2009 NFL Position Battles to Watch: Quarterbacks

Every fantasy owner knows the difficulty that can come with trying to decide between one player or another. Luckily, the decisions we make are simply critiqued by our friends and not the whole nation.

Unfortunately, for NFL head coaches, their decisions become the lead story on SportsCenter. With that in mind, Bruno Boys Whooley takes a look at some of the position battles that NFL coaches will be monitoring this preseason, starting with the quarterbacks. For fantasy purposes, these are battles you should be keeping an eye on, also.

CLEVELAND BROWNS - Brady Quinn vs. Derek Anderson

It's a new year, but it's the same story where the Cleveland Browns are heading into the preseason not knowing who will be running their offense, Derek Anderson or Brady Quinn. However, while the participants may be the same, the circumstances surrounding this year's battle are quite different than those that surrounded it just last year.

Heading into 2008, the Browns seemed to have a problem every NFL franchise would love to have. Their roster housed what many thought to be two Pro Bowl-caliber quarterbacks in Anderson, who had just come off a season in which he threw for 3,787 yards, 29 TDs, and 19 INTs, and Quinn, the team's apparent QB of the future.

Now, though, the team is just hoping one of them can step it up enough to simply be a capable starter as neither impressed with their play during the 2008 season. In fact, both finished the year with QB ratings under 70, with Quinn coming in at 66.6 and Anderson right on his tail with a 66.5 rating.

With new head coach, Eric Mangini, expected to employ a safer, less risk-orientated offense, Quinn seems to be favored to win the job, as Anderson's biggest strength is his strong arm and ability to throw the deep ball.

Still, this competition is just as close as the two's QB ratings were last season, so be sure to stay tuned to see who comes out on top. In the end though, neither will be anything more than a QB2 for fantasy purposes.

DETROIT LIONS - Daunte Culpepper vs. Matthew Stafford

For the good of the Lions and Matthew Stafford, it would behoove the team to start the season with Culpepper under center. Don't get me wrong, Stafford, who outperformed Culpepper this spring, might be the more talented of the two at this stage of their careers, but going with Culpepper would allow Stafford to learn the intricacies of the NFL game from the sidelines and not from on his back.

The NFL, though, is a business, and with the Lions going 0-16 last year, Detroit needs to do anything it can to generate excitement among its fans for the upcoming year. Handing the starting job to Culpepper, who completed just 52.2% of his passes for 786 yards, four TDs, and six INTs in his five games played for the Lions last season, isn't exactly going to do the trick.

That fact, coupled with the $41.7 million the rookie is guaranteed, makes it very likely that it will be Stafford starting for the Lions in week one. If that's the case, don't expect Stafford to mimic the success that both Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco had in their first years as the Lions' supporting cast isn't up to par with that of last year's Falcons or Ravens.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS - Matt Cassel vs. Tyler Thigpen

While the Chiefs are trying to paint this as an "open competition," many around the league, and even Thigpen, himself, believe otherwise, and for good reason.

In trading a second round pick for Cassel, the Chiefs will be willing to give him every chance they can to ensure he lands the starting gig. Case and point, it was Cassel, not Thigpen, who was put with the team's starting offense during the Chiefs' minicamps. Thus, it seems safe to pencil in Cassel as the Chiefs' 2009 starter.

However, fantasy owners need to beware. Just because it appears Cassel will, once again, be a starting quarterback in the NFL, doesn't mean he's guaranteed to have the same success he had last season.

By no means are the Chiefs anywhere close to being the New England Patriots, especially when comparing the two teams' wide receiver corps. In fact, Dwayne Bowe, who will now be Cassel's main weapon, would more than likely find himself third on the Patriots' depth chart behind both Randy Moss and Wes Welker.

Look for 2009 to illuminate whether Cassel is the real deal or simply thrived because of a well-r