Damon Huard, quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs, is one of the most underappreciated players in the NFL. Huard may not have the best physical abilities, but he knows how to play the game.
There have been many quarterbacks that had all the physical tools but didn’t make it in the NFL—Ryan Leaf, David Carr, and Tim Couch, just to name a few. The problem with the NFL is that coaches and general managers focus too much on physical abilities.
Jerry Rice only ran a 4.71 40-yard dash at the NFL combine. Could you tell how good Jerry Rice was by his 40 time?
Besides Huard being generally underappreciated, what really upsets me is the fact that Huard lost his backup job this preseason to second-year player Tyler Thigpen because he was getting outplayed in practice.
I play Division One soccer, and I’ve noticed that there are people who play well in practice, but when they get in to games, they don’t. There are also those other people who don't play that well in practice, but when you put them in a game situation, they play very well.
Huard is one of those people that you can’t tell how good they are until the play in an actual game.
How could the Chiefs have demoted Huard, a proven veteran, for an inexperienced player because of the way they were both playing in practice? Now, I didn’t write this article to say Huard should be the backup. I think Huard should be the starter.
Huard isn’t going to blow you away with a five-touchdown performance, but the man doesn’t make many mistakes and knows how to get the job done and win. If you look at Huard’s stats from 2006, when he came in for the injured Trent Green, he had a quarterback rating of 98.0 (second in the NFL) with 11 touchdowns and one interception in 10 games.
After Green was knocked out with a concussion in the Chiefs' first game, the team went 5-3 in Huard’s eight starts. Huard and the Chiefs were starting to roll. However, when Green came back from his concussion, Huard went back to the bench. Green started eight games that season, with seven of them coming after Huard went back to the bench.
Green went 4-4 in those eight games and had a quarterback rating of 74.1 with seven touchdowns and nine interceptions. It was obvious who the better QB was to the public, but Herman Edwards apparently thought he knew better. The Chief’s magically made the playoffs at 9-7 and Trent Green and the Chiefs played the Colts in the first round.
Trent Green went 14-24 with 107 yard, one touchdown and two interceptions in the game, and the Chiefs lost 8-23. Green played poorly and everybody, including the commentators, thought Herman Edwards should have put Huard in at halftime.
However, he stubbornly didn’t, and the Colts won and went on to win the Super Bowl.
The Chiefs re-signed Huard for the 2007 season, but still the Chiefs didn’t guarantee him the starting job. He had to compete with Brodie Croyle, a second-year player, for the job in preseason. The Chiefs made it obvious that Croyle was their quarterback of the future.
39 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
Jeff Pearson 10 months ago
I agree, Herm is in love with Croyle and thinks he's the next montana. Huard should start but has never gotten any respect from Herm.
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Adam Philpot 10 months ago
Damon Huard is so much better than croyle, it's not even a competition. With Croyle, the chiefs will be lucky to win 5 games. I'm so sick of Herman Edwards and his horrible decisions.
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Jim Lewis 10 months ago
Damon Huard is the most underated player in the NFl
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Chad Hogan 10 months ago
Umm how about no.... If a Chiefs player is under rated its Tamba Hali, not 3rd string 35 year old QB that has only started 24 games in his 12 season career only because the starting QB for the team he's played for was hurt.
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Jim Lewis 10 months ago
Adam you are definitely right, I predict Herm gets fired at the end of the season.
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Jordan Basenback 10 months ago
yeah, Croyle has about five starts before he is officially a bust, he is not confident in the pocket, maybe it's the line, but still makes too many mistakes. career backup. Cullen Harper is your future.
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Sean Crowe 10 months ago
Youth movement...play the young guy unless you seriously think your a QB away from a championship....and they're not.
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Bob Cunningham 10 months ago
agreed. just what i was thinking.
