Ranking every Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterback since 1990

10. Matt Cassel (2009-2012)

No one could have known at the time that when Bernard Pollard took out Tom Brady in the Chiefs vs. Patriots game that opened the 2008 season, Kansas City Chiefs fans would get a closer look at the man who would soon be their starting quarterback for the next four years. Matt Cassel took over for Brady in that single game and went on to surprise the entire NFL by maintaining the Patriots’ winning ways in relief of Brady with a 10-5 record and 21 touchdown passes.

The following spring, the Chiefs proved able to land a big fish when they hired Scott Pioli. It’s important to pause here and at least emphasize as much as we can that Pioli was the exec du jour in the NFL. He was the right hand of Bill Belichick in a league desperate to mimic New England, and yet it also felt like he didn’t want to leave Foxborough. There is no modern example, but newer Chiefs fans should know that it was a huge deal for Clark Hunt to get Scott Pioli to move to Kansas City.

In his first move as GM, Pioli traded his second-round pick at No. 34 overall for Cassel and linebacker Mike Vrabel. He also traded away Tyler Thigpen, Cassel’s primary competitor, and the Cassel era was set to begin.

Unfortunately, we all know how this story ends. When an organization removes transparency and accountability, horrible events usually follow and it wasn’t long before the Chiefs could not longer contain the dumpster fire the franchise became in Pioli’s years. It even got so bad that some fans appeared to cheer a hand injury to Cassel in his fourth and final season in K.C.

Cassel did go to one Pro Bowl and a one-and-done postseason appearance in which he completed 9 of 18 passes and threw 3 interceptions against the Baltimore Ravens. Cassel had a tough road in K.C. handed to him, but he also didn’t help himself too much.