Who is Kansas City Chiefs’ emergency backup quarterback in Week 16 — Travis Kelce makes sense, but other options could be favored
The Kansas City Chiefs have a few different options for the emergency backup quarterback in Week 16 and beyond.
Thankfully, the Kansas City Chiefs haven’t often had to use an emergency backup quarterback. However, with star QB Patrick Mahomes on injured reserve, the team has just two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster, Gardner Minshew and Chris Oladokun. But what happens if both quarterbacks are injured?
The Chiefs don’t have a third quarterback on the practice squad they can elevate, make inactive, and use as their emergency backup per NFL rules. In the past, when they’ve run into an injury situation with Mahomes and been left with just one other active quarterback on the 53-man roster, Andy Reid has revealed some unique players as the team’s emergency backup quarterbacks.
In Week 7 of the 2019 NFL season, when Mahomes dislocated his kneecap, it was fullback Anthony Sherman as the team’s emergency backup. Yes, the fullback affectionately nicknamed “The Sausage” was the team’s emergency quarterback.
Fast forward to when Mahomes hurt his ankle in the 2022-2023 AFC Divisional Round game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, and it was RB Jerick McKinnon who was the emergency backup quarterback. McKinnon was a triple-option quarterback at Georgia Southern in college, rushing for 3,899 yards and 42 touchdowns during his four-year career. Throwing the football was not his forte, though. He had just 31 completed passes on 72 attempts for 805 yards and 12 touchdowns with four interceptions.
Both of those players are no longer on the roster for Kansas City, so who is the most likely to get the nod if necessary in Week 16 against the Tennessee Titans and beyond?
Chiefs TE Travis Kelce is likely the No. 1 emergency backup quarterback option
The likeliest candidate for the Chiefs’ emergency backup quarterback job this week and beyond is none other than future Hall of Fame tight end Travis Kelce. Chiefs fans might recall Week 11 of the 2017 NFL season, when Kelce threw an interception against the New York Giants when Steve Spagnuolo was still coaching there.
Kelce completed a single pass for four yards back in 2020, with the other throw that season falling incomplete. Kelce, of course, was a dual-threat quarterback at Cleveland Heights High School in Ohio, passing for over 1,500 yards and rushing for more than 1,000 during his senior year before transitioning to the tight end position at the University of Cincinnati.
With Kelce’s football-playing future in question, it’d only make sense for the team’s most prominent leader and veteran to take up the mantle of emergency quarterback in the final three weeks of the season.
If it’s not Kelce, it’ll likely be someone else in the tight end room.
The Chiefs’ tight end room is filled with players who might be considered in an emergency backup QB situation
Update: The Chiefs say that the third QB helmet (which carries a communications system) belongs to TE Noah Gray. He’d likely be next-man-up if Chris Oladokun were injured, now that Gardner Minshew has been ruled out.
Virtually, the entire Chiefs tight end room could play quarterback in a pinch, given their history playing the position. The big question is, who does the coaching staff trust most?
- TE Jared Wiley: An All-District quarterback during his senior year of high school in Temple, Texas, Wiley completed 149-of-258 passes for 2,314 yards, 27 TDs, and only 5 INTs.
- TE Robert Tonyan: Played quarterback in high school at McHenry East in Illinois, setting a school record with over 5,000 career passing yards and 40 touchdowns before switching to wide receiver and eventually tight end in college at Indiana State.
- TE Noah Gray: Was a high school dual‑threat quarterback in Leominster, Massachusetts, throwing for 1,707 yards and 21 TDs as a junior before transitioning to receiver/tight end as a senior, then becoming a full‑time tight end at Duke.
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