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
I see what you're saying. You make a good point, but the youth movement doesn't have to apply to every position. The Chiefs have a lot of young players starting already. Look at the dolphins. They are starting Chad Pennington over their young guys. I don't think the Dolphins are going anywhere. But I think Bill Parcells knows what he's doing. In the NFL these days, predicting a team's success is extremely hard. How many people expected the packers to make the NFC championsip game last year after their horrible year the year before? How many people expected the Bears to have such a bad season, a year after making the super bowl. I don't think that you can just count out the chiefs yet. In the NFL these says any horrid team the year before can have a great year and any great team the year before can have a bad year. The chiefs have a very good and and improving defense. They have a great young reciever in Dwayne Bowe, maybe the best tight end in football in Tony Gonzales and a great running back in Larry Johnson. The key to the chiefs season is their offensive line. Their offensive line should be improved this year. But it obviously it still needs a lot of work though. I think that a Huard led team could make the playoffs, if the line can be somewhat capable.
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Chad Hogan 10 months ago
The youth movement dose apply to QB are you kidding me. I think a Croyle led team could make the playoffs and a Huard led team will end up making our O-line the worst in the league again because he wont let go of the ball and get sacked for major yards yet again.
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Mark Blue 10 months ago
Huard is lucky to be on the team and in the NFL. He's a career 3rd stringer, and that's what he is here. He's in a great spot, getting paid nice, and can share with the QB's that actually have talent in Croyle and Thigpen what they need to do, as he's played 3rd string behind greats like Brady and Marino.
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
Good reason Mark. Wait actually you didn't use one statistic or have any reason. All you sad was Huard is a career third stringer. Why don't you explain why he is. If Croyle is so talented why did he win zero games last year?
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Mark Blue 10 months ago
Huard is a career 3rd stringer who has floated around because that's what his ability is. He has a mediocre arm, looks to go down before he's hit way to early. Croyle is a kid who has yet to start a game with LJ in the backfield. It's far too early to say what he will or won't be, but he has starting QB ability. Big time arm, guts, some mobility. We'll find out if he can play up to his ability, but 6 games is far too early to make that determination.
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
That's better, but I still really didn't see a single stat. Croyle is always injury prone and he actually lost 8 games last year, but was knocked out early in 2 of them. He has been inury prone his entire career since college. Larry Johnson wasn't very good this year and his stats were almost identical to Kolby Smith. So don't give me that lame LJ never suited up in his backfield excuse.
Rich Gannon wasn't suppose to have good enough physical tools and never really got a chance till he was 30. He ended being a two time MVP. I don't think its that simple to say that someone isn't good enough because they never really got a chance. He had a great season in 2006 when he has the second best quarterback rating in the league. Last year, the Chiefs had the worst offensive line in the NFL and he still managed to get them to 4-3 at one point.
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Mark Blue 10 months ago
When LJ was in the backfield, the other teams played 8, sometimes 9 in the box, and keyed on LJ. That openned up the pass. Brodie never got the benefit of that. When Kolby or Battle, or the done Priest was in the backfield, with Croyle, teams didn't even worry about the run. Huard played decently in 2006 when Trent went down, but check his fumble numbers. They were horrid, even if his INTS were good. They're both turnovers. Gannon had some talent, a great scrambler and improvisor. Huard doesn't do anything at an NFL starter level. No mobility, poor arm, not partuicularly accurate. He's a smart guy though, and that's why he's stuck around and is a good QB mentor. The Chiefs were 4-3 with LJ, 0-9 without him, so much for LJ not meaning much. Sometimes you have to look past raw stats, and see WHY LJ had the stats he had. Kolby having almost identical stats while not garnerring the other teams attention tells you what you need to know.
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
I messed up that first part, he did lose 6 games but he was knocked out in one of them. he would have played 7 but missed another game he would of started because he was hurt. My bad.
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
What proof do you have that their were 8 and 9 in the box. And if you do what proof do you have that with croyle their weren't.
I watched the games and their weren't always 8 or 9 in the box. People just assume that, but no ever has anything to prove that. Maybe the reason Johnson had a bad season, besides Johnson's awful offensive line, was the fact that he had missed most of training camp and he just got paid. Look what happened to Shaun Alexander after he got paid.
