While the Dolphins continued Tuesday to look toward their best interest by trading for Chiefs quarterback Tyler Thigpen, quarterback Chad Pennington also has moved toward looking out for his own best interest as well.Adding insult to injury, Pennington also now has stitches on his nose, where he caught a helmet to the face while bullying for a first down in Sunday's game against the Chargers.

The nose injury, of course, is nothing compared to his shoulder. As a result of the upcoming surgery, Pennington's career is in serious jeopardy. He has not yet made a decision about his future.

Pennington, who now has enough information about the injury, has elected to undergo a third surgery to his right shoulder to repair a torn capsule, sources said.

When he travels Friday to Birmingham, Ala., Dr. James Andrews will perform the procedure.

The Chiefs have traded quarterback Tyler Thigpen to the Miami Dolphins for an undisclosed draft pick.

Thigpen was Kansas Citys third quarterback in the team's 34-14 loss at Philadelphia this past Sunday, and he has taken only two snaps this season. Thigpen started the majority of the Chiefs games last season after Brodie Croyle and Damon Huard suffered season-ending injuries.

His mobility and improvisation made him a tough quarterback to plan for, and he led the Chiefs to a victory against Oakland.

Chiefs QB Matt Cassel is inactive for Sunday's game at Baltimore. The Chiefs will now lean on either Brodie Croyle or Tyler Thigpen to start.

Chiefs QB Matt Cassel (knee questionable) will be a game time decision. Todd Haley wouldn't say who would start if Cassel couldn't go. All signs so far have pointed to Brodie Croyle over Tyler Thigpen.

QB Tyler Thigpen struggles: There were some who thought that Thigpen deserved to be the starting quarterback after his performance at the end of last year. Those thoughts may have vanished after Thigpen struggled, completing only 2 of 9 passes for 49 yards and two interceptions.

Brodie Croyle kept getting hurt and Tyler Thigpen seemed ill-suited for an NFL offense, so the Kansas City Chiefs traded for Matt Cassel and gave him a guaranteed $28 million contract before the first snap.

Now Cassel is hurt, Croyle is healthy and Thigpen is probably still ill-suited. But either he or Croyle could start against the tough defense of the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 13 in the season opener.

Cassel injured his knee in Saturday night's preseason loss to Seattle and the Chiefs may be down to Croyle and Thigpen, who between them are 1-18 as NFL starters.

The decision will be up to head coach Todd Haley, who stirred his team's murky waters even further on Monday by firing Chan Gailey as offensive coordinator and assuming the role himself, just 13 days before opening his first season as a head coach.

"It's almost unheard of that you have something like that happen right now," Thigpen said. "We've got to take responsibility."

Haley refused to breathe a word about the status of Cassel or any of his other injured starters. But Yahoo! Sports, citing a source in the organization, reported he sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee and could miss two to four weeks.

The players indicated they had no inkling how long Cassel might be gone.

"It's unfortunate for Matt," Croyle said. "Who knows the timetable when he'll be back? If it comes time to go, I'll just have to be ready."

Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel has a strained medial collateral ligament in his left knee and could miss the Chiefs' season opener and beyond, Yahoo Sports! reported on Monday.

Citing a source within the organization, Yahoo Sports! reported Cassel could miss two to four weeks. He was hurt Saturday night when sacked on the third play of a 14-10 preseason loss to Seattle.

The Chiefs open the regular season Sept. 13 at Baltimore. They return to practice Monday and are expected to have injury updates on Cassel and others, including wide receiver Devard Darling (leg).

Tyler Thigpen is Cassel's primary backup.

Several national sources estimate the latest on the Chiefs Matt Cassel is he could miss two to four weeks with a strained MCL in his right knee and a sore ankle. However, the team has yet to confirm these reports.

On the more conservative side, both Yahoo and NBC indicate that Cassell could miss week #1 against Baltimore. In that case, Tyler Thigpen would be expected to start.

The Jacksonville Jaguars remain interested in acquiring Kansas City quarterback Tyler Thigpen, and the Chiefs are certainly open to trading him. That mutual interest has not cooled and sources close to the situation maintain this trade could still occur.

Scott Pioli, who runs the Chiefs, is asking for a third-round pick for Thigpen, which is an awful lot for a third quarterback. However, with newly crowned — and compensated — starter Matt Cassel there, Thigpen isn’t getting the reps and having Thigpen around, should Cassel falter, could create a QB controvery, something the rebuilding club would not welcome.

Jacksonville first offered a sixth-round pick for Thigpen, then upped it to a fifth and they remain strong possibilities. Thursday night the Jags QBs went a combined 17-for-31 for 171 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT. David Garrard has been shaky as a starter for a while now, and they don’t have a dependable backup on the roster. Thigpen had been nursing a rib injury but is likely to play Saturday night. Other teams like Thigpen, too, but Pioli’s demand in this case is steep.

League sources continue to suggest that should Pioli be unable to get that third-round pick, Jacksonville is a prime candidate to pull something else, with a fourth-rounder possibly the happy medium in all of this.

Chiefs QB Tyler Thigpen has been the second-team quarterback all week, so the Chiefs appear intent on giving him a good look against the Seahawks. Normally, the second-team duties rotate between Croyle and Thigpen, but Thigpen missed all of last week’s practice sessions and then the preseason game in Minnesota because of sore ribs.

The Jacksonville Jaguars offered the Chiefs a sixth-round pick and later sweetened the offer to a fifth-rounder in exchange for Thigpen.