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The Kansas City Chiefs remain an attractive destination for undrafted free agents, even at positions where the team has clear starters.
Nothing short of complete disaster could lead to undrafted SMU QB Shane Buechele earning a starting job in Kansas City. It’s even a stretch to think that he could unseat the incumbent backup in Chad Henne. Those facts didn’t stop him from choosing to sign with the Chiefs, though. Instead, they helped to influence his decision to join the team.
“I think this opportunity that the Chiefs gave me is a great one,” Buechele told reporters on Sunday. “To be able to learn under Pat (Patrick Mahomes) and to be able to learn under (Chad) Henne as well, those guys are vets and they’ve been playing for a while. Just being able to learn under them and then being able to learn under the coaches is another thing for me. Being able to develop into the NFL system that they have is a lot different than what I ran at SMU, but I’ve already learned a ton and I’m really excited for it.”
Buechele gets to learn from the best quarterback in the league in Patrick Mahomes. That’s an opportunity that few young quarterbacks would turn down. That’s especially true of a player like Buechele who feels he has a lot to learn from Mahomes.
“Pat (Patrick Mahomes) obviously plays a different way,” Buechele said. “It’s not a traditional way of playing quarterback and I think that’s what makes him so good. He can make so many different types of throws from different types of angles and obviously he’s super talented. I think he kind of takes a baseball side to it from playing baseball and I can kind of do that as well. Being able to watch him on film, being able to see how he puts his feet to his throws and things like that.”
Buechele actually worked out a bit with Mahomes in Fort Worth this offseason, so the two are already familiar with each other. He also gets a chance to learn from Chad Henne, who has stuck around in the NFL for 12 seasons. That’s not a bad person to learn from if you’re looking to stick in the NFL for a long time.
Then he’ll also have a former NFL quarterback as his quarterback coach in Mike Kafka. He’ll get to work with one of the most revered offensive coordinators in the league in Eric Bieniemy. There’s also a future Hall of Fame head coach in Andy Reid, who is known for his work getting the most out of his quarterbacks.
“Yeah, Coach Kafka is a great guy and he’s a great coach,” Buechele said. “Just in these three days of camp, I’ve learned a ton in meetings and super great for me to be able to do that. He’s a really good teacher, and it’s been helpful for me to learn from him as well as Coach EB (Eric Bieniemy and Coach (Andy) Reid as well.”
Overall, the gig with the Chiefs is an opportunity that checked all the boxes for Buechele. He won’t just be able to learn from the best and improve his game, but he’ll get to compete to make a team that has been the pinnacle of NFL success in recent years.
“Like I said before, this is a great opportunity for me,” Buechele explained. “I know the tradition here is a winning tradition, especially recently the Chiefs have been successful. So just the opportunity that I have here to be able to battle for a spot and to learn from everybody on this team is a great one and I’m thankful for it.”
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