Kansas City News Blog

By DAVID MARTIN

Chiefs quarterback Brody Croyle went down with yet another injury in yesterday's stadium-clearing 34-10 loss. A player with a fragility rep when he entered the league, Croyle has finished only four of the eight games he has started as a Chief.

Croyle's dainty body parts underscore the organization's reluctance and/or inability to draft and develop a proper quarterback, as the four most recent Super Bowl winners have done. Instead, under GM Carl Peterson, the Chiefs have tended to find QBs via trade (Trent Green, Steve Bono) and free agency (Elvis Grbac, Rich Gannon). The Chiefs drafted Croyle, but he can't stay on the field for more than five minutes at a time.

The Indianapolis Colts found their Super Bowl-winning quarterback by being really bad the season before a player of Peyton Manning's caliber entered the draft. To their credit, the Chiefs don't routinely go 3-13.

Still, Kansas City has missed opportunities to draft a quarterback of the future. The following is a list of starting QBs age 30 and under who play for NFL teams with .500 or better records and who were available to the Chiefs in the draft. Listed after each quarterback and his draft position and year are the players the Chiefs preferred.

David Garrard, Jacksonville, pick 108, 2002; Ryan Sims, Eddie Freeman, Omar Easy.

Tony Romo, Dallas, undrafted, 2003; Larry Johnson, Kawika Mitchell, Julian Battle, Brett Williams, Jordan Black, Jimmy Wilkerson, Montique Sharpe, Willie Pile.

Matt Cassel, New England, pick 230, 2005; Derrick Johnson, Dustin Colquitt, Craphonso Thorpe, Boomer Grigsby, Alphonso Hodge, Will Svitek, Khari Long, James Kilian.

(Cassel backs up Tom Brady, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week One. Brady, a Super Bowl champ three times over, famously fell to the sixth round of the 2000 draft, a year the Chiefs deemed Darnell Alford, Pat Dennis, Frank Moreau, Sylvester Morris, Desmond Kitchings and others to be worthier selections.)

Kyle Orton, Chicago, pick 106, 2005; D. Johnson, Colquitt.

Jason Campbell, Washington, pick 25, 2005; D. Johnson.

Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay, pick 24, 2005; D. Johnson.

Trent Edwards, Buffalo, pick 92, 2007; Dwayne Bowe, Turk McBride, Tank Tyler.

Joe Flacco, Baltimore, pick 18, 2008; Glenn Dorsey, Brandon Albert.