FanHouse GregCosell

The goal of every NFL team is to win the Super Bowl. Even if, through front-office hires and player acquisitions, that doesn't always appear to be the case. But of the last 15 teams to hoist the Lombardi trophy, only two featured quarterbacks not classified as "franchise caliber."

In 2000, the Ravens won it all with a kick-ass defense. Trent Dilfer's job was to give the ball to Jamal Lewis and get out of the way. Two years later: same story, different team. The Buccaneers' defense did the heavy lifting; Brad Johnson was in charge of game-managing Jon Gruden's version of the West Coast offense with short passes and handoffs.

Byron Leftwich was supposed to be one of free agency's most sought after players. Instead, the former Jaguars first-round pick is still without a team, and didn't make his first visit of the spring till he talked to the Redskins last week.

Yesterday, Leftwich met with the Bucs -- a club in desperate need of a quarterback -- but left Tampa without signing a contract. And today, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ed Bouchette writes that the Steelers, where Leftwich ably backed up Ben Roethlisberger during last year's Super Bowl run, are moving quickly to re-sign him.

Kyle Orton doesn't have Jay Cutler's franchise quarterback pedigree. He was taken in the fourth round of the 2005 draft, two years after the Bears had invested a first-round pick in Rex Grossman. And, from the beginning, his role was clear: a raw, strong-armed talent, who would spend the first few seasons on the bench learning the nuances of what it means to be an NFL quarterback.

That lasted up till the moment Grossman broke his ankle in a 2005 preseason game. At the time, head coach Lovie Smith told the AP that "I don't know exactly who there is out there but we like the guys we have right now ... Chad Hutchinson is a good player, we feel comfortable starting him, and Kyle Orton continues to shine as far as we're concerned."

Ray Lewis didn't get the free agency coronation that he -- and many of us -- figured was coming his way. The Cowboys, Jets, and even the hometown Ravens, showed little interest in the future Hall of Fame linebacker, presumably because his contract demands weren't in line with reality: at 33, there wasn't much left in the tank, as the thinking goes.

Matt Cassel is now the Kansas City Chiefs starting quarterback, thanks in large part to new teammate Bernard Pollard, the man responsible for ending Tom Brady's 2008 season 15 minutes after it began and paving the way for Cassel's emergence.

The talk of Cassel's offseason value began sometime around Thanksgiving, shortly after he had put together back-to-back 400-yard passing performances. He would finish out the season with a quarterback rating of more than 100 in five of the final seven games, and before the Patriots franchised him in early February, the consensus was that Cassel was the best available free-agent quarterback -- by a wide margin.

Depending on who you ask, Matt Cassel is either a franchise quarterback or just a guy who benefited greatly from playing with Randy Moss and Wes Welker. It's sort of an important question for teams in need of a quarterback, particularly given how much it's going to cost to acquire Cassel.

NFL Films Greg Cosell writes that Cassel is best when the offense is built around his strengths, while ESPN's Mel Kiper declares that he'd take Cassel over Aaron Rodgers or Jay Cutler.

After a surprisingly successful 2008 season -- one in which he amassed an 8-3 record -- Gus Frerotte, 37 years young, thinks he deserves a shot at the Vikings' starting quarterback gig.

Maybe he has, particularly if you assume Tarvaris Jackson won't improve and he's the only other viable option on the roster come training camp. I don't expect either to be the case. Not only that, but just because Minnesota won eight of 11 with Frerotte under center doesn't mean a whole lot out of context. Via Pacifist Viking:

Ron Jaworski was an NFL quarterback for 15 seasons, and even made a Super Bowl appearance. He took his last snap in 1989, and is now better known for his ability to break down game film on ESPN's NFL Matchup show.

Greg Cosell of NFL Films, who works closely with Jaws, also has an amazing knack for Xs and Os (watching 80 hours of coaches tape six months a year probably helps). And in his Super Bowl column for Sporting News, he writes that while the Cardinals have had an amazing run, their high-powered offense will have trouble with the Steelers' top-ranked defense.