Quarterback Patrick Mahomes won’t suit up for the Kansas City Chiefs’ regular season finale on Sunday, as the reigning back-to-back champions secured the AFC’s No. 1 seed with a win on Christmas Day. Instead, backup quarterback Carson Wentz will get his first start as a Chief, setting the stage for Wentz to make an argument for a starting job elsewhere in 2025.
On Thursday, a series of Chiefs assistant coaches spoke fondly of Wentz’s time in Kansas City and expressed their excitement for the veteran’s chance to take the field in Denver. Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy explained why Wentz has had a positive impact in KC despite not being forced into significant action this season.
“He made a little joke (Wednesday) in practice that … he’s talked more in one day than he has all year, we kind of chuckled about that,” Nagy said. “I’ve been following Carson, we all have, but I’ve been following him from the day he came in this league, and not really knowing him until this year, to see how he’s handed himself as an unbelievable No. 2 and backup and what he did in training camp, now he’s going to get an opportunity, and you really appreciate people like him. Literally, this is not different for him because he’s going to start. It’s not any different than any week that he goes into. When you find guys like that throughout the season, that are like that every week — they’re there, they’re out there, but they’re hard to find. Especially when you’re as talented as he is. So, as a coach, you get pumped up, you get excited and you want to go out there and do everything you can to help him go out and lead the team to a win.”
A similar sentiment was echoed later on Thursday when Chiefs linebackers coach Brendan Daly was asked what he’s seen from Wentz. Despite being on the defensive side of the ball, Daly’s takeaway from Wentz’s time in Kansas City was the backup’s consistency.
“Well, to be honest, my interaction Carson this week is not as much as it usually would be,” Daly said on Thursday. “In the previous weeks, when he was running the scout team, I had a little bit more. I’ve got a lot on my plate this week with my group, so my interaction with Carson’s been minimal, although I will say, he was one of first people I ran into this morning when I got here, which I thought to myself, y’know what, that’s pretty cool that he’s going to get an opportunity this week. People wouldn’t know, he’s in here at 6 a.m. every day through the course of the year when he’s not preparing to be the starter, but it was cool to see him this morning in that same environment and know he’s going to get an opportunity this week. Happy for him.”
Chiefs pass game coordinator Joe Bleymaier thought back to before the offseason and preseason when explaining why he’s looking forward to Wentz’s start.
“It brings a smile to my face,” Bleymaier said. “All through training camp and even the offseason, as Pat takes the reps with the starters and the first-team, and then Carson comes in with the second-group guys during training camp, and he’s throwing balls down the field, putting it right on time, I mean, he’s a professional quarterback at one of the highest degrees. And so all those guys that were playing with him all through training camp just really appreciated the opportunity to go play with a starting-level quarterback, even with the second-team. So, we always appreciated that and enjoyed having him here because it was like having another starter out there as we were practicing. And so now he gets to go out and kind of showcase what we’ve all been seeing all along. So, we’re excited for him, and the guys that are ready to go catch passes from him are excited for him too, because he’s demonstrated it to us all the way back since the spring.”
Looking ahead on behalf of Kansas City’s MVP quarterback, head coach Andy Reid alluded to how the week off “gives Pat time to work on certain things that he’ll do during the practices.” On Thursday, Nagy was asked what Mahomes’s week will look like as he prepares for a game he’s not expected to play in.
“Just being able to take a step back, almost as a coach and see it from our perspective, when you’re not in the play,” Nagy said. “And then on game day too, I know in these times in the past when Pat can be on the sideline in these moments and kind of see, from a coach’s perspective, what it’s like. Sometimes it’s a good little reset for you, but he continues to make sure that he’s working his feet. Like, yesterday, he was back in the back, working his feet and trying to keep that going, and more than anything, honestly, it’s the mental. Just seeing different angles of it.”
