Kansas City Chiefs QB depth chart 2021: Starters and backup players
The Kansas City Chiefs have arguably the safest quarterback room in the NFL. The Chiefs do not have the same age issues as with Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers but they have a similar level of talent.
Meanwhile, the backup is just right. Here's what the quarterback room looks like for the Kansas City Chiefs this season.
Kansas City Chiefs 2021 depth chart: Quarterbacks
Starter: Patrick Mahomes
Backup: Chad Henne
Kansas City Chiefs depth chart analysis
Starter
Okay, look. Patrick Mahomes lost the Super Bowl to Tom Brady, but that was a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team fashioned specifically for Brady.
Looking forward, Patrick Mahomes has more going for him than Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. At 25, the Chiefs star is younger than the NFL MVP and Tom Brady, but also has an incredible level of talent that's been known to shape the trajectory of a franchise.
Aaron Rodgers has thrown 99 touchdowns and 11 interceptions since the start of the 2018 season. During that span, Tom Brady has thrown 93 touchdowns and 31 interceptions. Russell Wilson, meanwhile, has thrown 106 touchdowns and 25 interceptions.
Patrick Mahomes, in comparison, has thrown 114 touchdowns and 23 interceptions in that same amount of time. He's outperformed everyone since his first full season with a fraction of the experience.
Lastly, he's been to as many Super Bowls as Russell Wilson and more than Aaron Rodgers. Brace yourself, it's Mayhem Mahomes season.
Backup
There's a massive drop in the pecking order after Mahomes. This is not a slight on backup QB Chad Henne's abilities, but Mahomes' star will continue to shine bright for the next decade or so.
In a vacuum, Chad Henne could be seen as one of the better backups in the league. Henne is 36 years old and has seen a lot in the NFL.
While he has only played in one playoff game, he has been to 12 games. He was inactive for two of them and did not play in the rest. However, whenever he has taken the field in place of Patrick Mahomes, he has shown he can keep the ship afloat.
He has one playoff win under his belt in his only playoff game with the Kansas City Chiefs, which came against the Cleveland Browns. He completed six of eight passes and threw an interception in that outing. It wasn't pretty, but it allowed the Kansas City Chiefs to get healthy and resume their march toward the Super Bowl.