Why can’t Chiefs develop a quarterback?
By John McCarty
Quick, can you name the last quarterback choose in the first round? Of course you know the name of Todd Blackledge, from the 1983 draft. Anyone who’s a fan of the Chiefs and still reading off season blogs is likely aware of the name of Blackledge. Here’s a tougher question, who was the last quarterback the Chiefs invested a second round pick in? Clue, it’s been awhile. If you guessed Matt Blundin in 1992, you would be correct. Staggering really. Last question.
Do you know the last quarterback the Chiefs drafted that won a game as a Chief? Yep, you guessed it, we need to circle back to Blackledge, December 7, 1986. For those poor at math, this organization now is approaching 30 years since a guy they drafted has won them a game. Simply staggering.
How is that the Chiefs as an organization are so dreadful at developing the most important position on the team? We will explore that here, though the quick answer simply is they don’t try to develop their own quarterback. For the sake of discussion, trying to find a quarterback will be regarded using a draft pick in the first four rounds of the draft. Anything after is simply throwing a dart for depth.
Over the past 40 years, or since the 1975 draft, the Kansas City Chiefs have drafted a total of 4 quarterback in the top two rounds, and none since 1992 (Blundin). As was mentioned, Blackledge was the last quarterback in the first round, back in the great 1983 draft.
(Notice, all information and data has come from Pro Football Reference. A great website for football data junkies)
In the past 20 years, since the 1995 draft/season, the Kansas City Chiefs have used a total of two draft picks to find a quarterback, fourth round on Steve Stenstrom in 1995 and a 2006 third round choice on Brodie Croyle. It’s really difficult to find a decent quarterback to develop when you simply are not using resources trying to find a guy.
Why has the organization not made a more concerted effort to find a signal caller of their own? The league has become a passing, quarterback driven league, and yet the Chiefs appear to be attempting to ‘push the ball’ uphill and going at it without their own guy.
They’ve certainly traded away enough draft resources for other teams signal callers, from a first round pick for Trent Green, a second round pick for Matt Cassel, and a pair of second round picks for current signal caller Alex Smith. However, they appear completely unwilling and/or uninterested in their own guy. They also have invested free agent money in Elvis Grbac, and traded for a pair of 49ers back in the day, in Joe Montana and Steve Bono.
And let us not forget about Steve DeBerg, who play-actioned his way through the early years of the Marty regime. However, as we see retreads, second servings or players at the twilight of their careers, no regime has had a quarterback they can truly call their own, especially in the era of the quarterback and the forward pass. Why is that?
Both Andy Reid and John Dorsey, at their previous stops, appeared willing to invest draft picks in the quarterback position. While in Philadelphia, Reid used a total of four draft picks on quarterbacks, including first round pick Donovan McNabb in 1999.
While in Green Bay, with Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, the Packers used a first round pick on Aaron Rodgers and followed up three years later on the investment of rather awful quarterback Brian Brohm. Both organizations, at least from the outside, appeared to value the important of always at least looking and investing the quarterback position.
Certainly, especially in many years, we can attribute this to players available based on where the Chiefs were drafting. Last year for example, there were no signal callers worthy of their pick, and at least initially, certainly doesn’t appear to have been another quarterback, as the next signal caller off the board in last years draft was Garrett Grayson, who went to New Orleans in round 3. (Should be noted, to the point of this article, the Saints still have Drew Brees on their roster.)
In other years however, it’s curious why the Chiefs passed on the signal caller. Take the previous year, the 2014 NFL Draft. With both Teddy Bridgewater and Derek Carr on the board, and no extension signed with Alex Smith, the Chiefs were in the ideal position of getting a quarterback to replace Alex Smith while still having a season to learn and develop behind Smith for a season. Reid has been quoted in multiple places saying the Chiefs liked Carr, but because they had traded for Smith the year before, they couldn’t afford to draft another quarterback.
Why does this matter? Simple. According to pro football reference, since 1975, the Chiefs are last in the AFC West in total victories with 311. The Raiders are not far head at 320, and the Chargers sit at 313. Denver has a commanding lead, with 389 victories in that time period.
With as bad as the Raiders have been the past decade or more, and with as uninspiring as the Chargers have been, maybe their entire existence, they still have more victories then the Chiefs. The Chiefs, as was mentioned before are trying to do it in a way without a franchise type quarterback. Their record in that time period is 311-329-2. A losing record.
Also, should be noted, since 1975, the Chiefs have a staggering four playoff victories. Four. That’s staggering. Especially when you account for the fact the Chiefs won two playoff games during the 1993 season, it makes that number look even worse. For those comparing, Denver has won 23 playoff games, Oakland has won 19 and San Diego has won 10 playoff games. All three teams have appeared in Super Bowls during the time period as well, with Oakland and Denver having won championships.
Don’t want to go down this road to far, but will point out, that over the course of 40 years, we span eras, league trends, general managers and head coaches, all with their own ideas on how to build a team. Yet all of them appear to avoid the quarterback position. I wonder, what is it, what’s the reason to avoid the position?
The following are the quarterbacks the Chiefs have drafted, not illustrious
2006 3 (85) Brodie Croyle (0-10 career, 1669 career yards passing)
1997 4 (110) Patt Barnes (0 starts, 1 appearance, no stats)
1995 4 (134) Steve Stenstromg (Never appeared in game for Chiefs)
1992 2 (40) Matt Blundin (0 starts, 15 career yards passing)
1989 2 (32) Mike Elkins (0 starts, 5 career yards passing)
1983 1 (7) Todd Blackledge (13-11 career record, 4510 career yards passing)
1979 1 (23) Steve Fuller (13-18 career record, 5333 career yards passing)
1978 4 (104) Pete Woods (never appeared in an NFL game)
So there you have it, the winningest quarterbacks the Chiefs have drafted in the past 40 years are tied 13 career wins for the organization. Rather remarkable.
Will note, in the same time period, the Chiefs have used a total of nine first-round picks on offensive lineman, with 15 in the first two rounds. Having chosen 40 times in the first round, Kansas City has committed 22 percent of their available first-round picks to offensive lineman. Again, staggering.
As the combine has wrapped up, let people start speculating yet another offensive lineman for the Chiefs. Because, rightly so, that’s what the Chiefs like to draft.