Matt Cassel, QB, Kansas City Chiefs (1 Viewer)

[Jason Wood]

2010 Player Spotlight Series

One of Footballguys best assets is our message board community. The Shark Pool is, in our view, the best place on the internet to discuss, debate and analyze all things fantasy football. In what's become an annual tradition, the Player Spotlight series is a key part of the preseason efforts. As many of you know, we consider the Player Spotlight threads the permanent record for analyzing the fantasy prospects of the player in question. This year, we plan to publish more than 140 offensive spotlights covering the vast majority of expected skill position starters.

Each week we will post a list of players to be discussed. Those threads will remain open for the entire preseason, and should be a central point to discussion expectations for the player in question. Importantly, analysis done in the first week of posting will be part of the permanent record in two ways. 1) At the end of the week, we will tally the projections into a consensus. 2) We will select a number of pull quotes from forum contributors who make a compelling statement or observation. Both the projections and pull quotes will be part of a published article on the main website.

Thread Topic: Matt Cassel, QB, Kansas City Chiefs

Player Page Link: Matt Cassel Player Page

Each article will include:

[*]Detailed viewpoint from a Footballguys staff member

[*]Highlighted member commentary from the message board threads

[*]FBG Projections

[*]Consensus Member Projections

The Rules

In order for this thread to provide maximum value, we ask that you follow a few simple guidelines:

[*]Focus commentary on the player (or players) in question, and your expectations for said player (or players)

[*]Back up your expectations in whatever manner you deem appropriate; avoid posts that simply say "I hate him" or "He's the best"

[*]Avoid redundancies or ... this should be about incremental analysis or debate

While not a requirement, we strongly encourage you to provide your own projections for the player (players):

Projections should include:

[*]For QBs: Attempts, Completions, Passing Yards, Passing TDs, Ints, Rush Attempts, Rush Yards, Rush TDs

[*]For RBs: Rushes, Rushing Yards, Rush TDs, Receptions, Receiving Yards, Receiving TDs

[*]For WRs & TEs: Receptions, Receiving Yards, Receiving TDs

Now let's get on with the conversation! We look forward to your contributions and let me offer a personal thanks in anticipation of the great debate and analysis.

 

[5Rings]

I like Cassell this year as my favorite "breakout QB" after Kevin Kolb.

Whats changed:

+ Full offseason with Charlie Weiss

+ Improved running game (Charles / Thomas)

+ Improved targets (Moeaki has to be better than Pope; full season of Chambers and Bowe, McCluster in slot)

+ Maybe an improved OL (perhaps Albert and Co. improve? not sure on this point, but they are young)

The defense remains terrible, and IMO the Chiefs are still a 6 win team. I like teams that play lots of garbage time.

I see an uptick in completion percentage, yards, but not necessarily TDs.

340-540, 62.9, 3700, 19td, 11int

 

[rzrback77]

I think that I have a built in bias against Matt Cassel, the former seventh round pick. Cassel had three years in New England where he threw 39 passes and then Brady got hurt in 08. Cassel jumped right in and played well. He completed 63.4% of his 516 attempts and averaged 7.2 ypa with 21 TDs, all respectable numbers. Then the franchise tag and subsequent trade to KC.

In Kansas City, his completion percentage dropped dpwn to 55.1%. His yards per attemp fell down 1.3 yards all the way to 5.9. His interceptions increased and equaled his TDs at 16. Many are expecting much better things for the Chiefs in 2010, but I am hesitant to get on that bandwagon. I think that the addition of Thomas Jones to the backfield that already had Jamaal Charles will increase the number of rushing attempts for the Chiefs. I think that Cassel should see slight increases in completion percentage and ypa, but not enough to put him in the regular fantasy starter category.

Cassel has a current ADP of QB 22 and 149 overall and I like a couple other guys at that spot more than him, so I doubt that he gets drafted by me.

Matt Cassel 16 gms 296 comp 530 attempts 55.8% 3233 yds 6.1 ypa 15 TDs 18 ints 45 runs 150 yds 3.33 ypc and 1 TD

 

[Chicago Hooligan]

Yeah I would be pretty surprised if he hits 60% of his passes. On my Do Not Draft list.

 

[Mikey16x]

The Checkdown Monsta'. Jamaal Charles is golden in PPR.

 

[Multiple Scores]

I think this guys a hack that got rich from playing in the Patriots system for one year.

2900/16/16 same as last year.

 

[Dirty Hairy]

I'm not a big fan of Cassel but I think we need to see what he can do with a more stable situation. Think about 2009 for a minute:

1) Haley's first season as a head coach - obviously going to be a learning curve.

2) Haley fires the offensive coordinator in the preseason just before the season starts and acts as offensive coordinator himself while still acting as head coach.

3) Cassel was injured for the last month of training camp and missed all the preseason games and the first game and was questionable for game 2 and probable for game 3. Tough to get timing down with new receivers in a new offense when injuries prevent you from playing in the most crucial time.

4) Bowe was out for six games effectively and he's the only receiver that would start for any other NFL team (ignoring the Browns here). Two of Cassel's worst games came with Bowe out.

Contrast that with projected 2010: no first year head coach; no missing offensive coordinator; no injury during training camp; no missing reps with WRs; no missing Bowe for six games (hopefully).

My conclusion is that Cassel will finish much better than 2009 - #15 QB maybe.