Tyler Thigpen
Tyler Thigpen is another player who, despite the lack of game changing ability and wins, I remember quite fondly. He was merely a blip on the franchise’s timeline, relatively speaking, but you always felt like he competed in every play like it was his last. Playing on losing teams can be tough, so his hard work in the midst of that was admirable.
Thigpen played three years total for the Chiefs, but it was his second year with the team I remember most. It was the 2008 season, in which Thigpen started 11 games and played in a total of 14.
Of the three quarterbacks mentioned so far, he gave the best effort. In those games he averaged 186 yards, threw 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. On top of this, he rushed for 386 yards and three touchdowns. These weren’t incredible numbers, but they were impressive numbers for a second year player out of Coastal Carolina.
However, once again Bowe was faced with average passing at best, and Thigpen’s completion rate of 55% didn’t help. Ultimately, the team only won one of the 11 games in which Thigpen started, although they were competitive in many of them thanks to Thigpen, and won two games total for the year.
Even so, Bowe surpassed his prior year in all major categories. He caught 86 passes for 1,022 yards and seven touchdowns. These numbers should be appreciated, given he had nearly strung together two straight 1,000 yard seasons to start his career without any consistency from his quarterbacks.