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Spotlight - QB Brodie Croyle, Kansas City Chiefs

Posted on 7/17, exclusive to Footballguys.com

Jeff Tefertiller's Thoughts

Brodie Croyle has disappointed so far in his short career. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the third round of the 2006 NFL Draft. Croyle played at Alabama and was reasonably successful. In his four years with the Tide, Brodie Croyle accumulated 41 passing touchdowns to only 22 interceptions and 6,382 passing yards. The slender passer was a good game manager at Alabama which has not yet translated yet to the NFL. He missed most of his Junior season with an injury.

In 2007, the Kansas City Chiefs lost every game that Brodie Croyle started. Further, he appeared in ten games last season and the Chiefs lost all but one. The only winning game was one where the young quarterback did not attempt a pass. How is that for helping a team win? These losses include games with Detroit, Oakland, Chicago, and the Jets. The team scored over 17 points just once in the games Croyle appeared, and that was against Detroit when the Chiefs scored 20. Brodie Croyle played in just ten games because of his own injuries. His slight build (6'3", 204 pounds) and a poor offensive line are not a good combination.

Yes, not all of the blame for the poor offensive performance falls on the shoulders of the young passer. Larry Johnson missed several games with an injury of his own. Without the threat of the run, defenses were able to get a good rush on Croyle. He was erratic and rarely threw deep. But, the statistics for Croyle were not good no matter the reason. Few quarterbacks had a worse season than Croyle had in 2007. Check out the statistics below and see if you disagree:

• Games: 10
• Pass Attempts: 224
• Pass Completions: 127
• Passing Yards: 1,227
• Touchdowns: 6
• Interceptions: 6
• Yards Per Attempt Average: 5.5

Even though Croyle is the undisputed starting Chief passer heading into 2008, it is difficult to get excited about the former Tide quarterback. He exceeded 200 passing yards just once, and it took 43 pass attempts to do so. It is understandable that Herm Edwards wants a youth movement, but he is asking for trouble by asking too much from Croyle. The offense is anchored by Larry Johnson and Tony Gonzalez. The emergence of Dwayne Bowe also gives Croyle another quality option. There is a major hole at the WR2 position. The team has no viable receiving options outside of Bowe and Gonzalez. Until he has better weapons, Croyle will offer fantasy owners limited upside, even if he does improve. The Kansas City Chiefs will be a bad team no matter what, so Croyle might be given extra time under center. There is a good chance that the Chiefs finish last in their division, even behind their hated rival, the Oakland Raiders. This is a team lacking in talent.

Currently, Brodie Croyle is being drafted as the 30th fantasy passer off the board. There are better options for a fantasy QB3 on your team. Croyle is probably not a player who would start for your fantasy team, unless to cover a bye. There are other options that offer more potential on the waiver wire in most leagues. In addition, there is the real possibility that Croyle plays poorly and gets benched. Veteran Damon Huard led the team to all of its 2007 victories. Tyler Thigpen is also an option for the Chiefs. The offensive line is not strong, but may be improved with the addition of the rookie Branden Albert. Given Brodie Croyle's inability to stay healthy, it is a strong probability that either Huard or Thigpen will see action in 2008. The team seems high on the youngster from Coastal Carolina. It has been rumored that the Chiefs might let Huard go and just carry Croyle and Thigpen during the season. If this is the case, it is a tremendous vote of confidence in Tyler Thigpen.

Positives

• Croyle is the unquestioned starter, his job to lose.
• The Chiefs have two good receiving options in Gonzalez and Bowe
• Larry Johnson is healthy and should provide balance to the offense

Negatives

• Croyle is an erratic passer, barely completing half of his pass attempts
• He has been prone to injury in college and in the NFL
• Limited upside on a bad team

Final Thoughts

The Kansas City Chiefs will once again struggle to score points. Fantasy owners should not expect much improvement from Brodie Croyle. Getting reps as the starter through camp will help. Damon Huard was able to produce decent fantasy stats in several games last season, so some opportunity is present. Tyler Thigpen is the player to keep an eye on. He could emerge early in the season if Croyle falters. In general, it is advisable to avoid the Chief passers in fantasy drafts unless the league has 16 teams or starts two quarterbacks each week. There is little upside and the better options (Huard and Thigpen) will be available on the waiver wire.

Quotations from the Message Board Thread

rzrback77:
Not a big Brodie Croyle fan here. There are lots of reasons that he is FBG's QB 30. Due to all the injuries to LJ and some offensive linemen, they threw the ball a lot in 07, but it is not their preference. If they are improved at all and even if they are not improved and LJ is healthy, they will run the ball more in 08.

Croyle averaged a whopping 5.5 ypc last year and completed just over 50%. Two very bad stats. Assuming that he plays all 16 games (which is not likely) I would still not draft him.

JKL:
I don't think Croyle makes it through the season as the starter. Lots of young quarterbacks who had middling or below average completion percentages, or high interception rates early in their careers have gone on to have at least solid careers. I can't find anyone, though, who started off their career with anything in the range of 5.5 yards per attempt, and went on to success. The lowest are guys who started straight out of college as true rookies, guys like Aikman and George, who posted ypa's of about 6.0 in their true rookie seasons.

But Croyle was not a true rookie, and there is a difference. He was entering his second year in the league and, despite the coaching staff all but wanting to hand him the starting job at the start of the 2007 season, he lost it due to his play in preseason. He then came in and had difficulty staying on the field, and even worse, underwhelmed when he played. I saw no signs of a quarterback who is going to make plays, even in flashes.

The offensive line was brutal last year. In my opinion, they were actually worse at getting a push in run blocking than they were in pass protection, though they were certainly no great shakes at either. The receiving corps, when you consider Gonzalez and Bowe, was solid overall. I know people will say that his surrounding cast was so bad that we can't judge based on last year's numbers. They were not good, but I think Croyle was part of the problem. There have been plenty of young qb's who have played on bad teams early in their careers. The eventual successes didn't necessarily light the world on fire, but they made more out of a bad situation than Croyle. The biggest indictment was getting solidly outperformed by Huard. Eventual players don't get solidly outplayed by 34 year old journeymen at age 24. The difference was most glaring in the Detroit game.

Unfortunately, I see Thigpen or Huard getting some starts by mid-season. I honestly hope I'm wrong, and those saying he is a deep sleeper are right. I was the biggest advocate that Croyle needed to start from week 1, so the Chiefs would have a full season to find out what they had, despite the poor pre-season. I was disappointed that they waited until halfway through the season to make the move, because though I like Huard, that team wasn't making the playoffs and needed to make decisions based on fielding the best team in 2009-10.

Iwannabeacowboybaby!:
The best thing about Brodie Croyle is he doesn't seem to turn the ball over much. He only had 6 Int's last season, for an inexperienced QB and for a team that couldn't really depend on the run as much as it has in the past, that's pretty good.

The thing is though I just don't see the potential with this guy. He threw the ball 43 times versus the Jets the last game of the season and he didn't even get 200 yards passing. He had over 40 attempts passing a couple weeks prior to that and he ended up with just over 200 yards, so the big play stuff just isn't within KC's grasp right now, making it hard to draft Croyle with any serious thoughts of him holding value.

Brodie Croyle Projections