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
I had to go so I didn't get to adrress this but any team that doesn't have a great offensive line is going to have their quarterback fumble a lot. He lossed 5 fumbles. Mcnabb lost 5 fumbles, jay cutler lost 4, jon kitna lost 6 last year, ELI manning super bowl mvp lost 7. there are so many more. unless your peyton manning or tom brady you;re probably going to fumble a lot. Give me a real stat, not some meaningless stat like that. If Gannon had so much talent, than why was he sitting the bench most of his career and the chiefs didn't want him back on their team? Well because just like you said people said gannon was jsut a backup. Huard is a very smart player, so what is wrong with that being one of you're best qualities. You're acting like thats a bad thing that it his best quality. You're making a big deal of the fact that the chiefs are winless without johnson, well there also winless without Huard, so it works both ways big guy!!!!!
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Jacob Roni 10 months ago
I agree with your great analysis! Great and interesting topic! The Cheifs has history of not appreciating older QB with experience. Remember the time they took out Rich Gannon in the playoffs when he did great and put Elvis Grbac instead because he was younger and they promised him a position! The KC Cheifs sucks with thier decisionmaking! They do not care about experience and performances in games. They only care that their QB is young enough to help them in the long run! BUt they never care about the short run! Soon the KC Chief will have no one in the stands like in early 90's and then they will wish for Huard ! I agree with you Ari that if they will have great offenwssive line then Huard will be very productive!
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Chad Hogan 10 months ago
Green got to old then got hurt and he should have never started in the Chiefs vs Colts game agreed with that. However Huard is terrible. His biggest problem is holding on to the ball way to long and getting sacked for huge yardage. For instance in the pre season game vs the Bears he was sacked for 15 yards because he wouldn't get rid of the ball. Huards stats last year was 11TD's, 13ints, a passer rating of 76.8, and sacked 38 times with 10 starts and 11 games played. Thats 3.8 times he was sacked per start and 3.4 every game he played. Croyle however had 6TD's, 6ints, 69.9 passer rating(only downfall but he was pretty much a rookie last year), with 6 starts and 9 games played, and sacked 17 times. Thats 2.8 times a start and 1.9(rounded) a game played. Don't you think a "proven vet" could beat out a rookie that has never started an NFL game? Not Huard. Croyle is a leader Huard is a bench rider but a spot down because Tyler is ahead of him.
P.S. Umm you were talking about 2006, this is 2008.
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Chad Hogan 10 months ago
P.S.S- Why start a 35 year old QB that will most likely retire next season when your in a youth movement and you have a talented 25 year old QB. Oh yea I forgot to add that Huard cant throw deep what so ever. Dumb article.
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
He holds on to the ball to long, apparently holding on to the ball for 2 seconds is to long. With that horrible offensive line, a quarterback has no time for anything. Who cares about his stats last year, when he had the worst offensive line in the league last year. Did you watch any of the games?
Kyle freakin turley started lasted year. The chiefs only have one player left starting from that line last year. They obviously were horrible.
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Chad Hogan 10 months ago
Yea right oh my god. Your crazy. 2 seconds? How about you watch a damn Chiefs game when he plays, o wait he wont because he sucks. Who cares about his stats? Um every Chiefs fan should. Guess what Croyle was behind that same O-line and did better then Hold on to long Huard. No duh the line was horrible. You really don't know much about football. Why would you use a 35 year old washed up back up QB when your team is rebuilding and is in a youth movement? Starting Huard would make no sence. Your looking at 2006, its 2008 buddy. Oh I almost forgot, Croyle never took a snap with LJ in the backfield last year and still did better then Huard.
How about you read my article's and it will help you understand.
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Chad Hogan 10 months ago
The Chiefs Dolphins game is why Huard isn't even the 2nd string QB.
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
Croyle had a 69.9 quarterback rating and Huard has a rating of 76.8, so obviously Croyle didn't have better stats. Why don't you look up the stats before you start talking!!!!! LJ was aweful last year, how can you say that he was the reason the chiefs won. He had less than 55 yards in 4 out of his 8 games he played in last year.
