[The Franchise]

Matt Cassel first emerged on the NFL radar in 2008, when Patriots starter Tom Brady suffered a season-ending knee injury in the opening game against Kansas City and Cassel, then New England's backup, was thrust into action. A seventh-round draft pick in 2005 who never started a game in college (he backed up Heisman Trophy winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC) and had played sparingly in his first three NFL seasons, Cassel performed surprisingly well in Brady's stead. He completed 63.4 percent of his passes for 3,693 yards and 21 touchdowns with only 11 interceptions. Although the Patriots won 10 of Cassel's 15 starts and finished 11-5, they fell short of the playoffs.

A star was born -- much like when Brady, a sixth-round pick and former backup, took over for the injured Drew Bledsoe early in the 2001 season -- or so it seemed. Because of Cassel's performance and the uncertainty of Brady's return from a serious knee injury, the Patriots put the franchise tag on Cassel, who had been scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent, and gave him a one-year contract for $14 million (the largest one-year deal for an offensive player in NFL history) on Feb. 5, 2009.

Meanwhile, former Patriots executive Scott Pioli, who became Kansas City's general manager after the '08 season, coveted Cassel. Twenty-three days later, the Chiefs acquired Cassel and linebacker Mike Vrabel for the 34th overall pick in the 2009 draft.

While expectations have been high in Kansas City, Cassel hasn't quite proven himself to be the Brady of the Midwest. Although he had an outstanding 2010 season, throwing for more than 3,000 yards and 27 touchdowns while leading the Chiefs to a 10-6 record and their first playoff appearance since '06, Cassel's resume before and after that season has been simply mediocre. Coming off a broken hand that forced him to miss the final seven games last year, Cassel had three TD passes and three interceptions in Kansas City's first two games.

It's shit like this that pisses me off. 3,693 yards and 21 touchdowns with only 11 interceptions......on that Patriots team is not a great year. His stats in 2010.....were not awesome. Even for being his best year.....they're still ****ing mediocre considering that this is a passing league and he had one of the best running games that season.