Arrowhead Pride
While it’s still only the preseason, the Kansas City Chiefs are finally back on the field to begin their 2025 campaign. While you can’t put much stock in what happens during these exhibitions — and it doesn’t matter that Kansas City lost its preseason opener 20-17 to the Arizona Cardinals — we can try to glean some nuggets from what we saw in Saturday night’s game.
Here are five things we learned.
While the former Ohio State player has looked great as the Chiefs’ starting left tackle during training camp, Saturday night was our first glimpse of the team’s first-round draft pick in an actual game.
The young man did not disappoint.
In just 11 reps of work, Simmons did what few have managed to do over the last couple of years: keep quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ upright by giving him adequate protection on his blind side.
He still has a ways to go to prove all the hype is warranted, but so far he’s off to a good start.
As good as Simmons was, the backup offensive line showed weakness — especially with backup tackles Wanya Morris and Esa Pole. While Pole might not make the team, there is more than a decent chance Morris will be called upon to pinch-hit this season. Against the Cardinals, he didn’t look any better than he has during his first two years in Kansas City — where he’s been a total liability.
Another player who had a night to forget was second-year interior lineman Hunter Nourzad. Along with his peers, he was repeatedly mollywhopped by Arizona’s pass rush during the second half.
After living through the 2024 season, the thought of something like this happening to Mahomes — rather than Bailey Zappe — is more than a little triggering.
Although his protection was horrible on Saturday night, Zappe also looked nervous and indecisive. He was obviously jittery — and hesitant to push the ball downfield. And when he did, he turned it over.
In contrast, Minshew was effective while throwing the ball and managing the offense, showing his mobility with a nice second-quarter scamper for a touchdown.
While there has never been any question that Minshew would be this season’s backup quarterback, this game taught us that Minshew’s job is tattooed in ink for the 2025 season. There’s nobody even close to moving past him on the depth chart. He’ll wear the visor on the sideline, holding Mahomes’ clipboard in 2025.
It was nice to see safety Jaden Hicks come up with an interception in the first half. It was equally awesome watching Christian Roland-Wallace come up with another in the second half.
Since joining the Chiefs, Roland-Wallace has mostly played in the slot — although that was primarily a matter of necessity. But now, defensive coordinator Steve...
