Former Chiefs quarterback Jordan Ta’amu signs with Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions have added a familiar face to their practice squad.

Former Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Jordan Ta’amu has earned a new lease on his professional life in football by signing with the Detroit Lions on the team’s practice squad. NFL reporter Ian Rapoport had word on the move on Wednesday morning.

Ta’amu originally signed with the Chiefs last spring as a developmental arm to compete for potential preseason reps with Kyle Shurmur. When preseason opportunities disappeared thanks to a global pandemic, the Chiefs decided to move forward with Ta’amu over Shurmur as the team’s third quarterback. Shortly thereafter, however, the Chiefs front office wanted a bit more security at the game’s most important position and signed Matt Moore to the practice squad as well.

Ta’amu was an intriguing young arm who showed some solid potential while playing in the short-lived XFL with the St. Louis Battlehawks franchise. The Chiefs signed him shortly thereafter and now the Lions will hope to develop him along as a late-season signing that will most likely lead to a spot on the team’s offseason 90-man roster in 2021.

Unfortunately for Ta’amu, his most notable segment of his Chiefs career was testing positive for COVID-19 before Week 4 against the New England Patriots in the same week that Cam Newton also came down with the coronavirus. The NFL was forced to reschedule the game and eventually the Chiefs walked away with an early season win.

Ta’amu played for two seasons at Ole Miss and threw 30 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions in 19 total games.