Personnel Preference

First and foremost, I want to say that Chester McGlockton was taken at too young of an age. He passed away last night at age 42. I remember Chester from when I was younger, and loved playing as him on the old Quarterback Club and Madden games on the Nintendo 64. He spent three seasons with the Chiefs, recording 107 tackles, 7 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries and 1 interception. RIP Chester McGlockton.

Now, to the serious stuff. Who is going to start for the Chiefs at the quarterback position on Sunday? In the Chiefs press conference today, Todd Haley said "Tyler's the starter. We're getting Kyle ready to play. He might have to play." Haley also told the Chicago media in a conference call that Palko will receive about 60% of the snaps while Orton will receive the remaining 40%.

Palko seems to think that he'll be the starter on Sunday against the Chicago Bears because that is what Haley is saying. But this wouldn't be the first time that Haley has engaged in gamesmanship regarding personnel decisions (just look at his comments regarding Orton before the waiver deadline last week). But a 60-40 split of snaps in practice is not very indicative of Palko being the starter, nor is it indicative of Orton taking the reigns for Sunday's game. Orton will have a little over a week of practice when the Chiefs face the Bears on Sunday, and I can guarantee you he won't be inactive for that game like he was against the Steelers.

If it was up to me, I'd start Palko. That is simply because I believe Orton could lead us to victory and every win pushes us farther away from the second best quarterback possibly coming out in the draft: Matt Barkley. But if I was Todd Haley and my job might be on the line, I'd go with Orton, since he gives the Chiefs the best chance to win (based of Palko's previous performances).

OT Jared Gaither was released yesterday on waivers. The Chiefs picked him up this offseason, and many Chiefs fans, including myself, were optimistic that he could come in and compete for one of the starting tackle positions. We were even more hopeful that he would replace RT Barry Richardson. This never happened however, and Gaither was released. He had been battling a back injury since his days in Baltimore and even failed a physical for the Raiders which resulted in them choosing not to sign him. Although he swore his entire time in KC that he was not hurt, he never proved so on the field, and never could beat out Richardson for the starting job.

With Gaither's release, OT David Mims was promoted to the active roster from the practice squad. With WR Jeremy Horne already having been promoted last week after the Matt Cassel to Injured Reserve move, this left two open slots on the practice squad. So, WR Zeke Markshausen and OL Rob Bruggeman were signed to the practice squad today. Zeke spent the 2011 lockout-shortened season in Chiefs camp.