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Rookie Patrick Mahomes will start for the Kansas City Chiefs in their regular-season finale against the Denver Broncos, coach Andy Reid announced Wednesday. Mahomes will get first-team reps while traditional starter Alex Smith will work with the scout team this week for the AFC West champion Chiefs (9-6-0), who are locked in as the conference's fourth seed.
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Kansas City traded up from the 27th pick in April's NFL draft to take Mahomes with the 10th overall selection. Mahomes threw for 5,052 yards with 41 touchdown passes and just 10 interceptions during his final season at Texas Tech.
With the Chiefs, Mahomes saw limited action with the first-team offense during training camp and the preseason. During regular-season practices, he ran the scout-team challenging the No. 1 defense.
Resting starters is nothing new for Reid, who has done so during his time in Kansas City as well as his previous stint in Philadelphia.
The Chiefs, however, have had playoff positioning on the line entering the final week the past three seasons. In 2013, however, with a wild-card spot secured, Reid benched 13 starters and nine others played limited roles.
Smith says the week off presents tradeoffs, but avoiding the risk of injury provides a distinct advantage.
"I think you can make that argument, but if something were to happen, the risk factor sometimes you just don't know," Smith said Tuesday. "This is a physical game and you don't know what can happen. We'll figure it out when coach tells us what the deal is."
