Chiefs Claim Orton

The claim period for waivers came and went, and it was reported that an undisclosed team before the Chicago Bears claimed quarterback Kyle Orton from the Denver Broncos. It turned out that that undisclosed team was the Kansas City Chiefs.

Now that Orton is a Chief, a few questions arise:

• Will he report to camp?
• John Clayton of ESPN reported that Orton might not report to a team that claimed him before the Bears. The rumor could have been spread by Orton himself, but it didn't work to scare off the Chiefs. I will be interested to see when and if Orton reports to Chiefs camp this week.
• Will he make a difference?
• Orton was claimed because the Chiefs front office believes that we still, conceivably have a chance to win the division. As long as the other teams in the division falter or stumble, the Chiefs can make up ground, being two games back of Oakland. But will Orton make a difference? I can't see him starting against the Steelers this Sunday, not just being claimed on Wednesday. When the Raiders traded for a retired Palmer, it took him about two weeks, including a bye, to get into the swing of things offensively. Palmer was sitting at home before then, but two weeks is still a short amount of time to learn an offense when you're QB. 
• Will he be a starter?
• The last question leads me to this. Was Orton brought in to be the starter, or was he brought in to be the backup? He cost $2.6 million (or $1.5 million according to Nick Wright of 610 Sports Radio), so he's reasonably priced. But like I said above, there's a learning curve for running an offense, and Orton might just be playing the role of veteran backup QB that Pioli should have brought in during the offseason. 
• What kind of compensation pick will the Chiefs get?
• Orton is a free agent at the end of the season, and it would surprise me very much if Orton is still around by then. As intriguing as a Cassel-Orton quarterback controversy would be (sarcasm) next year, I don't see it happening. Orton has done well enough over the last couple of seasons to warrant a compensation pick when he does leave, and according to Nick Wright, it would be probably either a 5th or 6th round pick. As Wright said: "Given Orton's price and considering you get compensatory pick when he leaves, I'm shocked more teams didn't claim him ... If you're say the Panthers, why don't you claim him, never activate him, let him walk in offseason, get your extra draft pick?"

At the end of the day, I just don't know how much this signing will actually affect the Chiefs. If you scroll down to the previous post, you read about how I didn't think the Chiefs would or should claim Orton. But now that they have, I still don't think it makes a difference.