The Kansas City Chiefs kept their grip on the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs with a 21-7 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, but it may have come at the ultimate cost: Late in the game, QB Patrick Mahomes was forced to leave the game with what appeared to be a serious lower-leg injury.
Andy Reid attempted to downplay things after the game, saying that Mahomes’ ankle was “sore, not broken” and adding that his quarterback could have come back to the game if his team needed him to. But still: No matter what his coach says, the sight of Mahomes needing a cart to leave the field likely has worst-case scenarios running through fans’ heads.
Especially considering what the team has behind Mahomes on its depth chart right now, and how slim the pickings are on the open market at this point in the season. One look at Kansas City’s alternatives should Mahomes be forced to miss significant time makes clear that the fate of the team’s season (and a threepeat bid) likely rests on the health of his ankle.
Here’s how the remaining Chiefs depth chart at QB shakes out:
|
Rank |
Name |
|---|---|
|
1 |
Carson Wentz |
|
2 |
Chris Oladokun* |
*Currently on practice squad
Carson Wentz finished out the win over Cleveland, and would almost certainly take the reins for any games that Mahomes wasn’t able to start for the rest of the season. Kansas City signed Wentz to a one-year deal back in April, and while Andy Reid wasn’t with the Philadelphia Eagles when they drafted the former North Dakota State star second overall back in 2016, the similarities between he and former assistant Doug Pederson would suggest that Wentz fits well with what Reid wants to do offensively.
Still, Wentz hasn’t been an above-average NFL quarterback in quite some time now, starting one meaningless game for the Los Angeles Rams last season and playing his way out of the starting job in Washington in 2022. We’ve seen Reid work wonders with quarterbacks throughout his coaching career, but unless Wentz has become a totally different decision-maker over the last 12 months or so, he’s a game manager at best (especially with such an iffy group of pass-catchers around him).
And outside of Wentz, there aren’t a ton of viable options for K.C. to pursue.
Ryan Tannehill is the best free agent available
Tannehill is still out there on the open market, and you’d think that the two-time reigning Super Bowl champions would qualify as the sort of perfect opportunity that the veteran is looking for to inspire a return to the field. But while Tannehill’s Tennessee Titans days are tantalizing, they could be fool’s gold: It’s been a while since we’ve seen him perform at that level, and he’d have to pick up a totally new offensive system on the fly in time for a playoff run.
Kansas City could reunite with Bailey Zappe
Zappe was on the Chiefs’ practice squad until the team shuffled its roster up before the start of the season. If Wentz doesn’t pan out (or, god forbid, gets injured himself) the former New England Patriots starters figures to have enough knowledge of the system to at least try and steer the ship for a couple of weeks if Mahomes needs his team to buy him some time to return.
