The Kansas City Chiefs have shown that they value having a good option at the backup quarterback spot in place, ready to play at a moment’s notice. Andy Reid has previously stated to have some combination of young and veteran players in the quarterback room.
When Alex Smith was the starter in Kansas City they had players like Chase Daniel and Nick Foles backing him up until Patrick Mahomes was drafted in 2017. The team turned to Chad Henne as a veteran backup when Mahomes took over at QB in 2018. When Henne was injured ahead of the start of the 2019 season, the Chiefs turned to veteran Matt Moore, who filled in nicely but wasn’t re-signed for the 2020 season by the Chiefs.
Right now the quarterback group behind Mahomes consists of Henne, former St. Louis Battlehawks QB Jordan Ta’amu and undrafted free agent Shea Patterson.
In USA TODAY’s recent backup QB rankings, Nate Davis has Kansas City in the upper echelon, coming in at No. 14 on the list.
“Even with Matt Moore unsigned, they still have interesting options if Patrick Mahomes goes down again. Chad Henne boasts 53 NFL starts, while XFL standout Jordan Ta’amu and former five-star recruit Shea Patterson are in deep reserve.“
It’s always important to have a good backup QB, but during the 2020 NFL season, there may be a heightened emphasis on that. Exploring what the season could look like during the COVID-19 pandemic, were a starting QB to test positive for the virus ahead of a game, it’d obviously thrust the backup into the starting role.
It’s good to know in light of that type of uncertainty that analysts think highly of the group of quarterbacks behind Mahomes in Kansas City. We already know that Andy Reid does a really good job getting those backup quarterbacks prepared and ready to play. But having a talented group behind Mahomes should put Chiefs Kingdom at ease if something unthinkable happened during the 2020 season.
