The Kansas City Chiefs head coach believes they got a steal in their quarterback room.
Of course, there’s no controversy over who will be the starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2026 NFL season, as long as Patrick Mahomes is healthy after his recovery that’s still ongoing from a torn ACL that he got surgery for in December. While he recently posted a positive update on his social media showing him dropping back and throwing, head coach Andy Reid spoke about reinforcing their quarterback room at the NFL Winter Meetings in Arizona. The team recently acquired Justin Fields from the New York Jets, and Reid doesn’t want to get ahead of themselves in terms of Mahomes’ recovery process at this point in March.
Surprisingly, while Fields didn’t exactly have a successful tenure in New York, one he received criticism for last season while struggling, Reid sees real potential there and feels confident in running it out with Fields should they need to – aka, if Mahomes isn’t ready for Week 1. He thinks they have a “legitimate backup” that can win games for them in Fields. Now, every coach is likely to, and should, talk up their new players, and it didn’t feel like the Jets had much confidence in Fields last season. So Reid could very well be trying to prop up their new backup. But with a real injury situation going on at QB1, his comments can’t be that hollow.
Here is the full story from Chiefs Roundtable writer Bob McCullough on Reid’s curious comments and what the addition of Fields can do for the team.
New York isn’t exactly known for developing quarterbacks, but Reid is. Especially with a surrounding cast that includes Travis Kelce, Kenneth Walker and Xavier Worthy, Fields seems more poised to succeed in his latest destination.