Damon Huard went for the sure thing

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — His chance at the jackpot was finally at hand after toiling in the NFL for 10 years, most under minimum-salary contracts.

Former Washington Huskies quarterback Damon Huard from Puyallup was a star for the Chiefs last season, putting them in position to make the playoffs, which they eventually did with Trent Green as their quarterback. Huard wound up as the NFL's second-rated passer behind only Peyton Manning and ahead of, among others, Drew Brees, Carson Palmer and Tom Brady.

Huard had the good fortune to do so while in the last year of his contract. Hanging with such good company on the stat sheet usually gets a quarterback paid handsomely.

When it came time for Huard to decide what to do about his future, he took a hard look in the mirror and took the sure thing: a good but not great contract offer from the Chiefs just days before he would have become a free agent.

"I'm 34 years old with 14 career starts," Huard said. "That was basically my résumé going into the offseason. I don't think the Super Bowl Chicago Bears were going to hand me the starting quarterback job. That was not going to happen. All I could realistically ask for was the chance to start."

The deal pays Huard $3.75 million this year in bonus and salary. That's not starter money, but neither is it backup money. He made about $750,000 last year.

He was thrust into a competition for the starting job with Brodie Croyle, a talented but undeveloped player who is a favorite of coach Herm Edwards.

Huard, of Puyallup, thought initially about jumping as a free agent last winter. He was benched despite playing well when Green returned from injury, and Huard knew what Edwards thought of Croyle.

Huard and his agent, Mike Sullivan, studied the market. Cleveland, which had Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson, might have nibbled. Oakland and Tampa Bay, also just getting by at quarterback, might have called.

But they knew the Raiders and Browns might draft a quarterback, which would have made Huard little more than a caretaker until the rookie was ready. Sure enough, Oakland grabbed JaMarcus Russell and Cleveland selected Brady Quinn.

"The starting-quarterback market is a very limited market every year," Sullivan said. "We did evaluate those situations. The reality was that there was going to be no place that offered Damon a better opportunity than the one he has in Kansas City.

"The goal is to play. So you say, 'Where do I have the best chance to compete successfully?' "

If the decision had been purely financial, could Huard have done better?

"The money probably would have been comparable in other places," Sullivan said. "But the opportunity to be a starter would not have been as strong."

The Chiefs, for their part, had to have a veteran alternative to Croyle. Huard made more financial sense because he could command far less money than Green, who would have made $7.5 million this year.

"We were going to take Damon at a price structured within the team's budget," Edwards said. "He has the ability to be the starter and if he's not the starter, then he's the backup. We felt comfortable with that."

Huard won't second-guess himself, and last week he was tabbed the Chiefs' starter.

"Looking across the league right now, how many other quarterback competitions are out there?" Huard said during training camp. "Maybe a couple. Who's to say those teams would have wanted me? I'm happy right where I am. This is a great organization, a great team and it's not always easy going out there as a veteran and learning some new offense. There's a lot to say about comfort. I certainly have that here in Kansas City. You know your teammates. They know you. They believe in you. This made the most sense, and I certainly wanted to be back here.

"I won't have trouble if I knew I did my very best and I did everything I could as far as preparation and hard work, and I laid it all on the line and it didn't work out."

Not to suggest that if Huard had moved on he would have become an NFL player of the year, as former quarterback Rich Gannon did when he left Kansas City in the late 1990s, but Gannon's saga could be instructive.

"He stayed with an organization where he knows the coaches and knows the players and knows the system and where he's won some games," Gannon said. "That makes a lot of sense to me. He stayed where he probably has the best chance to play."