Chiefs’ Thigpen, Croyle in battle

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel wipes his face on Monday at training camp in River Falls, Wis. Cassel is the man for the Chiefs, but Brodie Croyle and Tyler Thigpen are battling for the spot to back him up.

? It must be tempting for Tyler Thigpen to sit around and think about what might have been.

Handed the chance of a lifetime last year when Kansas City’s top two quarterbacks went down for the season with injury, Thigpen got to start 10 games. It was an unexpected opportunity for a third-teamer who’d been drafted in the late rounds out of tiny Coastal Carolina.

The first problem was the team itself. It was bad. A defense that set an NFL record by getting only 10 sacks, an anemic running game and assorted other problems led to a 2-14 record. Out went the coach. Out went the general manager.

And now Thigpen again finds himself near the bottom of the depth chart, battling Brodie Croyle for the right to be backup for Matt Cassel.

“For myself, I think each and every day I’m trying to go out there and make myself better as a quarterback,” Thigpen said. “If I make myself better, that’s going to make this team better and that’s the attitude I have each and every day going into practice.”

Considering all the problems he and the Chiefs faced during the worst season in team history, Thigpen’s numbers were not terrible. He hit 232 of 426 passes for 2,649 yards, with 18 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. But the Chiefs cleaned out their front office and new general manager Scott Pioli traded for Cassel, who had stepped in for an injured Tom Brady and led the Patriots to 11 wins last year. Now armed with a huge new six-year contract, Cassel is clearly the quarterback of the future.

But that’s what they were saying last year about Croyle, until he was cut down by injury.

And Thigpen has shown himself capable of making plays. At 6-foot-1, 225 pounds, he’s a powerful runner and the first quarterback in franchise history to score a touchdown three ways: as a passer, rusher and receiver.

When the first depth chart came out this year, Croyle was listed at second, Thigpen at third. But Thigpen is not daunted.

“Honestly, if I were to be given a chance to get back on the field and do better than I did last year and, you know, eliminate mistakes I made last year, looking at them now I could have done something a little different,” he said.

If he gets another chance, he promises to be ready.

“I do have goals in my mind that if I was to get back in that starting role, I could achieve,” he said. “I feel like I gave our team a chance to win last year. Don’t count me out yet.”