Reid Ignores Obvious Choice, Won’t Name A Starter vs. Denver

Kansas City Chiefs fans have been suffering through some ugly preseason games without quarterback Patrick Mahomes, but coach Andy Reid refused to name Mahomes as his starter for the Chiefs’ opener on Sept. 14 against the Denver Broncos. 

Mahomes has sat out Kansas City’s preseason games so far, but he said during Saturday’s desultory 16-15 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that he wanted to play. He’s been trying to nudge Reid into putting him back on the field, but Reid hasn’t been budging so far, saying Mahomes was probably “probably not cleared enough” to play in that game. 

But Reid shifted from the expected to the ridiculous when he refused to look ahead to the Broncos game, even though everyone knows what’s coming. 

“He’s doing great,” Reid said yet again in a report from Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk that referenced material from via Pete Sweeney of the Kansas City Star. “We’ll just see. I’m literally taking it day by day. There are no predictions here on anything. 

“But if the doctors and the trainers and everybody that are involved with this give him an OK — and then most of all, if he feels like he can, then we’ll address that when we get there. But other than that, these other guys are playing quarterback and doing a nice job with it.”

Reid hasn’t been watching the same games the rest of us have. Backup quarterback Justin Fields has been mediocre at best, which is what he does, and rookie Garrett Nussmeier has had enough solid moments to prove that the lottery ticket the Chiefs cashed in when they drafted him in the seventh round was a worthwhile investment. 

But the idea that anyone other than Mahomes will be taking snaps is close to goofy. Reid is protecting himself from the possibility of any setbacks in the next couple of weeks, and he won’t add to that risk by putting Mahomes on the field against the Seattle Seahawks this week, either. 

That means more bad football for Chiefs fans, but it’s part of the drill. It would be unusual for Reid to go off script and do anything other than stick with the usual comments, but this was a situation where “no comment” could easily have been subbed in for pro forma without doing any damage. 

Reid does have plenty of other problem to solve in the meantime, though. The right side of his offensive line looked shaky and then some in Tampa Bay, so that’s the biggest fix on the docket this week as the Mahomes Watch continues.