Andy Reid has fired the starting gun on the quarterback battle in Kansas City.
The Chiefs have four quarterbacks on the books – and some decisions to make through preseason.
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As training camp winds towards the end of it’s second week, attention is beginning to shift towards how the 53-man roster will take shape.
Andy Reid will need to trim his playing staff in time for the August 30 roster deadline, and all eyes will be on a fascinating quarterback room as he is highly unlikely to carry four into the season.
Superstar Patrick Mahomes is a lock, but is battling back to full fitness despite a remarkable return ahead of schedule.
The battle behind the two-time MVP is intense as Justin Fields has arrived, and is joined as a new face by seventh round draft pick Garrett Nussmeier, while Chris Oladokan is starting his fifth season with the team.
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Mahomes suffered a serious knee injury in the Week 15 defeat to the Los Angeles Chargers that ended the Chiefs season.
However he has defied logic and is well ahead of schedule having been cleared to play a full part in training camp – but whether that includes game time remains to be seen.
The Chiefs face the Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the reigning champion Seattle Seahawks over three weeks of preseason action that start on August 15 against the Rams.
When asked about his star quarterback’s return, and whether he might get the chance to put some trend on the wheels, coach Reid admitted he is leaning one way, but does not know entirely.
“There’s a pretty good chance I don’t play him,” said the 13-year Chiefs head coach at Friday’s media availability.
“Percentages are leaning that way, I don’t know if I will play him the second or third game, I don’t know that but the percentages likely lean against doing that.”
Reid knows what the three-time Super Bowl MVP can do, not least in his link up with Travis Kelce who is preparing for his final season before retirement.
However behind him, he has three options who are battling not just for a roster spot, but for the chance to be Mahomes backup – which could be all-important given the superstar’s return from serious injury.
“We’ve got new people in those other positions behind him that need some work, and so the more reps they get the better,” Reid added.
Who could back up Patrick Mahomes?
Oladokun is a familiar face, having arrived initially to the Chiefs practice squad in 2022 following a surprise cut in Pittsburgh where he was a seventh round pick for the Steelers just a few months earlier.
Fields has arrived from the New York Jets, after a surprise offseason trade.
His stop in New York came after one season in Pittsburgh following a three year stay in Chicago where he was selected with the 11th overall pick in 2021.
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His mobility mark him out as an ideal candidate to backup Mahomes and he seems almost certain to see the field in the preseason.
As does Nussmeier, perhaps the most intriguing of all the names.
The former LSU quarterback is the son of New Orleans offensive coordinator Doug Nussmeier and was taken with the Chiefs final pick of the draft after five seasons in Baton Rouge.
At one stage he was projected to go as high as the first or second round, but with many teams already looking ahead to 2027’s stacked quarterback class, an injury-plagued Nussmeier fell and the Chiefs pounced.
Reid likes what he has seen so far from the 24-year-old whose started just nine games in his final season in Louisiana.
“Every time he’s in, he’s moved the ball, his pass production has been a real positive, he’s doing a nice job,” he said on Friday.
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“We’ve loaded him up, he’s handled it.”
With Mahomes almost certain to start in Week 1 against the Denver Broncos, it would seem highly unlikely Reid’s puts him through the rigours of a preseason battle.
Which means Fields, Nussmeier and Oladokun are under pressure from the getgo.
