Both the Chiefs’ starting and backup quarterbacks are locked in, but the defending Super Bowl champions are adding a third option to work behind Patrick Mahomes and Carson Wentz.
Andy Reid will see what he can coax from Bailey Zappe, with NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reporting the former Patriots backup/spot starter is joining the Chiefs on a practice squad deal. Zappe has once again cleared waivers, but this time he will leave New England.
Mahomes has not missed a game due to injury since the 2019 season, though he did miss time during the 2020 and ’22 divisional-round games. Wentz signed this year, after the Chiefs pursued him in 2023; those two are the only active-roster Chiefs arms. Zappe will attempt to reset in Missouri and learn from one of the best coaches in NFL history.
Generating fanfare after winning two games as a rookie, Zappe started eight games in two seasons. He is a 63.2% passer who holds an 11-to-12 TD-to-INT ratio. Zappe, who threw a Division I-FBS-record 62 touchdown passes during his lone season with Western Kentucky, has averaged 6.8 yards per attempt as a pro. He played in three Pats offenses in three years, so learning a new scheme will be rather familiar territory for the former fourth-round pick.
The Pats had waived Zappe in 2023, completing an unusual plan that had Mac Jones as the only QB on the roster for a bit. Zappe did return and eventually replaced a struggling Jones late last season. Zappe closed the 2023 slate as New England’s starter, but the team — now under Eliot Wolf‘s guidance — overhauled its QB room by signing Jacoby Brissett and drafting Drake Maye and Joe Milton. The sixth-round Tennessee prospect beat out Zappe for the Patriots’ QB3 gig.
Might as well. Zappe isn’t a great quarterback, but he has experience and can manage an offense well. His arm strength is rather poor, but he is precise enough to complete most shorter throws and has started games. That latter fact should be advantageous in picking up the basics of the playbook quickly.
Mahomes’s job security is in real danger now. I envision sleepless nights, nightmares, prayer sessions…a life spinning out of control and all because the Chiefs organization decided he needed to be Zapped. (sarcasm intended)