Tamba Hali Defends Matt Cassel

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

Kansas City Chiefs OLB Tamba Hali took to Twitter today to defend QB Matt Cassel.

Cassel was benched during the Chiefs’ disastrous 2012 season. With the arrival of new GM John Dorsey and new head coach Andy Reid, most experts think that Cassel’s time in KC is up.

That line of thinking makes sense. Cassel has only had one good season while with a new regime in town in the form of GM John Dorsey and head coach Andy Reid, it makes sense that the new guys would want to bring in their own guy.

Hali, who has been around long enough to see more than a few QBs pass through KC, seems to want Cassel to get another chance.

Here is what went down:

[View the story “Tamba Hali Comes To Cassel’s Defense” on Storify]

There are a couple of interesting things happening here. #1, Hali kind of seems to throw the current Chiefs offensive line under the bus little bit. His comment about Shields and Roaf almost make it seem like Hali doesn’t feel the current line is giving Cassel enough time.

He better hope Eric Winston doesn’t find out.

The other thing we have to ask is what prompted this outburst from Hali? Has Cassel been told that the team plans to release him? Did Cassel notify some of his teammates?

It is possible. Many NFL teams are in the process of unloading high-priced veterans they don’t plan to keep and don’t think they’ll be able to trade. Cassel’s contract, what is left of it, isn’t huge but it is pretty high for a guy that most expect to be a backup. Cassel’s stock is at an all-time low right now so it could be possible that he will be released.

Then again, Hali may have just gotten a tweet from a fan that mentioned ditching Cassel and that could have set the Pro Bowl OLB off on this little rant.

What this really shows is that change is on the way in KC. We already knew that but whenever there is change there is some resistance from the players. The Chiefs players went through a lot last year and I am sure that it will be hard for some of them to see their friends cut.

Still, as long as Reid and Dorsey can handle the transition better than Todd Haley and Scott Pioi (53 guys off the street could win two games) I think any issues or gripes will be minor.

What say you, Addicts? What is your take on Hali’s tweets?