he’s also been buried beneath superstars or future stars that his coaches were attached to. I’m not saying he’ll be anything special, but he does have some diamond-in-the-rough credentials. For now, however, he is buried behind the Huard-Thigpen platoon (I’m going to have to discuss this potential horror show sometime this weekend).

So, I was at the dentist getting work done. I was expecting to come home to see that we signed Chris Simms. Instead, I came home and saw that the Chiefs got an unexpected case of the Ingles. Ingle Martin? Really? I’d rather get a case of the shingles. Or go back to the dentist. Damn, this is disappointing.

Regardless, I did some reading up on Martin, which made me feel a little bit better. He went to Florida out of high school, where he was Rex Grossman‘s back-up his freshman year, and was the starter his sophomore year until he got benched in favor of Chris Leak before the fifth game. He also played quite a bit of punter and wide receiver at Florida, so he is a versatile athlete.

He then transferred to I-AA Furman, where he shattered all kinds of records. As a high school Parade All-American, he also played some safety. He was also highly recruited by Alabama (ironic), Tennessee, LSU and Virginia as a quarterback, but eventually decided it would be great to be a Florida Gator. The only injury he’s ever sustained, that I’ve dug up at least, is a concussion. He seems durable, unlike someone we know. He’s also only 26.

After being drafted in the fifth round back in 2006, Martin has spent time with both the Packers and Titans. He backed up Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, and was buried on the practice squad behind Vince Young and Kerry “Tom” Collins in Tennessee. On those teams, it’s easy to see why he was never given a shot.

One other thing. His first name is Harry. Ingle is his middle name. Brodie Croyle‘s actual first name is John, as Brodie is his middle name. It’s kind of curious that they both went with their abnormal middle names, but I’m cool with it. After all, Brodie and Ingle is a helluva lot more interesting than Harry and John.

If there are any Florida, Furman, Packers, SEC or Titans fans (xxxlp?) that know anything about Ingle, please drop some knowledge in the comments…

(hat tip: kcchiefsfan56)

“They released me,” Simms said in a text message Saturday.

Simms played in three preseason games, completing 19-of-30 passes for 155 yards with no touchdowns and one interception. But he performed well enough to prove to other teams he is fully recovered from the effects of abdominal surgery that forced him to miss nearly all of the past two seasons.

The Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers are expected to have the most interest in signing Simms, who becomes a free agent.

The Cowboys’ backup quarterback is 40-year-old Brad Johnson, Simms’ teammate with the Bucs. The Packers have no experienced quarterback behind starter Aaron Rodgers.

“I really don’t know what’s going to happen,” Simms said. “I’m just going to wait and see.”

You’d have to think that if we were interested, that we’d be a more intriguing option than either the Cowboys or Packers. This is no knock on Croyle, but at this point I think Aaron Rodgers and Tony Romo are more entrenched as thier respective team’s starters. Coming to Kansas City might be Simm’s best shot at earn a starting gig by the end of the season. That is, if we are interested. Again, we should be.