It’s not often a third-string, practice-squad quarterback is thrust into a game, but that’s exactly what transpired Sunday in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 26-9 loss to the Tennessee Titans.
Just a week after Patrick Mahomes’ season ended due to a torn ACL, backup QB Gardner Minshew also suffered a significant knee injury. That meant Chris Oladokun — a 2022 seventh-round pick of the Pittsburgh Steelers — would have to lead the Chiefs.
“You see Gardner go down, and I hate it for him,” Oladokun said. “And the next thing my mind went to is, ‘I’ve got to rally the troops now and go win a football game.’ Those guys out there, they battled their (tails) off, and I can’t say enough good things.
“You’re out there, and my first (NFL) completion is to Travis Kelce — (I’ve) built a great relationship with him over the last couple of years, but if you would have told me (that) my first completion in the NFL was going to be to him, (I) probably would have laughed at you.”
Oladokun’s pass to Kelce got the Chiefs into field-goal range, and Harrison Butker’s 54-yard field goal gave the Chiefs a brief 3-2 lead — their only one of the game. With no two-minute reps since summer’s training camp, Oladokun later led a two-minute drive to get Kansas City to within in three at the half.
KC had been struggling to get anything going with a laboring Minshew, and Oladokun provided a jolt of genuine life.
“I thought he did OK,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said of Oladokun’s performance. “He was able to get us moving a little bit, and I probably could have given him better stuff to work with — and in particular give him some more reps during the week.
“He didn’t have any reps to lead him, but for what he was asked to do, I thought he did a nice job.”
Though the Chiefs didn’t win, Oladokun proved serviceable, completing 11 of 16 passes for 111 yards and rushing for another seven. The fourth-year pro said that when he picked up his cell phone to check his messages in the locker room, Mahomes’ name was the first one he saw.
Oladokun credits Mahomes for his progress behind the scenes, going as far as calling him a big brother. And that influence showed up on the field early in the third quarter on a 31-yard completion to Isiah Pacheco.
In true Mahomes fashion, Oladokun escaped pressure by rolling to the right sideline. The linebackers drew in, and he lobbed a perfect toss to Pacheco, who took it up the field for a first down.
