Will Chad Henne or Matt Moore return in 2020 for the Chiefs?

The Kansas City Chiefs could easily attempt to bring back one of their trusted veteran backups at quarterback in 2020.

The Kansas City Chiefs are set at quarterback. At the same time, they’ve got some questions to answer for the 2020 season.

For most of last season, the Chiefs carried two reliable backup quarterbacks behind Patrick Mahomes in both Matt Moore and Chad Henne. The former served as the hero who stepped in at midseason when needed after the latter was injured at the same time at Mahomes. When all three were finally ready and healthy, the Chiefs decided to keep ’em all on the roster, a bit of a surprise given the history of Reid’s roster constructs.

Heading into a new season, however, the depth chart below Mahomes is completely barren. On the practice squad, Kyle Shurmur remains as the developmental or scouting team quarterback who can fill that necessary role, but no one would feel particularly safe if Shurmur was the team’s primary backup for the 2020 season.

What about bringing one of the former veterans back again for another year in 2020? Both are getting older and neither of them should really contend for a starting role with another team (although Moore deserves serious credit for coming through when it counted). However it remains to be seen whether or not either even wants to play more professional football going forward and/or whether or not the Chiefs are ready to start developing a young quarterback at this stage of Mahomes’ development.

Clearly Mahomes doesn’t need a savvy backup to serve as some sort of tutor or something. Mahomes has won the MVP award and a Super Bowl MVP, so it’s not as if a standard “veteran presence” is going to contribute much to the QB room that Mahomes doesn’t already know. That said, Mahomes’ injuries last season show how important it is for K.C. (or any team) to have a reliable backup on hand in case something happens (because it will).

Henne was the preferred backup on the part of Brett Veach initially but he went down on IR when it mattered most. Moore came in for two games and threw 4 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, completed 64 percent of his throws and walked away with a 100.9 passer rating.

Last season, Henne came with a $4.1 million cap hit. Moore played for just over $1 million himself for just over a half season. Together it would be interesting to see which one would be willing to play for the least amount of money for another season with the Chiefs. In a best-case scenario, it would be a chance to make money, make another Super Bowl run and watch the best in the business work his magic for another year.

At this point, the Chiefs have to feel comfortable with both Henne and Moore going forward, but there’s zero reason to bring them both back at the same time. If both are familiar with the staff and vice versa, if both are amenable to playing another year, then it makes sense for the Chiefs to pit one against the other and say, “One of you is welcome back as Mahomes’ backup if you want.” Let the agents figure it out.

Unless, that is, the Chiefs are ready to cut ties with both veterans for the sake of selecting a rookie in this year’s draft to develop (and eventually trade, of course). It will be interesting to see what Veach does at the position.