According to Evan Silva, John Clayton says Kyle Orton is sending negative signals to the Kansas City Chiefs who might hold the key to the waiver claim, the results of which are coming up later this afternoon. The Broncos released the quarterback yesterday and the Chiefs are among the teams that several NFL writers feel will put in a claim. As Silva reports, “What Orton’s trying to do is get word to KC to stay off…maybe sit out the rest of the season & not play & not report to Chiefs.”
Of course, this is secondhand information and there’s simply no way to know for sure. Teams circulate bad rumors to throw people off the trail and agents do the same. If Orton is hoping to fall to a particular team, then it could be true that they want to keep him away from the Chiefs in the hopes of uniting him in Chicago again or with Mike Shanahan in Washington. Or perhaps there’s a contender interested but he has to slip through.
Then again, there’s no reason to believe the Chiefs are interested in the first place besides the fact that they are still close to the division lead and lost their quarterback for the season. Todd Haley spoke positively of Tyler Palko and they don’t even know what Ricky Stanzi can do. It’s hard to say whether or not the Chiefs would pick up Orton.