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A Hungry Brodie Croyle Is A Good Thing For The Chiefs

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Jack Harry is tweeting. And his most recent one might raise some eyebrows for those who are interested.

The subject is Brodie Croyle. And after noting Croyle's new business venture, Harry also throws in a bit of a surprise: "Brodie Croyle just opened fitness facility in Birmingham. Believes he can become the Chiefs starting QB. Says he's not content as backup." This is good news. This is bad news.

The good news: Every team should want every player to want to start. That's the nature of the competitive business known as the NFL. Every player should always be hungry and a coach should be on the hot seat if the players around him seem a bit too comfortable in their roles. It's the job of the staff to keep those who started last year anxious to do better than they did before, and to keep the young guys behind them wanting to take their spots. Competition is healthy and produces the best in athletes. If you need any proof, just look at contract year performance.

The bad news: It's a bit of drama. Maybe it's predictable drama (i.e. this isn't the first time a media pundit has to say something about a quarterback situation in the doldrums of the NFL off-season), but it's drama nonetheless and that's something you rarely see within Scott Pioli's regime. The press are blocked out, information is highly controlled, players are off-limits and no news is good news. So this, of course, means some bad news.

So Croyle believes he can be the starting quarterback. He's not the only one. There was a reason the Chiefs spent a third round pick on him, even if those decision-makers are long gone. He's always had the actual talent and quarterback smarts. He's just never been able to stay healthy and put it all together on the field. Let's be honest, the NFL has had its share of crazier stories than Croyle upsetting Matt Cassel for the starting spot.

In the end, I actually think this is good news. Matt Cassel certainly should feel the need to perform well to keep his job, and having a hungry back-up never hurt any team that I can think of. As long as the friendly rivalry can stay just that, having two guys hoping to nab the starting spot should produce the best in both of them. And given the final results from last season, that might be what the Chiefs need as much as anything.