Former Patriots quarterback gives Chiefs a new face on the depth chart at QB3

The Chiefs have a new face in the quarterback room after rolling with Chris Oladokun as QB3 since 2022.

On Tuesday, the New England Patriots released quarterback Bailey Zappe in an effort to get down to the active 53-man roster limit. On Wednesday, the Chiefs added Zappe in an effort to build out their practice squad for the coming season.

The Chiefs announced their signing of Zappe as one of the first additions to the practice squad, and it's an interesting move that shakes up the lower part of the depth chart—one that had been fairly consistent for the last couple of seasons.

Zappe is not expected to see the active roster unless something is wrong given that the Chiefs roll with two active quarterbacks each week. However, the Chiefs keep a third quarterback on hand on the practice squad which is essential in practice and for the scout team.

Coming into this spring, the Chiefs introduced former Notre Dame star Ian Book into the mix to compete with holdover Chris Oladokun. Oladokun had held down a role for the Chiefs since 2022 and it looked like he'd beaten Book to once again take hold of that spot for the Chiefs. The signing of Zappe, however, changes all of that.

It seems like the Chiefs were ready to go with new faces behind Patrick Mahomes this year. Carson Wentz is the new backup quarterback in 2024 after a single season of Blaine Gabbert.

Zappe was the Pats' fourth-round selection out of Western Kentucky in the 2022 NFL Draft and comes to the Chiefs with 14 games of NFL experience, including 8 starts. The Pats went 4-4 in those starts, but Zappe's production was much better during his rookie year when Bill Belichick was the team's head coach. Last year was a mess offensively for the Pats—just ask JuJu Smith-Schuster, who also recently landed in K.C.