Do you think the Packers thought they were going to make the conference championships. This is the NFL. The best players should play, unless it's obvious the team has no chance of winning like the raiders last year. But the Chief's defense was good last year and actually even better than the stats showed considering the poor offense. It's only going to get better. The Offense has weapons, however, the offensive line just needs to give some openings for Johnson to use his talent and some time for the quarterback to make a play. Take a look at his game last year against the Lions when he was finally given some time to throw. Even though Kolby Smith only had 60 yards rushing, Huard still managed to have an awesome game.
http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter?game_id=29424&displayPage=tab_gamecenter&season=2007&seasonType=REG&week=16
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
People like you are the reason Huard isn't starting on an NFL team. I'm not going to defend Huard because I already have and your saying the same thing other people have said. All I have to say that from watching Huard, I see a guy who just knows how to get the job done, he almost took that shitty chiefs team to a 5-3 record last year. I feel bad that he was put in such a horrible situation last year. If you took a undrafted running back and put him on the worst run blocking team in the league, people are going to say well I"m not surprised he sucks he's was undrafted. The chances are no running back would do good with the worst run blocking team in the league. But what if that undrafted player was Priest Holmes. What if all he needed was a decent line to succeed. When people watched the games last year, they did the same thing with Huard. They assumed he couldn't get the job done because he's a career backup quarterback. They didn't notice the amazing plays he would get off when he had no time. They watched and assumed a career backup is the reason they were losing. If you actually watched the games, it was amazing how Huard managed to do some of the things he did in that horrible situation.
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Chad Hogan 10 months ago
He got the job done in 2006! This is 2008! He didn't get the job done last year he did worse then Croyle and had Larry in the backfeild to take pressure of him and to run the ball. How do us fans do that to a bad old QB? They can't if he can't handle pressure then he shouldn't even be 2nd string. Your starting to sound like Chris Crooker but Huard instead of Brittney Spears. Sell that #11 jersey and buy a #12. Get over Huard I bet he retires next year anyway.
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
Chiefs dolphins game what? he already wasn't the backup. he threw 7 passes in that game. who cares about that dumb preseason game.
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Chad Hogan 10 months ago
Your kidding me right? Wow you have one serious man crush on a old 3rd string QB.
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Chiefs_5627 10 months ago
He's 3rd string because he's a peaked vet, he's a solid game manager and nothing more. Brodie has something that Huard does not...a future. I for one was tired of all the dink n dunk passes, the times he folded like a house of cards in the face of pressure and his slow as molasses pocket presence, this coming from a veteran. Brodie will take his lumps, make mistakes and flat out stink at times but thats to be expected by any young QB, why get the same type of results from a guy (Huard) whom shouldnt make the type of mistakes he makes?! Huard had a good '06 year when the vets rallied around him and he was able to manage us to some wins but even then his flaws were very apparent, that's why LJ got the ball so much..........you couldnt expect Huard to win games for you. At times he looks very solid, at times he makes mistakes you expect out of rookies.
As for the laughable conspiracy theory provided about how the O "opened up" after Brodie was inserted is just bananas, the same Solari game plan was still as conservative as ever, only difference was Brodie wasnt scared to take a shot or 2 down field where Huard would just stick to the 3 yard RB/TE passes. How many times did you see a 3rd and 7 (or so) and Huard would throw a 2 yard strike to LJ or another "here just take it!!!" option, i saw MANY, too many too ignore.
Most Huard fanboys ive chatted it up with all go back to the lame old "but Rich Gannon was...................", this guy Huard is NOT Gannon, maybe that's why this same old story keeps running it's course but bottom line: this isnt '06 and NO he isnt Gannon.
Peace.
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
Well he could have been better in 2006 because the offensive line was way better than it was in 2007. I don't think it's because the vets rallied around him!!
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
Gannon never played with an offensive line even close to as bad as the one Huard played with.
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
Hey Chad now your making this personal, I was about to write, you had a man crush on Croyle a couple days ago, but I didn't because that's just doesn't need to be said. This is argument and you should attack my ideas but saying that I have a man crush is just disrespectful. There is nothing to say anymore, we'll just have to see how good the chiefs are with Croyle.
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
by the way he did worse than croyle!!!?? ha ha, Croyle didn't even win a single game.
