Kansas City Chiefs: Early position impressions from training camp
The Quarterbacks
* Patrick Mahomes was up and down on Friday. He had a few of his now famous deep passes and was also sharp going over the middle to Travis Kelce. However, he was a little inaccurate throwing outside the hashes and had a really bad interception. On Saturday he was sharper all around, but he did have another bad interception. The bottom line is Mahomes is really fun to watch. I think its safe to say there are going to be a lot of “wow” moments this season. However, don’t expect Mahomes to be elite just yet. He’s going to be off some days and is going to throw boneheaded interceptions WAY more often than we became accustomed to under Alex Smith. That having been said, there still hasn’t been a Chiefs player I’ve been this excited about in a VERY long time (perhaps ever).
* If I’m being honest I was not happy with the Chad Henne signing as KC’s #2 quarterback. He wasn’t a guy I felt good about starting if something happened to Mahomes and having not been in Andy Reid’s offense before I questioned how much he’d be able to tutor Mahomes. I came away from training camp feeling better about things.
Henne doesn’t have Mahomes big plays but from what I observed he has the ability to effectively distribute the ball to KC’s playmakers. He’s a bit of a poor man’s Alex Smith. Obviously the Chiefs will be in trouble if Mahomes goes down for an extended period of time, but if Henne has to step in for a game or two I don’t think it will be the end of the world. It’s probably fair to say that Henne has never had a better coach to work with than Andy Reid and likely has never had playmakers like KC has before either.
* Finally, the battle for the third quarterback spot doesn’t look like much of a battle to me. While veteran Matt McGloin has the edge in NFL experience I’m not sure he has an edge anywhere else. Undrafted rookie Chase Litton has the NFL size and arm talent that McGloin simply does not. That alone might make Litton worth keeping over him as an Andy Reid developmental project.
However, what really sold me on Litton was that he wasn’t shy to be vocal on the field even as an undrafted rookie. After an offensive lineman had a false start he clapped his hands urgently and yelled “Let’s go now” as the team went back to the huddle. He also did a good job of getting the ball out fast on throws over the middle. Litton is no threat to Henne as the primary back up but based on what I saw in camp I see absolutely no reason to keep the veteran McGloin over a much higher upside young talent like Litton, especially with Chad Henne already on the roster.
Next up, the running backs.