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Head coach Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Kansas City Chiefs are heading into an unusually long offseason with one big question to be answered — just who will replace Patrick Mahomes if he’s not ready to start the season.
Mahomes was knocked out of the team’s Week 15 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, suffering a torn ACL that ended his season. The Chiefs were also eliminated from playoff contention with that loss, making this the first time in more than a decade that Kansas City won’t advance to the postseason.
It’s not clear yet how long Mahomes will take to recover, but the Chiefs could have a surprise option to fill in for him if needed.
Chiefs Could Give Tua Tagovailoa a Fresh Start
The Miami Dolphins announced prior to Week 16 that they were benching starter Tua Tagovailoa, ending a season filled with struggles for the veteran quarterback and turning to rookie Quinn Ewers over the final three weeks.
The benching left Tagovailoa’s future in Miami in doubt, with some suggesting that the Chiefs could be his next NFL home. Miami Sun-Sentinel reporter David Furones noted that the Chiefs are considered one of the top contenders to land Tagovailoa if the Dolphins choose to cut ties.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler suggested the Dolphins could make a clean break, with other league executives seeing the Denver Broncos as an example.
“They should follow the Broncos’ blueprint with Russell Wilson and just rip the Band-Aid off,” a league source told Fowler. “They seem very obviously done with him.”
The Broncos took a dead cap hit of $85 million when they released Wilson in March 2024, but it allowed them to move quickly into rebuild mode. They have made the playoffs in each of the last two seasons with Bo Nix at quarterback.
Tagovailoa has fallen out of favor as the team is headed to its second straight year with a losing record. Though Tagovailoa signed a $212 million contract extension in 2024, the team now appears ready to move on and find a new quarterback.
Chiefs Could Turn to In-House Option
Reporter Dominic Minchella of SI.com suggested the Chiefs already have their replacement for Mahomes in backup Gardner Minshew. Though Minshew was also hurt and placed on season-ending injured reserve, he has plenty of experience as an NFL starter.
Minchella noted that head coach Andy Reid was also impressed with the poise shown by third-stringer Chris Oladokun in last week’s loss to the Tennessse Titans.
“Yeah, I thought he did okay,” Reid said. “He was able to get us moving a little bit. And I probably could’ve given him better stuff to work with, particularly given him some more reps during the week. He didn’t have any reps leading in. But I thought for what he was asked to do, I thought he did nice job.”
The Chiefs may not need to find a second option. Many players who have suffered a torn ACL have been able to return in around nine months, though Mahomes also suffered an LCL injury that could complicate his return time.
Nathan Dougherty is a sports reporter covering the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins. Previously he wrote for the Rochester Business Journal and served as the assistant editor of athletic trade magazines Coaching Management, Athletic Management and Training & Conditioning. He is based out of Rochester, New York, and loves everything football. More about Nathan Dougherty
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