Kansas City Chiefs’ most intriguing position battles for 2023
By Matt Conner
Shane Buechele vs Blaine Gabbert
The Battle: The chance to fill Chad Henne’s shoes and back up the most important player in the National Football League
Why Buechele could win it: What Blaine Gabbert brings to the table is no surprise at this point, with a known ceiling and floor after a decade of backing up quarterbacks around the NFL. Meanwhile, Buechele has not only beaten out any competition so far to remain in the Chiefs’ good graces, but they also kept him on the active roster last year as a healthy scratch each and every single week.
That means the Chiefs clearly like something about Buechele and want to see him take hold of a backup role. Otherwise, they would have allowed other teams, like the Arizona Cardinals, to poach him back in 2021 as they tried from the practice squad. Instead, the Chiefs look like they’re ready to give him the QB2 role if he can stave off Gabbert’s best effort.
Why Gabbert could win it: It sounds great to go with a youngster like Buechele, but what did the Chiefs do when Patrick Mahomes went down in years past for any length of time? They called on the veteran Chad Henne and then turned to another vet after that on the depth chart when signing Matt Moore. Moore was starting his high school coaching career when Andy Reid called him for the first time, proving that when someone is really needed, K.C. doesn’t mess around with someone unknown.