On Wednesday, Kansas City Chiefsā head coach Andy Reid announced that his backup quarterback Carson Wentz will take Patrick Mahomesā place in Sundayās regular-season finale against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field.
And while Mahomes wonāt be making direct preparations to play in Denver, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy said that the starting quarterback will be getting ready for the postseason by stepping back to see how the teamās offense works from a coachās perspective.
Meanwhile, Nagy and Wentz will be hard at work.
āHe made a little joke yesterday in practice that this was the most heās talked in one day all year,ā recalled the coordinator on Thursday. āWe kind of chuckled about that.ā
Nagy said that like the head coach ā who has described himself as one of Wentzās ābiggest fansā ā heās rooting for the veteran quarterback to succeed.
āIāve been following Carson ā we all have ā from the day he came into this league,ā said Nagy, ā[but] not really knowing him until this year. To see how heās handled himself as an unbelievable No. 2 and backup ā and what he did in training camp?
āNow heās going to get an opportunity. You really appreciate people like him. Literally, this is not different for him because heās gonna start. Itās not any different than any week that he goes into.ā
Nagy has been around long enough to know there arenāt many players like him.
āTheyāre out there, but theyāre hard to find,ā he declared, āespecially when youāre as talented as he is. So as a coach, you get pumped up ā and you want to go out there and do everything you can to help him go out and lead the team to a win.ā
Linebackers coach Brendan Daly also counts himself among Wentzās admirers.
āHe was one of the first people I ran into this morning when I got here,ā he revealed. āI thought to myself, āYou know what? Thatās pretty cool that heās going to get an opportunity this week.ā
āPeople wouldnāt know heās in here at 6 a.m. every day through the course of the year when heās not preparing to be the starter. But it was cool to see him this morning in that same environment ā and know heās going to get an opportunity this week. [Iām] happy for him.ā