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[Kansas City Chiefs]

Andy Reid, Gardner Minshew find positives in preseason loss to Seahawks

The Kansas City Chiefs didn’t look very sharp during Friday night’s 33-16 preseason loss to the Seattle Seahawks. But while the Seahawks rolled to victory on the backs of their dominant rushing performance — racking up 174 rushing yards in the first half and 268 overall — the Chiefs used the game to test its young players and evaluate their depth.

“It’s a great environment out here to see what you’ve got,” head coach Andy Reid told reporters during his postgame press conference. “A lot of these guys are battling to make the team. We were able to get them in there so we can evaluate them. I thought [in] this game here, that was [the] most important. The ‘ones’ will get a little more time next week as we go forward on Thursday. But again, there are always some good things — [and] a lot of things we can learn — from here, too.”

Quarterback Gardner Minshew was one of the few veterans to get extended action, leading two drives. His first ended in frustration when the Chiefs stalled on a fourth-and-one at the Seahawks’ 15-yard line, but he responded with a sharp second series capped by a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Robert Tonyan.

TONYAN TD pic.twitter.com/vT9VvJN0ym

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) August 16, 2025

“He’s a super-smart player,” Minshew said, praising the seventh-year tight end who’s battling for a spot on the roster. “He has a great feel for space; [he] just got out there. He’s working with me. It was a good play by him.”

Minshew finished the night completing 7-of-9 passes for 70 yards and a touchdown. While disappointed with the missed opportunity on the opening drive, he was ultimately pleased to get valuable snaps with the starters.

“Anytime you get out there and get reps, it’s a good time,” he noted. “Glad to be working with some of the ‘ones,’ just get my communication right — to be able to go out there and operate.”

Meanwhile, Reid weighed in on several roster battles. Although he said that the offensive line was just “okay” and would need further review on film, Reid was more candid about wide receiver Skyy Moore. The former second-round pick struggled with drops on both offense and special teams before redeeming himself with an 88-yard punt return touchdown.

Skyy Moore goes 88 yards on the punt return for six!

Watch on @NFLNetwork
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/xEeFqY432G

— NFL (@NFL) August 16, 2025

“He’s a lot better than that,” Reid said of Moore’s miscues. “He had three bobbles and drops, [both on] special teams and with throws. [He] came back with a big play, so I’m proud of him for that. It wasn’t his best night up to that point.”

While the night belonged to the Seahawks on the scoreboard, the Chiefs benefitted by building depth, identifying contributors and letting players like Minshew find rhythm in live action. Patrick Mahomes and other key starters rested for this one, but Reid didn’t rule out playing his star quarterback when the Chiefs return home to face the Chicago Bears in their final preseason game on Friday

“I’ll give you all that as we get closer,” Reid said of Mahomes’ playing time next week. “Yeah… there’s a chance to get more work.”

Source: https://www.arrowheadpride.com/nfl-...rdner-minshew-find-positives-in-seahawks-loss

 

[Kansas City Chiefs]

What do the Chiefs-Seahawks snap counts tell us about how the depth chart has changed?

Following the Kansas City Chiefs’ preaseason loss to the Arizona Cardinals, we used Anthony Reinhard’s play-by-play snap count analysis (available at StatButler.com) to estimate a Kansas City depth chart going into preseason Week 1.

Now we’ll use the same analysis from Friday night’s 33-16 loss to the Seattle Seahawks to see how the depth chart changed after the first game.

By looking at this data, we can estimate that going into Friday’s game, Kansas City’s depth charts probably looked something like these. Players whose positions have substantially changed since the Week 1 game are listed in bold.

Offense​

Pos	1st	2nd/5th	3rd/6th	4th/7th
WR1	Rashee Rice	Hollywood Brown	Tyquan Thornton	Jason Brownlee (3rd)
–	–	Skyy Moore	Jimmy Holiday	Elijhah Badger (6th)
WR2	Xavier Worthy	JuJu Smith-Shuster	Jalen Royals (4th)	Nikko Remigo
–	–	Mac Dalena	Hal Presley (4th)	Key’Shawn Smith
LT	Josh Simmons	Wanya Morris	Esa Pole (RT)	–
LG	Kingsley Suamataia	Mike Caliendo	Dalton Cooper	–
C	Creed Humprhey	Hunter Nourzad	Joey Lombard	–
RG	Trey Smith	C.J. Hanson	Ethan Driskell	–
RT	Jawaan Taylor	Jaylon Moore	Chu Godrick (LT)	–
TE	Travis Kelce	Noah Gray	Jared Wiley (4th)	Robert Tonyan (3rd)
–	–	Jake Briningstool	Tre Watson	Geof’Quarius Spivey
QB	Patrick Mahomes	Gardner Minshew	Chris Oladokun (4th)	Bailey Zappe (3rd)
RB	Isiah Pacheco	Kareem Hunt	Brashard Smith (4th)	Elijah Mitchell (3rd)
–	–	Elijah Young	–	–
FB	Carson Steele	–	–	–

