One of the first collective eye rolls for Chiefs Kingdom for the 2025 season was experienced earlier this week when Andy Reid spoke about playing time for Kansas City’s first scheduled preseason game. That’s because the team’s head coach once again insisted that every quarterback was going to be on the receiving end of an equal amount of playing time.

Yeah, that’s not happening.

It feels like an annual tradition at this point: Reid tells Chiefs reporters that Patrick Mahomes will play the first quarter of K.C.’s preseason opener—which is Saturday night against the Arizona Cardinals in this case—only to find Mahomes (wisely) pulled after a single drive.

History says Patrick Mahomes won’t get nearly the amount of playing time that Andy Reid says he will in the team’s first preseason game (and that’s just fine).

Reid stated the same on Thursday, that Mahomes would be under center for the first quarter in Arizona, but Chiefs Kingdom knows better. The only persons fooled will be those casual NFL fans who might tune in to see the game in hopes of seeing some star power.

Back in 2019, Mahomes’ second season, Reid stated Mahomes was going to play a full quarter to ease back into regular-season readiness. Instead, he played a total of seven snaps on a single, productive drive and sat the rest of the game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

In 2020, the NFL cancelled its preseason slate due to COVID-19 restrictions and adjustments, but the trend continued coming into 2021. Mahomes played even less at that point, with a mere 4 snaps taken before giving way to Chad Henne and Shane Buechele against the San Francisco 49ers.

In 2022, the Chiefs suited up against the Chicago Bears to open the preseason, and Mahomes played a rather demanding 11 snaps. But instead of taxing him more, Mahomes and the Chiefs’ offense was actually experimenting with bigger packages during that opening drive, featuring extra tight ends and a fullback on nearly half of those plays.

Mahomes was once again supposed to play the first quarter in 2023 against the New Orleans Saints, but a stalled drive of just 5 snaps was all that Reid would give him. From there, Blaine Gabbert took over for the rest of the first half.

In 2024, in a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the first-team offense was given one drive as well—a 6-snap appearance for Mahomes to start the preseason.

No one should complain about Reid’s approach for two reasons, however. The team’s sustained success and multiple championships speak for themselves, so whatever alchemy and preparation are at work in the preseason should remain as is. Secondly, it’s important to remember that Hollywood Brown went down in that single 6-snap series last year against the Jags, meaningful impact from a meaningless game.

Mahomes won’t play nearly as long as Reid predicted against the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday, but it’s par for the course. It’s also become a tradition for Reid to say it anyway. Given how good the Chiefs have looked year after year, we’d rather not mess with anything, even if Reid is rather deceptive in his playing time statements.