The Kansas City Chiefs haven’t had a ton of repetitions to go around at training camp.
The way that training camp is set up this year, the Chiefs are in a bit of a “time crunch” as Andy Reid described it. That’s led to the first-team offense (Patrick Mahomes) and the second-team offense (Chad Henne) getting a lot of work. There hasn’t been much in the way of repetitions leftover for the two other quarterbacks on the roster, Matt Moore and Jordan Ta’amu.
Despite limited repetitions, the Chiefs are taking notice of the youngest quarterback on the roster. Even Andy Reid recently praised the work ethic of 22-year-old Jordan Ta’amu this past week. When Chiefs backup QB Chad Henne spoke to the media on Monday, there was nothing but praise for his new teammate.
“Jordan, he’s been phenomenal,” Henne said. “He’s a young, talented guy. He was in the XFL and had some experience there. He came in and he’s willing to learn. He’s done some really great things. Today was a good opportunity for him to go out there doing the scout team for the defense. He did a really nice job. He’s just going to keep learning, picking our brains each and every day, but he has a great upside.”
Alex Smith gets a ton of credit for Mahomes’ development, however, Henne was the backup quarterback who was there for Mahomes during his MVP-winning 2018 season. He was happy to become a mentor to Mahomes during his first season as a starting quarterback and he did a fine job.
Should Ta’amu stick around beyond the preseason, Henne will be instrumental in his development. It’s good to know that Henne believes Ta’amu has the talent, but also the mindset to be successful in this league. Not everyone is built that way.
An interesting note from Henne is that Ta’amu is already running the scout team offense for the Chiefs’ first-team defense. Ta’amu’s skillset is very similar to that of Houston Texans QB Deshaun Watson, who comes to Kansas City in Week 1. Ta’amu running the scout team would suggest the obvious, that he’s looking at a job on the practice squad in 2020.
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