Defense​

Pos	1st	2nd/5th	3rd/6th	4th/7th
DE	Mike Danna	Charles Omenihu	Felix Anudike-Uzomah	Nate Matlock (New)
DT	Chris Jones	Jerry Tillery	Marlon Tuipulotu	Coziah Izzard
DT	Mike Pennel	Omarr Norman-Lott	Fabien Lovett	–
DE	George Karlaftis	Ashton Gillotte	Malik Herring	–
LB	Nick Bolton	Jack Cochrane	Cooper McDonald	–
LB	Drue Tranquill	Cole Christiansen	Cam Jones	–
LB	Leo Chenal	Jeff Bassa	Brandon George	–
CB1	Trent McDuffie	Kristian Fulton	Nohl Willams	Melvin Smith (5th)
–	–	Ajani Carter (6th)	–	–
CB2	Jaylen Watson	Nazeeh Johnson	Joshua Williams (4th)	Kevin Knowles
–	–	Jacobe Covington (6th)	Azizi Hearn (5th)	–
S	Bryan Cook	Jaden Hicks	Mike Edwards (2nd)	Major Williams
S	Chamarri Conner	Christian Roland-Wallace (3rd CB)	Glendon Miller	–

Some notes​

• During the preseason, we should expect depth charts to be fluid. Based on what happened during Friday’s game, these have probably changed already. They could change again tomorrow.
• Strictly based on snap counts, some players might have been higher on the depth chart. But sometimes teams hope to generate trade interest by featuring a player they don’t think they’ll keep. We believe Skyy Moore’s use is an example of this phenomenon.
• These charts do not account for special teams considerations. This is why we now have Brashard Smith in front of Elijah Mitchell: because Mitchell does not get snaps on special teams.
• We’re projecting cornerback Kristian Fulton — who hasn’t played in either preseason matchup — as a second-string player, based on where he played during his handful of training camp practices.
• Because of the way he was used in Friday’s game, Reinhard has listed Christian Roland-Wallace as a safety. He could easily go back to being counted as a cornerback in the next game. This is the result of defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo doing what he does: moving players from one role to another.

We’ll look forward to seeing how this data changes when the Chiefs host the Chicago Bears on Friday night.

Source: https://www.arrowheadpride.com/kans...th-chart-what-do-seahawks-snap-counts-tell-us

 

[Kansas City Chiefs]

Arrowheadlines: Patrick Mahomes greatness stops other Quarterbacks achieving theirs

The latest​

Who can beat the Chiefs? Is it finally time for Bills, Ravens or Bengals to end Patrick Mahomes’ AFC reign? | CBS Sports

One of the greatest testaments to Michael Jordan’s greatness, even perhaps in line with his sterling 6-0 NBA Finals record, is the players he prevented from winning rings. John Stockton and Karl Malone in Utah. Charles Barkley in Philadelphia and Phoenix. Patrick Ewing in New York. Reggie Miller in Indianapolis. All Hall of Famers, all turned away.

Patrick Mahomes has not ascended to that level, but with five AFC titles and three Super Bowls in the last six years, there’s a similar air of inevitability within his conference. Think of the moments: the 13-second field goal drive to force overtime and then beat Josh Allen’s Bills in the 2021 playoffs, the late hit out of bounds he drew to beat Joe Burrow’s Bengals in the 2022 playoffs, the deep dagger to beat Lamar Jackson’s Ravens in the 2023 playoffs, the fourth-quarter rally to beat Allen’s Bills again last season.

They’re infuriating, or they’re magical, depending on your perspective. You just have to shake your head and laugh sometimes. Mahomes is 6-1 in the postseason against the AFC’s other “Big Three” quarterbacks, owning a 15-2 passing touchdown-to-interception ratio in those seven games.

Fantasy football 2025: Hype train or smoke screen? Making sense of NFL preseason news | NFL.com

3) Travis Kelce believes his production might have “slipped” with “more focus” on his opportunities as an entertainer.

Taylor Swift is the greatest thing that has happened to the NFL since Tim Tebow. No, I will not be explaining any further. But for all Tay-Tay’s powers, it seems there will always be those pushing the narrative that she’s somehow to blame when her pass-catching beau struggles on the field or when his team gets smoked in the Super Bowl. Forget Kansas City’s 15-2 regular season and a berth in a third straight Big Game. They’ll say the reason Kelce and the Chiefs got poleaxed by the Eagles was because he was too busy cavorting on stage during a pop star’s world tour.

While Kelce himself didn’t put any blame on Swift in the comments published by GQ, he probably isn’t doing anything to quiet the narrative by suggesting that maybe he was a teensy bit distracted by his recently skyrocketed Q rating. After all, these days it’s hard to avoid seeing one Kelce or another podcasting, pitching products, or portraying poltergeists.

