Kansas City Chiefs HC Andy Reid continues to stick to his guns on his preseason routine. He doesn’t intend to change it just because the NFL eliminated a preseason game.
In the first week of the preseason, the Chiefs’ starters played a full quarter, with the exception of star QB Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes played just four snaps in his 2021 preseason debut. This week Reid anticipates a continued ramp-up as he’s done in previous years.
Reid clarified to the media on Wednesday that the starters, including Mahomes, will get closer to a full half of play against the Arizona Cardinals on Friday.
“Yeah, so like I mentioned yesterday, we’ll go a half somewhere thereabout with the starters,” Reid said. “Then the 2’s and 3’s will get the second half, which is the third and fourth quarter. We’ll just split it up there.”
Other teams have been extremely cautious with the star players, especially at the quarterback position. The Chiefs, however, have a different plan in mind for Mahomes. There are obvious concerns with keeping Mahomes healthy, but he also needs to get comfortable with new players.
“I think it’s a mix because health is obviously important, but getting used to those new guys that he’s dealing with, I think, is also important,” Reid explained on Monday. “Them hearing his voice is important in a game situation with fans and so on.”
Reid also wants players to get more opportunities to work with Mahomes’ cadence in a live game. It’s pretty hard to do that with just four snaps. Will Mahomes play the full first half with the rest of the starters? Probably not. Will he play more than four snaps this game? You can bet on it.
“There’s a pretty good chance, yeah,” Reid said of Mahomes’ preseason Week 2 snap count. “More than the four plays.”
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