Should the Kansas City Chiefs draft a quarterback in 2019 NFL Draft?
While the Kansas City Chiefs have their quarterback of the future in Patrick Mahomes, having a decent backup is always important for NFL teams. Is that incentive for the Chiefs to select one in the 2019 NFL Draft?
When asking the question “Should the Chiefs draft a quarterback this year?”, hopefully people know that it’d be to address the backup spot and not the starter. The Kansas City Chiefs are more than set at starting quarterback, as Patrick Mahomes just won MVP in his first full year as a starter.
As for the backup quarterback spot, however, that’s a different story.
Chad Henne is currently slated to be the backup in 2019 and it’d lead to a $4 million cap hit, per Spotrac, if the Chiefs decided not to continue on with Henne as the second signal caller. Henne only saw action in one game last season, it was the season finale against the Raiders, where he threw two completions for 29 yards.
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In other words, we didn’t see much of Henne last season and that was a good thing. There really isn’t a need to move on from him this offseason, but could the Chiefs still opt to add a quarterback in this year’s draft?
Henne is a free agent after this season and the only other quarterback on the depth chart is Chase Litton, who was an undrafted rookie this past year. Litton spent the year on the practice squad and it wouldn’t be shocking if a team snatched him from KC this summer.
The Chiefs definitely wouldn’t go after the big dogs like Dwayne Haskins, Kyler Murray, and local guy Drew Lock, but could a quarterback on Day 3 end up happening? Could they also do what they did with Litton and sign an undrafted guy to a deal?
Some of the names who should be floating around in the later rounds are Easton Stick (North Dakota State), Trace McSorley (Penn State), Nick Fitzgerald (Mississippi State), and Gardner Minshew (Washington State). These would all be players still on the board by late in the process on Day 3 and could be viable third string options.
More than likely, Kansas City does not draft a quarterback, but signing one who goes undrafted might not be out of the question. Litton looked promising in the preseason last season, but it was just that… preseason football.
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Should Patrick Mahomes get injured, it’s important that the Chiefs have a serviceable backup. Chad Henne falls into that category, but if he isn’t brought back in 2020, it’d be nice to have someone on the roster who knows the offense and could step in if need be.
Would you want the Chiefs to draft or sign an undrafted quarterback this spring?