Chiefs 2024 Positional Preview: Quarterbacks in Good Hands with Patrick Mahomes and Carson Wentz

As the Kansas City Chiefs inch closer to opening training camp for the 2024 NFL season, let's take a closer look at the state of every position group on the Chiefs' roster before camp begins.

Kicking things off with the quarterback position, the Chiefs have fewer questions in their QB room than any other team in the sport. Still, even with Patrick Mahomes as a three-time champion shooting for the NFL's first-ever three-peat, there has been shuffling behind Mahomes, and No. 15 has room to have a less grueling year in 2024.

Joshua Brisco: The only quarterback movement the Chiefs have seen since Mahomes took the league by storm has been at the backup position, but before we get to the changes there, let's start with QB1. I think it's a bit disingenuous to discuss Mahomes having a "bounce-back" year; he was still the best and most important player in the sport in 2023, even as some of his counting stats (and many of his pass-catchers) betrayed him. Still, Mahomes should be on track for a flashier and less stressful year of quarterbacking with the addition of Marquise "Hollywood" Brown and rookie Xavier Worthy, even while potentially losing Rashee Rice for a portion of the year. Mahomes has evolved and grown every year in the league, largely dependent on his teammates and how opposing teams are defending the Chiefs. What's your best bet for what looks different this year?

Jordan Foote: Agreed – Mahomes was still largely awesome and even though other signal-callers may have enjoyed better "seasons," there's still no questioning who the league's best is at that position. I'd look for Mahomes to keep thriving at sack avoidance and accuracy in 2024, but threatening deeper down the field could help his raw numbers. Expect him to improve after posting a career-worst in intended air yards last year. In turn, he'll continue to fill up the box score and potentially see an uptick in touchdowns. The offense goes as Mahomes does, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued by his backup. Is Carson Wentz the best second-stringer the Chiefs have had since Mahomes himself back in 2017?

Brisco: He's at least the most interesting one! We're far removed from Wentz's eye-popping 2017 campaign that earned him third place in MVP voting, but he's since shown sparks and the physical tools that made him the No. 2 overall pick back in 2016. Andy Reid always seems to get the most out of his quarterbacks, and Wentz's "most" is more than other recent Chiefs backups could offer. I could absolutely see Wentz keeping the team on track in a way that may not force Reid to drastically adjust the offense, at least as much as any backup could boast while stepping in for the best signal-caller in the game.

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Foote: Thinking from the perspective of a bad-case scenario where Mahomes suffers an injury, Wentz could keep the Chiefs afloat for a few games. He'd also probably have higher highs in the event of a playoff emergency or something similar. In an ideal world, though, Kansas City never has to find out what he's capable of during an in-game situation unless it's a blowout or a meaningless Week 18 game.
Is there anything to note elsewhere in the QB room? It seems like Chris Oladokun is fairly comfortable in the offense and Ian Book is likely just organizational depth at this point. Especially with the league's emergency quarterback rules now, the Chiefs should be set there.

Brisco: I agree with your view of the QB3 situation — Reid seems to like having a young third-stringer on the roster or practice squad, likely with the hopes of one of them eventually becoming a long-term backup for Mahomes who has years of experience in Reid's offense. After Shane Buechele left for Buffalo last summer, Oladokun became the next nominee for that potential lifetime backup job. (It's not glamorous, but teams also need a reliable stand-in signal-caller for scout teams, which Wentz has also mentioned.) If Book has a better training camp and preseason, perhaps he could make the QB3 battle interesting. Ultimately, of course, the quarterback room comes down to the starter, and the Chiefs have the best one in the sport.

Read More: Carson Wentz Ready to Make Most of ‘Good Fit’ With Chiefs in 2024