Chiefs position review: Quarterbacks
Everyone knows who QB1 is, but the Chiefs depth at the position is impressive, too.
[Editor’s note: KC Sports Network writers Herbie Teope and Tyler Brown look at the Chiefs’ position groups on both sides of the ball with a series of articles ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft.]
The most solved position on the Kansas City Chiefs is the most solved position in the NFL. That position, of course, is quarterback and while Patrick Mahomes does turn 30 this coming season, the future is still incredibly bright.
He already has three Super Bowls, five Super Bowl appearances and has made the AFC title game in every season he has started entering his eighth. He has won two MVPs, three Super Bowl MVPs, owns an 89-23 record and a 245-to-74 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
With tight end Travis Kelce and defensive tackle Chris Jones getting older every year, the one constant that will remain for hopefully 10-plus years will be Mahomes. Three Super Bowls before being on the wrong side of 30 is impressive, but it is even more so when you realize Tom Brady did not win his fourth of seven until his age 37 season.
After getting off to the fastest start of any quarterback in NFL history, Mahomes did have his worst statistical season in 2024. Much of it had to do with chronically bad left tackle play and near season-long injuries to wide receivers Rashee Rice and Hollywood Brown. He garnered a career-low in yards, with 3,928 and tied a career-low in touchdowns, with 26.
He was left with four different bodies that took their turn at left tackle and rookie wide receiver serving as wide receiver-one for the majority of the season, Xavier Worthy. If new left tackle Jaylon Moore can step in adequately, and Rice and Brown achieve a full bill of health, there is no reason Mahomes could not post another MVP-level season.
Behind Mahomes heading into the 2025 season is a quarterback room that is perhaps the most talented of the Mahomes era as well. They allowed Carson Wentz to walk and retained last year's third-stringer, Chris Oladokun. Oladokun very well may be fourth on the depth chart currently after Kansas City brought in both Gardner Minshew and Bailey Zappe.
Minshew has made a terrific career for himself after being drafted in the sixth round back in 2019 coming out of the air-raid Washington State offense. The swagger and charisma he brings could be a boost to the room alone, but his 68 career touchdowns and 34 interceptions will play. He has a 24-35 career record, but he has never sniffed a good organization, other than a stint in 2021 with the Philadelphia Eagles as Jalen Hurts backup.
OUTLOOK
While Mahomes will be captaining the Chiefs offense for the foreseeable future, it seems reasonable to assume Minshew will be his primary backup in 2025. Similar to Wentz last year, Minshew comes with pedigree after having several starts under his belt, along with a 2023 Pro Bowl campaign he earned with the Indianapolis Colts. In a pinch, Andy Reid can use a veteran like him to run the offense and even win some games as he did with Chad Henne and Matt Moore before him.
Zappe spent time on the team last year before the Cleveland Browns plucked him off the practice squad in October and even wound up starting a game as the Browns' fourth different starter of the season. It is unclear whether or not the team values Oladokun over him given that Zappe did not have much time to learn the offense last season after he came over following a release from the New England Patriots in August.
It should be as entertaining of four quarters of football as the pre-season could possibly bring, with Oladokun and Zappe battling it out to be the team's game-day emergency quarterback. Both of them were drafted in 2022 with Zappe taken off the board in the fourth and Oladokun in the seventh. Zappe, though has 15 career games and nine starts. While Oladokun brings four years in the system to his name, he just played in his first action in week 18 of the 2024 season against the Denver Broncos.
Another thing these four can bring to the table is competency for the young weapons trying to make the team. Whether that is new blood that comes in drafted or undrafted from the 2025 class or it is Skyy Moore, they will have an experienced quarterback throwing them the football in both training camp and the exhibition games. You could throw a newly acquired tight end or 2024 fourth-rounder Jared Wylie into that camp as well, so long as he is back from his ACL tear.
With all of the established veterans in the quarterback room, it is hard to see the team investing anymore in the position. They have to have a quarterback to serve in the rookie mini-camps, although Oladokun has taken on that role in recent seasons, even with him being a veteran at this point. If you want to look into who the Chiefs might bring in as an undrafted camp body, you can track guys such as Cam Miller out of North Dakota State or Kurtis Rourke from Indiana.
Even if prospects like Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard or Mizzou’s Brady Cook go undrafted, they may want to look into better opportunities with teams that have a greater need. The reigning back-to-back-to-back AFC Champions appear to be set at the most important position in the sport.
