Mahomes on track for Week 1 vs. Broncos
Mahomes says the knee is a non-issue heading into September, the preseason ended in a 9-9 stalemate with the Seahawks, and a seventh-round rookie is making the backup job a real decision.
Mahomes says the knee is a non-issue heading into Week 1
Patrick Mahomes hasn't taken a single preseason snap all summer — that was the plan from day one — and Friday morning brought the update that makes it look like it worked. Mahomes (knee) is on track to start Week 1 against Denver, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported on NFL GameDay Kickoff, capping what he called a stellar training camp for a quarterback nine months removed from a torn ACL and LCL.
From @NFLGameDay Kickoff: #Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes, after a stellar training camp, is on track for Week 1.
Andy Reid has been saying versions of this for weeks without quite saying it: 'He's looked good during the practices and doing the stuff. This week, he was a scout team quarterback and a pretty good scout team quarterback. But he's looked good, he's looked strong,' Reid told reporters, via Arrowhead Pride. Mahomes has backed it up in his own words too. 'Being able to go out there, day after day, and have the grind of a camp, that can even be harder than the regular season,' he said, adding, 'Honestly, the more we practice, the better I feel,' per Bleacher Report — exactly the sentence a fan waits all August to hear from a guy who spent his winter on IR.
Mahomes Says He's Good to Go for Week 1 vs Denver has the fuller version of how deliberate this rehab has been — no exhibition reps, no shortcuts, just a scout-team quarterback who happens to be the best player in the building getting ready to be QB1 again on September 14.
Nussmeier closes camp with a 9-9 stalemate at Arrowhead
Kansas City's preseason ended the way the record suggested it might: nobody won it. The Chiefs finished 0-2-1 in the preseason after playing the Seahawks to a 9-9 tie at Arrowhead on Friday, saved only when Seattle kicker Jason Myers missed a 52-yard field goal as time expired. Garrett Nussmeier played the entire night at quarterback and did what he's done all camp — moved the offense, took his hits — finishing 22 of 34 for 198 yards with no touchdowns and an interception.
Seahawks9-9
Buccaneers15-16
Rams12-20Harrison Butker's 28-yard field goal tied the game in the fourth quarter, and that kick ended up being the last competitive snap of Kansas City's preseason. Emmett Johnson gave the backfield a lift with seven carries for 39 yards and two catches for 15 more, and Tyquan Thornton and Cyrus Allen both turned short targets into gains underneath — Thornton for 11 yards, Allen for 12. Travis Kelce caught his lone target for eight yards, while Xavier Worthy, still managing the shoulder that's bothered him since August 1, was targeted just once and came away empty.
None of it changes anything about the season — it's preseason, and the score means less than who was out there. But a tie no one will remember is still the last look this roster gets before cutdowns, and it's the last time this specific group of backups, rookies and fringe roster hopefuls will share a field.
Nussmeier is turning QB2 into a real decision
The tie itself means less than what it's doing to the quarterback room behind Mahomes. Kansas City traded for Justin Fields this offseason to be the primary backup, and Fields has been the most efficient of the group in camp at 81.2% completion on limited snaps. But Nussmeier — a seventh-round rookie out of LSU who wasn't supposed to be part of this conversation — has thrown 36 of the team's 69 preseason attempts, completing 61.1% for 172 yards, and has looked good enough that carrying three quarterbacks is a real question inside the building now, not just message-board talk.
Yahoo Sports called Friday's performance 'uneven, although largely encouraging' for a developmental prospect, which is about the range of grade Nussmeier has earned all camp — not sharp enough to unseat anybody, but far too good to simply release. Andy Reid's staff has preferred to carry only two quarterbacks in recent seasons, and if Nussmeier gets squeezed off the 53-man roster, there's no guarantee he clears waivers to the practice squad. A rebuilding team with an empty QB room would grab him without thinking twice, which is exactly the trap Kansas City has built for itself with a rookie who was never supposed to be this good.
A Week 1 rematch with the team that ended the streak
Kansas City opens Monday night vs. the Broncos, and there's real weight behind that phrase this year. Denver went 14-3 last season and took the AFC West for the first time since 2015 — the year it finally snapped the Chiefs' run of nine straight division titles, a season Kansas City closed out 6-11 and out of the playoffs entirely. Denver has also won four of the last five meetings in this series, though Arrowhead has historically been one of the toughest buildings in the league for the Broncos to walk into, a trend Kansas City will be counting on.
The line opened with Kansas City favored by 2.5 points, and the total was set at 42.5 — a number that reads low-scoring for a Week 1 opener, which tracks with a Chiefs offense that's spent camp trying to fix the play-action attack that was one of the league's worst a year ago, the whole reason a $43 million running back is in the building. Denver, for its part, arrives off a 34-6 win over Minnesota in its own preseason and returns a roster that just won the division outright.
It's the earliest possible measuring stick for whether last year's slump was a blip or a new normal, and Kansas City doesn't have to wait long to find out — Mahomes and this offense get the answer on their own field, in primetime, against the team that has owned the head-to-head lately.