Kansas City Chiefs HC Andy Reid is sticking to his preseason routine for the Week 1 tilt with the Chicago Bears.
That means that the Chiefs’ starting lineup, including QB Patrick Mahomes, will get the full first quarter of repetitions on offense and defense in preseason Week 1. He says that the plan is to give every quarterback a full quarter, meaning Chad Henne and the second team will get the second quarter. Shane Buechele and the third team will get the third quarter. Dustin Crum and the fourth team will get the fourth quarter.
“As far as the game goes, we’ll go quarters for the quarterbacks,” Reid said. “So each one will get a quarter and their group will kind of follow along with that. We’ll try to get the young guys the majority of the reps as we go and make sure they get enough work.”
Reid is intent on getting his starters, backups and the young players as many repetitions as he can during the preseason. They don’t always have the repetitions to evaluate players in full during the course of training camp. He also likes to get his starters mentally prepared to play. He says doing things this way will make it so that they’re best prepared for the Week 1 opener against the Arizona Cardinals.
Obviously, things are flexible with the starting lineup. It’s possible that he sees enough in one series and pulls them off the field early. Given the conditions of the grass field in Chicago, that might be the ideal scenario in order to avoid injury. Things are different now for Reid with just three preseason games.
“Yeah, I was good with the three games,” Reid said. “We can still get our work done. There’s a balance there. We let the 1’s get a little bit of work and the guys that are going to play in the game and still have competition at certain positions and still give the young guys a look. We have to make these cuts as hard as it can be on Brett (Veach) and myself.”
Depth players and guys on the roster bubble are at a big disadvantage now without a fourth preseason game now. They need to make every opportunity count when they’re on the football field. This first preseason game is super important for them because they’ll get their most snaps of the preseason. Typically the starters will get up to a full half of play by the second preseason game and nearly three quarters in the third and final game.
With the first wave of roster cuts from 90 to 85 players coming on Tuesday, Aug. 16, Reid’s message to players is simply to get out there and play.
“Don’t count the numbers,” Reid said. “Everyone is going to have an opportunity to play. When you get your chance to play— play. Don’t start counting numbers, this guy’s here, this guy’s here, I’m on the third team, he’s on the second team. Don’t do that. Just go play.”
