"The last true franchise quarterback to wear a Kansas City Chiefs jersey is already here, sitting where important men sit: in a nearly enclosed, oversized booth, watching waitresses with pleasant smiles hum by and men in business suits strain to catch his words.
"They've been unable to draft or develop a quarterback," Len Dawson says. "They've tried. They've just been unable."
This is how far back you have to look to catch a glimpse of what Matt Cassel might become: All the way to the 1960s and Lenny The Cool, he of the Super Bowl ring, the bronzed-tan glow of the good life, the loving looks of folks who remember winning ways and the special place you get to inhabit if you earn the mantle of franchise quarterback.
A franchise quarterback also happens to be the one ingredient any general manager hoping to play alchemist needs if he's to turn a 2-14 embarrassment into a winning organization.
"How important are franchise quarterbacks? You aren't successful without one!" Dick Vermeil says. "You get by, but you don't get better. You don't win big."
Former Chiefs center Tim Grunhard agrees: "That's what young people are looking for. They want a hero, a hero they can believe in, a guy they can go in the backyard and when they play football say, 'I'm Matt Cassel.' We've been told time and time again that these guys were going to come in, be the guy, be the face, be the resurrection of the Kansas City Chiefs. And it's never worked. Never."
Dawson was the last player to have come in, been the man, resurrected the franchise and brought home the trophy. Joe Montana was very good at the end of his career, and Trent Green put in five very fine - at times fantastic - full seasons. But Montana could only take the Chiefs to the AFC championship game, and Green led his team to only two winning seasons.
But those names don't matter anymore. One does: Matt Cassel, he of one good season in New England, a college career without a single start and a contract reportedly worth $63 million, designating him the guy who must lead this town's football team until at least 2014.
"He hit the mother lode, huh?" Dawson says with a raised eyebrow and quick smirk.
The old legend nods his head and lets his blue eyes go back in time to when he - like Cassel - hovered between obscurity and greatness. The smirk fades. Something closer to a man knowing how much luck plays a part in life emerges in its place.
"You've got to earn some respect," he says. "You've got to have some talent around you. You have to have some ability. You've got to have the chance to play."
Dawson wants to say how his story offers hope that Matt Cassel can be the real deal, but first we must acknowledge that the Chiefs' history since Dawson requires - to say the least - some cautious optimism.
Let's start there."
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