Chiefs Release Darling, Savage; Sign QB
The Chiefs were busy on the transactions front Wednesday, just about 36 hours before the start of free agency in the NFL.
They released a pair of veteran players who finished the 2009 season on the injured-reserve list: WR Devard Darling and RB Dantrell Savage.
And they signed journeyman QB Tyler Palko (left).
At 6-1, 215 pounds, Palko has bounced around over the last three seasons since he left the University of Pittsburgh. He went undrafted and was signed as a free agent by New Orleans. Palko spent most of the ‘07 season on the Saints practice squad and was cut before the start of the ‘08 season. He was signed in December ‘08 by Arizona and went to training camp with the Cardinals in ‘09 but was released.
Last year, Palko signed with the California Redwoods of the UFL but was released before the start of the season. That took him to the Canadian Football League where he signed with the Montreal Alouettes. But he was allowed out of his contract last December when he was signed by Pittsburgh as a backup quarterback when both Ben Roethlisberger and Charlie Batch were injured. Palko was on the game-day roster for one game, but did not play.
Palko played his high school ball at West Allegheny High School in Imperial, PA, which is a few miles due south of the Pittsburgh International Airport. His college career at Pitt saw him in the starting lineup for three seasons (2004-06). In the spring of ‘05, Palko was selected the starter over another QB on the Panthers roster, Joe Flacco. When Flacco was not selected as the starter, he finished out the year and then transferred to Delaware.
Darling spent the ‘09 season on the IR-list due to a knee injury (ACL) suffered at the end of pre-season. He joined the franchise as an unrestricted free agent from Baltimore n 2008. That season he played all 16 games, finishing with 17 catches for 247 yards and a TD. He also had 11 tackles in the kicking game.
Savage made the team as a college free agent in 2008 after a college career at Oklahoma State and Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C. At 5-8, 182 pounds, Savage was under-sized physically, but that did not include his heart. An ankle problem sent him to the IR-list last season. He finished his time in Kansas City with 25 carries for 98 yards, nine catches for 51 yards, 14 punt returns for 53 yards and 34 kickoff returns for 793 yards.
What a pick up.
Released by a team in the UFL!?!?!?!?!!!!!
Hope this isn’t a sign of things to come.
I’d almost rather they sign someone like Palko than spend a pick on a QB. Darling is no big surprise but I’m so disappointed they cut Savage. He may not be the most gifted player, but he leaves it all on the field every chance he gets.
4 QB’s.. that means one of our existing QB’s is getting traded or cut..
Or i suppose they could just stick him on the practice squad..
Does this mean that they expect Croyle to leave via FA? Or do they just like the idea of at least 4 QBs for training camp?
Or maybe we will trade Croyle…he flashed some talent when he wasn’t getting the stuffing torn out of him. We signed guiterez. I know Cassel is staying. MAybe having 4 is so when our 3(Croyle) gets his arms and legs torn off we still have a reserve……no I think Croyle is tougher than we think. Anyone besides thiggy would have been injured behind sackintosh…
Hey maybe we trade Cassel to Denver …….what you say. Well why not……. top paid QB with bottom dwelling stats . Makes as much since to me as trading Croyle. God we have been down this road so many times since I have been a fan 1965 .Could have had Marino/Gannon/ Ryan/Sanchez to name a few.I have a fresh idea lets give a 1yr wonder a big fat contract remenber QB Michaels if you are old enough.
I would imagine that Palko is training camp “fodder”…and nothing more. I don’t expect our QB situation to change…unless somebody make a big offer for Brodie.
And kudos to the Chiefs for releasing Savage and Darling now…with plenty of time for them to catch on somewhere else. Will either of them ever do anything more in the NFL? Who knows? But, just for the record….I think it shows some class on our organization’s part to let them go now.