I can’t imagine the Chiefs loved hearing that analysis after one of the least productive seasons of his career. Good news! I’m here to offer a much simpler explanation: Maybe Kelce is just declining.

There’s no shame in that. I’m Pull-a-Muscle-In-My-Neck-While-Sneezing years old. I get it. Father Time eventually walks all of us down. According to Next Gen Stats, Kelce’s average speed, burst score and percentage of yards after the catch were all the lowest marks he’s posted in the past five seasons. Saying you’re more focused on the day job feels like a way to shrug off a down year. But it’s more likely that Kelce is just in his Getting Old Era.

(Please don’t come after me, Swifties.)

Jason McCourty identifies threats for the Chiefs in the AFC West | Chiefs Wire

“I feel like the conversation of them being knocked off has less to do about Kansas City and their lack of talent, scheme, whatever you want to place your blame on, saying another team is going to take over,” said McCourty “I think it has more to do when you look at their division as more to do with when you watch Bo Nix last year, you have no reason not to believe that he’s going to be an even better player this year under Sean Payton in year two, when you watch what Vance Joseph did with Denver’s defense, then you add Talenola Hufanga, and you add Dre Greenlaw. They’re going to be even better. When you look at what the Chargers did with Jim Harbaugh in year one, well, dang, look what he was able to do with Justin Herbert. Yes, they lost the playoff games, but they got there in year one, just like they’re only getting better in year two. Then you add Pete Carroll in the division and Geno Smith. So I think it has less to do with them (Chiefs).”

For Chiefs, 3 areas of concern loom after preseason loss to Seahawks | The Athletic

3. A deep group is becoming thin

Just last month, Pro Football Focus ranked the Chiefs’ secondary second best in the NFL while lauding the team’s depth.

That advantage took a hit on Friday, as three projected rotation players left the game with injury.

Cornerbacks Nazeeh Johnson (shoulder), Nohl Williams (concussion protocol) and safety Mike Edwards (hamstring) all exited and didn’t return. Reid didn’t provide any further update on those guys afterward, so we’ll be left waiting a couple of days before knowing how impactful these ailments might be.

Around the NFL​

Bengals Reportedly Listening to Trade Offers on Star DE Trey Hendrickson | FOX Sports

Hendrickson and the Bengals were in a contract dispute for virtually the entire offseason, with Cincinnati allowing him to talk to other teams about a potential deal at one point. However, no deal came to fruition, and the Bengals and Hendrickson have failed to reach an agreement on a new deal as he enters the final year of his contract.

With no contract extension coming to fruition this offseason, Hendrickson wasn’t shy to share how upset he was with the team. He skipped essentially the Bengals’ entire offseason program, including mandatory minicamp, before sitting out the first few days of training camp in July.

Hendrickson eventually ended his holdout, returning to the Bengals on July 30. That led to some optimism that a deal could get done soon, but he hasn’t practiced with the team at all.

Caleb Williams’ sharp preseason debut caps best stretch of Bears camp | ESPN

After the Bears were one of three teams to not score a touchdown on their opening offensive possession in 2024, quarterback Caleb Williams led the first-team offense on a seven-play opening drive Sunday night that went 92 yards for a TD and served as a statement about the identity Chicago is trying to create.

“I think it sets a tone for us as a team,” Williams, playing his first game of the preseason, said after the Bears’ 38-0 demolition of a Buffalo Bills team that sat most of its starters. “I think it sets a tone for how we expect ourselves to play, go out there, perform. So yeah, it was extremely important.”

The Bears started with the ball after the Bills won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. After a mishap by wide receiver Tyler Scott while returning the opening kickoff put the Bears at their own 8-yard line, Williams operated a near four-minute drive that culminated with him finding wide receiver Olamide Zaccheaus for a 36-yard touchdown pass.

Saints Trade Veteran DT to Jaguars Hours After Preseason Clash | SI

The Jaguars are fortifying their defensive line by acquiring veteran defensive tackle Khalen Saunders from the Saints according to NFL insider Tom Pelissero. In return, the Jaguars are sending center Luke Fortner back to the Saints. The two teams played each other in New Orleans during the second week of preseason action earlier on Sunday. Saunders started the game for the Saints, but he’ll finish the day as a member of the opposing team.

Saunders, 29, is entering his seventh season in the NFL. Last year, he played in 13 games and started 10. He recorded 2.0 sacks, 43 tackles and had a memorable interception against the Chiefs.

He played the first four years of his career in Kansas City before joining the Saints in 2023, where he’d start 27 games across two seasons. Now, he’ll head to Jacksonville and join a defensive tackles room consisting of Arik Armstead, DaVon Hamilton, Maason Smith and Austin Johnson, among others.

