That and the some $18 million in cap dollars - $14.6 of it on Cassel alone - that the Chiefs incurred in the deal.

But the secrecy thing got a little silly when the Chiefs trotted out their new quarterback, the first significant acquisition under new GM Pioli, for his introductory press conference.

Cassel was available only via speakerphone, even though he admitted he was in Kansas City at the time. Possibly even in the same building as the reporters gathered around the phone.

Cassel, who was 10-5 as a starter last year after replacing the injured Tom Brady in a Week 1 game with the Chiefs, allowed that he had been waiting since he first stepped on the Southern Cal campus for the chance to be a starter from Day 1.

Yep, Cassel's last starting experience was in a California high school. He's been a backup to Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC, and to Brady with the Patriots, ever since.

"You go through five years of college and then three years as a pro, eight years of just sitting there and waiting,'" he said in his phoner. "Everybody is always telling you, 'You have to be ready, you're only one ankle sprain away'.

"Well, I'm sitting there thinking, 'Gosh, nobody sprains their ankle anymore.' When you finally get that opportunity (with Brady's injury) you kind of say, 'Here we go.' You take a deep breath, step out and play football. I'm just excited that I got that opportunity."

Though his new coach, Todd Haley, did not immediately pronounce Cassel as his starter - holding open instead the prospect of a competition with young incumbent/replacement starter Tyler Thigpen - it's obvious that Cassel is the latest and perhaps most viable of a long string of young quarterbacks who've tried and failed, since the early days of Len Dawson's career, to be the team's quarterback of the future.