Barring an injury or something completely unforeseen occurring, the Kansas City Chiefs know who their starting quarterback will be when they take the field in Week 1 for their matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers.
The biggest question in Kansas City's quarterback room entering the 2025 campaign will be which veteran will serve as the primary backup and be the next man up, if All-Pro signal caller Patrick Mahomes is unable to take the field.
This will ultimately be decided between now and the end of training camp, but if the recent comments from Andy Reid are any indication, it appears that one veteran already has a leg up on the competition and may have already won the primary backup job.
Chiefs Coach Andy Reid Ends Backup QB Competition Before It Started
The Chiefs open up minicamp on June 17, and there will be plenty of eyes on the performances from veteran backup quarterbacks Gardner Minshew and Bailey Zappe. While anything can happen between now and the start of the regular season, Andy Reid is talking like one of the two has a clear advantage over the other.
During a recent press conference, Reid singled out Minshew and explained how he believes the veteran will be the perfect complement to Mahomes on the sidelines and in the quarterback room.
“He’s been there — he’s started, so he’s got that,” Reid said, via NBC Sports. “He’s got the confidence of the guys around him. Patrick knows he’s been in there and done it, so they can bounce things off of each other.
“It’s always good to have peers that have played, and you can talk to them about it a little bit. I think on gameday he’ll be great with Patrick, just with what he’s seeing from the sideline and what Pat’s seeing when he’s in there.”
Those quotes from Reid sure do make it sound like this is Minshew's job to lose heading into minicamp and, later this fall, training camp. There is good reasoning for this, as Reid noted during his presser, as Minshew has a level of experience that Zappe doesn't possess.
If Reid were forced to turn to a quarterback other than Mahomes during the 2025 season, it seems like he would be quite comfortable putting the ball in the hands of Minshew if he had no other options. Given Minshew's numbers when he has been on the field, he has thrown for nearly 12,000 yards during his NFL career to go along with 68 touchdown passes and just 34 interceptions, it makes perfect sense why Reid would seemingly favor him over other options on the roster at this time.
That experience is something that Reid values greatly and seems to believe it will help the team's depth at the most important position on the field.