The Kansas City Chiefs made landing a quality backup quarterback a priority this offseason because of the uncertain timetable for Patrick Mahomes’ return from his knee injury. Justin Fields was a logical target since he had started over 50 games for the Chicago Bears and New York Jets over the first five seasons of his NFL career. While Fields never lived up to his early first-round draft slot, his extensive experience as a starter in the league made him an attractive option for the Chiefs as an insurance policy if Mahomes wasn’t ready to start the season. Unfortunately for Kansas City, through two preseason games, Fields hasn’t looked like an upgrade over the players K.C. has had at the backup quarterback spot the past few seasons.
Gardner Minshew was supposed to be KC’s backup last season but was injured shortly after coming in for Mahomes following his injury. The year before that, it was Carson Wentz, and in 2023, it was Blaine Gabbert. None of those QBs did anything of note with the Chiefs, either because they didn’t need to with Mahomes healthy or because they just didn’t look good when given the chance. Whenthe Chiefs traded a draft pick to the Jets for Fields, the consensus seemed to be that he would at least be a step up from those three previous backups. However, Fields just hasn’t looked very good with the Chiefs so far.
In the preseason opener, he went 4-of-4 for 41 yards. Despite his 100% completion percentage, he couldn’t get the offense going and, for the most part, settled for checkdowns. Then, in an even more extended look against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he went 9-of-12 for 64 yards and took two sacks, including a massive loss on third down when KC was hoping to get into the end zone. That sack alone probably landed him on the wrong end of the winners and losers list from the Bucs game. So Fields has completed 13 passes for 105 yards. That’s an average of about eight yards per completion. That’s not good.
It's hard to feel good about the QB2 role with the way Justin Fields has looked.
For comparison, last year, in one of his worst seasons, Mahomes averaged about 11.4 yards per completion. In his first season as a starter, Mahomes averaged about 13.3 yards per completion. Fields just hasn’t been able to do anything down the field. Maybe it’s fair to ask if the Chiefs’ receivers and offensive tackles deserve some of the blame. However, at least Fields has been running with the Chiefs’ “starters.” Granted, they aren’t playing everyone, but he’s had the best supporting cast that KC has put on the field in the preseason, and yet you can make a strong argument that rookie seventh-round pick Garrett Nussmeier has looked more comfortable throwing the ball down the field with worse wideouts and offensive tackles on the field.
Nussmeier is making some rookie mistakes, but he seems more willing to look downfield. Fields just doesn’t look comfortable in the pocket. Even in training camp, Fields has looked up and down, with Nussmeier often being noted for more “nice ball”-type throws. That’s not to say that Nussmeier is better right now, but if the veteran quarterback you traded for, with over 50 NFL starts under his belt, doesn’t look a lot better than a rookie seventh-round draft pick, that’s not great—at least for the veteran.
Hopefully, none of this matters because Patrick Mahomes is on track to start the regular season (and hopefully, he stays healthy all year). It would still be nice if Fields could give the Chiefs a more reliable security blanket. Right now, Fields has better rushing ability than the team's other recent backups, but that’s about it. The Chiefs likely aren’t going to do anything this season without Mahomes anyway, but the hope was that the backup quarterback spot had been upgraded this season. Justin Fields has one more chance in the preseason to try to show that, but thus far, that just hasn’t been the case.
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