Kyle Shurmur could find himself on the Chiefs active roster soon

Given the way that Patrick Mahomes official timeline is playing out, Kyle Shurmur could get a real taste of the active roster for the Kansas City Chiefs.

The moment that Patrick Mahomes proved himself unable to get up from the bottom of a pile of players after the conversion of a quarterback sneak on Thursday Night Football, there’s been a lot of attempts to guess what the team might do about the depth chart. Now that the dust has settled on the most extreme predictions of all, it looks like the Chiefs might just stick with all internal options, which means Kyle Shurmur will get a real chance to make the active roster.

The Chiefs quarterbacks right now are a bit of a stacked mess of availability. The contributing factors go something like this:

Patrick Mahomes is out with the knee injury that removed him in the second quarter against the Denver Broncos and it’s unknown when he will return. The realm of possibility includes a complete surprise return as soon as next week all the way to remaining out until after the bye in late November.

Chad Henne, the planned veteran backup for Mahomes since his signing back before the 2018 season began, can come back after the Chiefs very next game against the Green Bay Packers in Week 8. He’s currently on injured reserve and can only return from IR after a half season (or eight games).

Matt Moore is the veteran signed by the Chiefs in the wake of Henne’s injury who was forced to take over starter’s reps until Mahomes returns and/or another player is given his spot.

Given all of this timeline, it’s possible the Chiefs could roll with Henne and Moore contending for the temporary starting role until Mahomes returns after this next week. However, that does leave the Chiefs vulnerable for a single week. Only Moore is healthy and able to play against the Packers in a game that would really help the Chiefs toward a playoff spot. Then again, there’s not really enough time to on-board another QB option before they play—not to mention there’d be no need for any outsider after this lone game.

Enter Kyle Shurmur, the son of longtime NFL coach Pat Shurmur and a starter for the Vanderbilt Commodores the last few years before he signed with the Chiefs as an undrafted free agent. Shurmur is on the Chiefs practice squad and is familiar with the playbook after spending the entire summer with the team. He won the unofficial QB3 spot for the Chiefs over Chase Litton, who eventually left to sign with Jacksonville after he failed to make the Chiefs.

Shurmur tossed 50 touchdowns against 16 interceptions in his final two seasons at Vandy. In his final year, he completed 254 of 406 passes, good for a 62.6% completion rate, and career high marks of 3,130 passing yards and 7.7 yards/attempt.

While Shurmur is untested and leaves the Chiefs even more vulnerable at the game’s most important position should something happen to Moore, the reality is that it makes sense overall to elevate him to the active roster. Shurmur’s familiarity is important for his ability to climb straight into the backup role. He’s able to drop right back to the P.S. after a single game, and the finances won’t become complicated. If Henne happens to not be ready and needs more time, the Chiefs could consider an outsider, but Shurmur simply makes the most sense until he proves to be incompetent.

If Mahomes were out for the season or if Henne was on a season-long IR program, it would make much more sense for the Chiefs to import someone with more experience or a higher ceiling than Shurmur. However, given the way the layers are stacked, Shurmur is in the best position to earn a quick promotion to the active roster.