KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Many of the odds that have come out of Las Vegas in recent weeks had given the Kansas City Chiefs the fifth- or sixth-best chance among NFL teams to acquire quarterback Tony Romo when he gets his trade or release from the Dallas Cowboys.

That seems reasonable. While the Chiefs need to at least look into the possibility of acquiring Romo and they may indeed be intense players when this sweepstakes gets serious, they should not be considered favorites. Other teams, most notably the Denver Broncos and Houston Texans, may be more motivated to make such a move and could be more attractive destinations to Romo than Kansas City.

Then Bovada comes out Wednesday with odds of 7-2 that Romo will be playing for the Chiefs when the 2017 season begins. Those odds are second behind only the Broncos at 3-1.

While the Chiefs certainly can’t be dismissed yet from this competition, it’s a bit much to suggest that they’re one of the favorites to land Romo -- for a variety of reasons.

Not that this will necessarily be the determining factor, but it’s interesting to note the Chiefs are the only team among Bovada’s favorites that have an established starting quarterback. Denver will otherwise choose between Paxton Lynch and Trevor Siemian, Houston between Tom Savage and Brock Osweiler. The Chicago Bears, Buffalo Bills and New York Jets don’t or probably soon won’t have a legitimate candidate to be a starter on their roster.

The Chiefs are committed, at least publicly, to Alex Smith.

That doesn’t mean they won’t be more determined to acquire Romo than the other teams. It does mean they have more to lose than any of the others in chasing Romo and missing out.

If any of the other teams bid for Romo and don’t get him, they’ve lost nothing. They’ll either find their starting quarterbacks by -- in the cases of the Broncos and Texans -- choosing among existing options, or they will have to look elsewhere.

The Chiefs face some serious and perhaps irreparable damage if they’re involved with Romo and lose. Then they’ve publicly declared with their actions, if not their words, that they don’t think Smith is good enough, and that easily could turn into a problem in their locker room.

The Chiefs are really the only ones on Bovada’s list of favorites that would be pushing all of their chips to the middle of the table by going after Romo. So they need to tread carefully here.

That’s why I wouldn’t consider them favorites for Romo at this point. They may indeed not get involved in this at all unless they’re convinced they will win.