ESPN - Matt Cassel, a career backup in college and in the pros, parlayed a great 2008 season into a lucrative franchise tag. Now, he's locked himself into a deal to be the long-term quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Cassel and the Chiefs worked out a six-year deal that will pay him in excess of $10 million a season, according to a source. The contract will keep Cassel with the Chiefs until 2014.

The deal is for $63 million, with $28 million guaranteed, according to a source. He's going to make $40.5 million in the first three years of his contract.

A lot can happen in a year, and Matt Cassel has had quite an interesting 365-plus days. Starting last season firmly entrenched behind Brady on the depth chart, taking over the most storied franchise of the past decade in Week 1, leading that squad to an 11-5 regular season mark, getting a chance at a starting gig after being shipped out of town - in an albeit questionable deal - along with Mike Vrabel to play for old pal and Jon Favreau look-alike Scott Pioli... Quite a whirl-wind of events for the former career backup.

I guarantee right now that Cassel won't prove to be worth the top value of the contract, but he shouldn't have much trouble improving on the combined play of Brodie Croyle and Tyler Thigpen. At just 27, he should still have plenty of room to grow, and things can't get much worse than last year's 2-14 record and the 15-33 mark they've complied over the past three years. With Dwayne Bowe as his top receiver, Cassel will easily top last season's 195.6 passing yards (20th in the NFL) and 18.2 points (26th) per game. That is if running back Larry Johnson can keep himself out of jail.

That alone should be worth about $10 mil per year.