Kansas City Chiefs: Quarterback Situation For 2014

Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Aaron Murray (11) Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

With the 2014 NFL Draft officially wrapped up, it’s time to start looking ahead to the preseason games in August. The Kansas City Chiefs will use their four preseason games to determine who makes the roster for 2014.

At the moment, the Chiefs have three quarterbacks on their roster: Alex Smith, Chase Daniel, and Tyler Bray. Kansas City also selected Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray in the fifth round on Saturday, which now gives them four quarterbacks to work with.

Alex Smith is the obvious starter for next season. The Chiefs traded two second rounders for him and he led the team to an 11-5 record in 2013. Not only that, but he had undoubtedly the best season in his nine year career with 3,313 passing yards, 23 touchdowns (to only seven interceptions), 431 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown (Source: Sports Reference).

Behind Smith sits former Missouri Tigers quarterback Chase Daniel. Daniel played for the Saints for several years before signing with the Chiefs as a backup to Smith. Daniel got his first NFL start in week 17 last year where he went 21 for 30 on pass attempts for 200 yards and one touchdown. He also had 59 yards rushing. Daniel didn’t have any interceptions in his lone start (Source: Vahe Gregorian of the Kansas City Star).

Now comes the fun part. Tyler Bray was undrafted and picked up by Kansas City shortly after the 2013 draft. Bray competed with former third string quarterback Ricky Stanzi and eventually won the job throughout the preseason, where he looked pretty good.

With Aaron Murray now in Kansas City, it’s become evident that Bray will have to prove himself yet again. Murray was quite the quarterback during his days as a Bulldog topping off a four year career with 13,166 passing yards, 121 passing touchdowns, and 16 rushing touchdowns (Source: Sports Reference).

Check out my scouting report on Aaron Murray here.

While many thought Bray might be the potential “future franchise quarterback” in Kansas City, keep in mind that he was undrafted in a draft class where the quarterbacks were not as good as they were this year. Bray still needs to prove that he can be Kansas City’s guy when it comes down to it and that starts with playing better than Murray in the preseason.

Personally, I liked that the Chiefs took a quarterback in the draft and was pretty ecstatic that it was Aaron Murray. Murray may not be the biggest guy, but he is a smart football player and I think he has what it takes to be a potential franchise starter for the Chiefs in a few years.

John Viril covered the Murray pick and compared the situation to when the Packers took Aaron Rodgers in 2005 and had him sit behind Brett Favre for a few years. The Chiefs could have Murray learn from Alex Smith and eventually take the reigns when Smith’s time in Kansas City is done.

Leave your comments below, follow us on Twitter, and Like us on Facebook.