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Chad Hogan 10 months ago
Last year Croyle was basically a rookie. Huard knew what to do and was a vet. Croyle never played with LJ!!! When the D knows there is no one that can run the ball they will go into pass protection because the Chiefs still had Bowe and Tony, but Croyle still got them the ball. I don't care for Johnson but he is the work horse for the Chiefs and is at least 25% of the reason why the Chiefs win games. Behind that terrible line last year Croyle got sacked way way way less then Huard and in just about every stat category he beat Huard. Stats wise Croyle is better, add on the fact he played without LJ, a terrible line, it was his 1st real starts in the NFL, and he was battling Huard for the starting QB job, that is pretty good. I don't care for any of our QB's right now until they win us games. I'm more of a defensive guy anyway. Another thing. If the Chiefs want Croyle to be their QB in the future then why sit him out when he could go out there become a leader, get on the same page with his WR's, and learn from his mistakes faster then starting him next year? Like I said Huard is old and will most likely retire by the end of the year. Its not like bringing Huard in is going to get us to a super bowl because if he could I would want him in, but he wont get us to a super bowl. See what im tryin to say.
I have a man crush on Derrick Johnson and Brandon Flowers not Croyle. Its ok to have a man crush on a player but not if he's a washed up old 3rd string QB that was only a backup in his whole career.
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Chad Hogan 10 months ago
Ari you apperinly dont know much about football and its pointless to argue with you. Get over Huard he sucks. He gets sacked to many times, throws to many ints, and is to old.
Larry is the best player on this team. He held out last year and got injured that doesn't mean anything. The years before that he did amazing and was a top 2 RB.
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
You're aruging with the wrong person man. I love LJ, I just think he didn't come in as ready last year after he held out. But if he had a capable offensive line, he still would have tore shit up. He is the best player on the team, but you obviously haven't been reading my comments. It's not LJ's fault he had no holes to run through. And that's my point of the article. The offensive line was horrible and made everyone look bad. A player can be the most talented player in the world, but if he has no time to pass, or no holes to run through, he becomes useless. I acutally don't think you watched any of the games. Any time Huard had some time to throw he was very effective.
We'll have to disagree, but one thing I know is Talent. After watching Marques Colston in some college all star bowl, I said to my dad that he had first round talent. There are so many examples I have where I disagreed with experts and i ended up right. I probably won't end up right this time, because Huard's doesn't have many years left and he probably won't get a chance anymore. You can go on the rest of you're life thinking that huard sucks, but you'll be wrong.
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Chad Hogan 10 months ago
I don't think you understand what im saying. Your saying LJ didn't do good last year so its not as big of a deal that he didn't take a snap with Croyle but just having LJ in there, even though he's not having a good year means the D still has to worry about a star RB. Having LJ in for Huard gave him some pressure off him so he could throw but he still got sacked way more then Croyle. Defenses aren't going to look at a rookie RB that came off of the Chiefs practice squad or a old RB that hasn't played a game in 2 years like they are a star RB like Larry that was the top 2 RB's the fallowing year. See what im saying? They aren't starting Huard because they believe Croyle is the future and they want him to get a head start on leading HIS team. This is not Huard's team, he probably wont even be around next year. Now if Huard was younger and could throw the ball farther then maybe I would want Huard to start but he's not any of those. It's not like if the Chiefs started Huard they would go to a super bowl so why not start your future QB to get some games and wins under his belt? Even if Croyle dose do bad at least the Chiefs find out this season and they can make a decision on if they need to draft a new QB or find one in free agents. Huard did a good job in 06' but that doesn't matter in 08'. Thats why Huard is not the starting QB.
By the way yes I watched every Chiefs game if it was on TV or at Arrowhead I watched EVERY game(maybe you should watch the games with an open mind like me and you will learn more). Huard is a good backup to have but he's not a starting QB and he was never a starting QB. He was a backup his whole career if you didn't know.
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Ari Horing 10 months ago
Here's the problem with what you're saying. When there were 8 or 9 in the box, it occured because the chiefs offense was so predictable. Most of Huard's plays came on third and longs, when the team was expecting a pass, which is a good reason besides the bad protection for the high number of sacks. Yes there were times when the defenses weren't respecting the pass, but the main reason for that is Because the Chiefs weren't opening up there offense. If you noticed Huard and the Chiefs would always do better in the 4th quarter, when the chiefs were basically forced to have to pass the ball because they were down. If the Chiefs had given Huard some freedom, He could have had a much better season.
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