In case you missed it on Arrowhead Pride​

Seahawks beat Chiefs: 5 winners, 3 losers from preseason Week 2 loss

Winners

Tight end Robert Tonyan: If there’s one veteran who has consistently shown up at training camp and on the field, it’s this eighth-year veteran. It doesn’t seem to matter which quarterback is throwing the ball. They all find Tonyan in those open areas that Travis Kelce has exploited for years. Against the Seahawks, Tonyan logged five catches for 41 yards and a touchdown. If there’s a competition to become the Chiefs’ third tight end (after Kelce and Noah Gray), Tonyan could not have done much more to make his case.

Social media to make you think​

This graphic says a thousand words.

In the four playoff runs the Bills have had that ended in losses to the Chiefs, Josh Allen has 28 touchdowns and 1 turnover.

As close to perfect as anyone can be in the postseason. pic.twitter.com/Sxb6WPp4N1

— Jarrett Bailey (@JBaileyNFL) August 14, 2025

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Source: https://www.arrowheadpride.com/arro...ess-stops-other-quarterbacks-achieving-theirs

 

[Kansas City Chiefs]

The Chiefs will get one more exhibition look at their key offensive linemen

When Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid spoke with the media before Monday afternoon’s practice, he noted that as the team prepares for Friday’s preseason finale against the Chicago Bears on GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium, it would be following a familiar routine on the practice field — and in the media room.

“This will be very similar to an in-season Wednesday practice,” he told reporters. “Now that we’re back here, it gives you guys kind of a dry run to see how the meeting schedule goes before an in-season game — and also how practice goes.”

But in this exhibition season, not everything is being done the same way. In a break from precedent, many of the team’s starters remained on the sidelines during last Friday’s 33-16 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Reid confirmed that starters will see some action in Friday’s preseason matchup.

“They’ll start it off for sure,” said Reid, “and then we’ll see how it goes from there.”

This will allow the team to get another look at the left side of Kansas City’s offensive line, which has been the biggest question mark about the team during training camp and the first two preseason games. Reid has been encouraged with what he’s observed, but he wants to see more.

“I like how physical they’re playing, for sure,” he remarked. “The more reps they get, the better I think for them, but I think they’re doing a good job over there.”

Rookie left tackle Josh Simmons, in particular, has caught the coach’s eye from his work with offensive line coach Andy Heck following a major knee injury Simmons suffered at Ohio State last season.

“I like the way he’s approached it,” remarked Reid. “He’s worked at it. He hasn’t missed a beat here as far as missing a day or any of that. So he’s been available — and he’s working with Coach Heck on getting better every day. So I like where we’re at right now — but we’ve got to keep going. He’s a young guy, but he’s been working his tail off.”

Playing next to Simmons at left guard, second-year player Kingsley Suamataia — who entered his rookie season starting at left tackle — has been highly scrutinized while adjusting to his new position. Reid sees a relationship developing between the two offensive linemen.

“Those two,” noted Reid, “they’ve got a little something going there. You can see it more in the run game right now, where they’re really working well together. Then in the pass game, both of them are kind of feeling that part out. [But] they’re doing a good job with it. We’ve been able to get some games in there against them. I thought they handled that well last week with some of the blitz stuff. Kingsley had a couple [of] trip-ups where the back stepped up and he tripped over somebody’s foot there. Other than that, he did a pretty good job.”

Reid also lauded Suamataia’s handling of the shift to his new role — and working with the rookie to his left.

“He’s quiet,” Reid declared of the former second-round draft pick, “but he’s a sharp guy. He’s welcomed this left tackle and they’re trying to work that thing together. At the same time, him doing his job — moving from tackle to guard — I like the way he handles himself in meetings. He’s grown in that area. [He’s shown] attention to detail and all those things. I think it was good for him last year to get in there and play a little bit.”

In 2022, the Chiefs rebuilt their secondary around first-round cornerback Trent McDuffie and a handful of other rookie defensive backs. While that process didn’t begin smoothly, the group eventually stepped up to play a significant role in the team’s Super Bowl LVII victory — and remained one of the team’s strengths when Kansas City won Super Bowl LVIII the following season.

Reid is hoping for similar results from his young offensive linemen.

“You’re in this thing long enough,” Reid reflected, “you’re going to have changeover. You know that young guys have got to step up and they’ve got to play. So [Simmons is a] talented kid [who] wants to be good and is working at it. Both of them are that way. Both of them are high draft picks. So you’ve got to get in, you’ve got to go and you’re going to live with a few things — but you expect to see constant growth as you go. It’s similar to what we [did] with the secondary a few years ago. A lot of young guys — and early, it wasn’t quite as pretty as it was at the end.”

Source: https://www.arrowheadpride.com/kans...eseason-look-coming-for-key-offensive-linemen