Palko is training camp fodder
He will be cut by the first preseason game. I think Pioli is hoping to have lightning strike twice with these unknown players especially at quarterback because of Tom Brady’s success . What Brady was a seventh round pick that no one thought that would develop very quickly. I am not impressed with this pick up. I agree that maybe Croyle might be trading bait for this week or during the draft. Come on Pioli you have to do better than that.REMEMBER YOU WERE 4-12 !!!! Come on man!!!!
You, guys, are right but look at Big Vess’s last two sentences. We are begging, pleading for some spark to see we are going to be successful. I am not going to rehash Pioli’s shortcomings again but come on, grab some name guy who we can sit and enjoy the glow of the moment. Palko was cut by the UFL and released in Canada, who cares anything about him.
PIOLI, GIVE US SOME D****ED HOPE.
el cid,
Training camp fodder. They aren’t expecting this guy to do anything more than throw passes to the recievers in camp…to keep our guys arms a little fresher. We had four QB’s going into camp last year, too.
Free Agency doesn’t even start until midnight tonight. Patience. There aren’t any “name guys” just sitting out there unemployed right now.
Damn, Palko… Didn’t he sing “rock me amadeus”?? lOl… Well I guess anything is better then having a guy on the squad who has experience in the NFL, Im sure Croyle will be gone this year since Cassel showed he wasn’t better then him and people this year will most definately be calling for Croyle to start if he’s still on the roster and Cassel is a dud in his second year here. I hope they pick up a LB in the first round and a RT in the second round..
To anyone who would rather have Sanchez than Cassel:
Cassel’s number were WAY better than Sanchez’s and Sanchez had THREE PRO BOWL O linemen protecting him. Sanchez also only started one year in college. Let’s get real people. We have our starting QB and Croyle is now officially on the trade block.
Maybe signing Palko is just a “smokescreen” to throw other teams off…and we’re planning on drafting a QB.
Not so fast Colby,
I think the Chiefs have full intentions on keeping Croyle. If cassel goes down (hope not) who do you want to replace him?… I’m still waiting…
Should the Chiefs get a fantastic offer for Croyle’s services, he might get traded. If he does get traded, we will have to find another back up to replace him. Therefore we have another hole to fill. There are no guarantees that Cassel will get better this year. I’m hoping he does.
We need Croyle, at least for another year.
Go Chiefs.
Hard to say, Jimbo. Was that whole deal of Haley calling Brodie a “core” player a ploy to talk up his value? Or did he really mean it?
I do agree with you that it will take a pretty good offer for us to trade him. I don’t think they’ll give him away just to get rid of him. That would just create another “hole” on the team…unless they think Gutierrez can step it up. Or maybe they’re going to draft a QB? Pretty tough to say. Our guys are hard to read these days…and it’s impossible to know what they might be thinking.
The signing of Palko is unimportant and a side note at best. My fear is this is Pioli’s approach to how he does his job. This maybe a symptom of what could be the failure of this franchise to develope into a winner. Scrapping the bottom of the barrel for even “cannon fodder” is not really acceptable. There are 50 never was’s if Pioli needed a QB to throw in training camp but no he reached out to a real nobody. Folks, Palko does not matter, the thought process that grabbed him up is the problem.
We ought to have a better idea of what they think Of Croyle with how he is tendered. Will he be tendered as a 2nd round or 1st round, or original draft position? He also could not be tendered at all, but I think he will be. We should find about in a few hours.
The Palko signing doesn’t make any sense. If they were signing him for training camp fodder, why now? They could pick up an undrafted free agent for that or any number of guys off the street. A washed up old timer would make more sense.
This is my take. I think they like Gutierrez as their second guy. I won’t guess on Brodie’s trade value but I have a feeling that he has either asked to be traded or let the Chiefs know that he wants to test the free agency market. Maybe even demanded it. Why would he want to stay in KC anyway?
True Red & Gold says:
“Why would he want to stay in KC anyway?”
Because Brodie has about the same chance of starting somewhere else as he does here…very little.
Yea but brodie could always sit the bench for a winning team, it would probably make him happier.