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The Kansas City Chiefs teammates celebrated their third Super Bowl victory in five years with a busy offseason that included European vacations, celebrity golf tournaments, and a number of other professional endeavors.
But when it came time to put the pads back on Saturday night in Jacksonville, both Mahomes and Kelce appeared to pick up right where they left off in February, when the Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.
The two future Hall of Famers played only one series, but Mahomes still managed to complete 3 of 4 passes for 27 yards. One of those tosses went to Kelce, who hauled in the reception for seven yards.
Typically head coach Andy Reid likes to give his starters two series before putting backups into the first preseason game, but ‘Big Red,’ as he’s known, was eager to see Kansas City’s second unit.
Most notably, the Chiefs’ backups now include former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback and second-overall pick Carson Wentz, who completed all four of his passes against his former coach Doug Pederson’s team on Saturday.
Mahomes played a total of six snaps in the 2023 preseason opener against the New Orleans Saints. He totaled 11 plays against the Chicago Bears in 2022 and four snaps against the San Francisco 49ers in 2021.
The lack of late-summer playing time doesn’t bother Mahomes, who joked he doesn’t mind absorbing a hit from a defender during the preseason.
‘I always want to get hit, but not hit hard,’ Mahomes said earlier in the week. ‘So, if I can just throw the ball and one of those defensive ends just wants to give me a little push, that’s all I need so it’s cool.
‘I like playing in the preseason, honestly. Getting in there, try to make sure we’re doing stuff the right way and getting out, try to keep everybody healthy.’
The bottom line is that the Chiefs want to evaluate players either competing for a starting spot or a roster spot.
‘All those young guys, I love to see how they compete,’ Reid said. ‘The higher the draft picks, they’re going to be in there. A little bit better competition, so I want to see how they handle that.’
Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo agreed with Reid.
‘Guys that haven’t had a lot of time back there, I’d like to see those guys,’ Spagnuolo said. ‘You know all the young guys, obviously.
‘I mean, I told them in the meeting, the guys that I’ve been around that are here, I know which guys are tough and which guys are fake tough. I mean, I’m trying to find out if guys are tough enough to play in this league and do the things we need to do.’