Kansas City Chiefs share thoughts ahead of first preseason game
By Calvin Silvers
The Kansas City Chiefs wrapped up their last training camp session on Wednesday, as they’ll travel for their first preseason game on Saturday in Jacksonville against the Jaguars.
Head coach Andy Reid mentioned that Nick Bolton, Jaaron Hayek, Chris Jones, Kelvin Joseph, Justin Reid, Kadarius Toney and Joe Thuney will likely not play in that game. Reid also mentioned that the first string will get the first quarter, the second string in the second quarter, third string in the third, and the fourth string in the fourth quarter.
For Reid, he’s not worried about playing his three-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback early in the season.
“I mean, listen, I allow him (Patrick Mahomes) to get in the swing of things and, you know, the ones (first string) know how to do that, both sides of the ball, they know how to go about doing that,” Reid said. “Somewhere you’ve got to get on there and shoot and so it gives him an opportunity to do that.”
However, cuts will continue to be made on this year’s roster, and what better time to showcase why you belong than in the preseason? Rookies and newcomers alike will get that opportunity, including this year’s first couple of draft picks going against tough competition.
“All those young guys, I’d love to see how they compete. You know, the higher draft picks are going to be in there against a little bit better competition, so I want to see how they how they handle that,” Reid said. “They’ll be in there working but I’m anticipating good things.”
With the starters getting to play the first quarter, Mahomes will suit up with new additions in Xavier Worthy and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. For Mahomes, he mentioned that the offense is now capable of going over the top with their speed, but had to learn to balance the passing attack with a running game.
Hoping to showcase a little of both in the quarter of action he’ll get, Mahomes is ready to try and dissect a defense not coached by Steve Spagnuolo.
“I mean, you get to go out there and play for real and play against someone else, I’m tired of going against Spags and every defense known to man,” Mahomes said. “I think just going out there, letting the guys play, make decisions under fire, and have them make the right decision and learn from mistakes after.”
As for trying to stay healthy for the regular season, Mahomes hopes for just the right amount of physicality early on.
“I always want to get hit but not hit hard, so if I can just throw the ball and one of those defensive ends just wants to give me a little push, that’s all I need,” Mahomes said. “I like playing in the preseason, honestly, getting in there and trying to make sure that we’re doing stuff the right way and then getting out, trying to keep everybody healthy and then playing the sport that I love.”
That’s not the only excitement this week, as the Chiefs locked down Super Bowl-winning kicker Harrison Butker for the long haul. The Chiefs and Butker agreed to terms on a four-year, $25.6 million contract extension.
The new deal includes $17.8 million in guaranteed money, and makes the 29-year-old the highest-paid kicker in the NFL, passing Jake Elliott and Justin Tucker’s 6 million-per-year average.
“I’m very grateful to be in this position,” Butker said. “You know, it’s almost surreal to think about the success that I’ve been able to have, you know, I put in a lot of work and effort to be the best.”
What’s even more impressive is that Butker negotiated the deal on his own. Labeling himself as an introvert, the process was a major learning experience.
“It would have been easy for me to, you know, have an agent handle the contract, but I kind of attacked this fear and I, you know, wanted to go out and have faith in myself, to represent myself and do something that not a lot of players do,” Butker said. “It wasn’t too difficult, you know, I was an industrial engineer at Georgia Tech, so I can handle the spreadsheets.”
