You would think that with so little turn over in the roster that the Kansas City Chiefs would have a quiet and business as usual preseason. In some respects that has been true, but the next two weeks will be anything but normal.
NFL preseason is like when you want a Chick-fil-A sandwich but settle for the McDonald's version
— David DeWeil (@daviddeweil) August 19, 2017
It’s now exactly 15 days until opening day… or evening… in Foxboro, Mass. where the Chiefs will travel to face the New England Patriots. That one bit of scheduling by the NFL has had Chiefs fans excited and tentative for months now. Team preparations for a Thursday night game will not go as usual. Number one, facing the defensing Super Bowl champions is a big enough task, but facing them on opening night IN THEIR HOUSE takes on even more meaning as well as preparation.
Normally, the third game of the preseason will see the starters play the first half and into the third quarter, but his year, head coach Andy Reid has already come out and said his starters will play throughout the first three quarters of play.
Andy Reid says that the starters are expected to play 3 quarters this Friday. #Chiefs
— 610 Sports Radio (@610SportsKC) August 23, 2017
This may also mean that the starters will only play one series in the preseason finale.
Another surprising little twist that is making this offseason more of a tangled web to weave is the mandatory development of a back up QB. Functionally, that means that whoever is going to be the back up — and every indication is that it will be rookie Patrick Mahomes II — must get more snaps. One of the consequences of that needing to happen is that starter Alex Smith gets fewer snaps. With Alex entering his fifth year in Andy Reid’s system, that should raise no problems for Smith moving into the season but that fact that the Chiefs have no back up QB with any regular season snaps in the NFL is at a minim, problematic.
In any normal year’s set of preseason games (and is there really ever anything you can call “normal?”), the starting QB would have played another series or two in preseason game two. However, as you witnessed, Patrick Mahomes came in and played lights out while making one good play after another. Which, is not only what we want to see out of a backup QB… but obviously… PM2 is not just a “back up” QB. He represents the face and future for the Kansas City Chiefs organization.
Another wildly different twist to this preseason is that teams are not required to make that first cut down to 75 players on the Monday following preseason game three… which would have been this coming Monday. The aspect of that cut down that I liked, was that teams could not only cut the players who should be cut, but could also cut a few of the players who were going to get cut following the last preseason game and by cutting them early would give them a chance to hook up with another team. It’s a kind of tip-of-the-hat to that player and a wishing them well. Now, that is gone.
There could be cutdowns made this coming Monday and I wouldn’t be surprised to see teams do that. However, as far as the Chiefs are concerned, they’re scheduled to play their first regular season game only three days after the final cutdown. So, I won’t be shocked if their cuts come early. The other advantage to cutting a player you know you;re going to cut early is, it makes space for you to pick up some good players which other teams have cut… if they should become available.
Another aberrant behavior you may see happening across the league is more trades in the next few weeks. With the first cut down banished and teams wanting to make moves to improve their teams, we could see more trades.
#Redskins acquired center Lucas Crowley from the #Steelers in exchange for CB Dashaun Phillips. You'll see a bunch of these types of trades
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 24, 2017
While that trade surprises me a bit, it won’t be surprising to see many more like it. My personal view is that there is more DB talent in the league than there is OL talent so for the Steelers to give up Crowley is curious. However, considering that Pittsburgh is strong and deep on their OL and need DB help, then it makes sense. The point is, teams can make moves to fill gaps in their starting lineups by making a move like this so… like Rapoport… I think more trades are on their way. Don’t expect Alex Smith to be traded… but I wouldn’t be surprised to see our Veach Boy make a move at any position.
It’s been strange enough to go through a preseason without John Dorsey orchestrating the roster but going into a season with a first round QBOTF under our belts is the biggest surprise of all. The next few weeks will be exciting for sure but it may not look or sound like any other preseason in recent memory.
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