Chiefs sign QB Chad Henne for another season as Mahomes’ backup

The longtime NFL veteran will play his fourth season with Kansas City

As the end of the legal tampering period was coming to a close before the start of the NFL’s new league year on Wednesday afternoon, NFL Network reporter Mike Garafalo reported that the Kansas City Chiefs are signing quarterback Chad Henne for another season backing up Patrick Mahomes.

It will actually be the 36-year-old Henne’s fourth season as the Chiefs’ backup quarterback — he first signed with Kansas City in 2018 — but that’s a minor detail. As always, head coach Andy Reid likes to have an established veteran behind his starting signal-caller. Henne — who is now entering his 13th season after being selected by the Miami Dolphins in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft — definitely fits that description.

Garafafalo reports that Henne will be paid $2 million for a one-year contract with the Chiefs — for whom he has appeared in eight regular-season games while starting just one. But it was in a postseason game where he had his greatest moment as a Chief: when he calmly converted a fourth-quarter fourth-and-1 play with a 5-yard pass to wide receiver Tyreek Hill to ice a 22-17 Divisional round victory over the Cleveland Browns — sending CBS color commentator Tony Romo into a frenzy.

There had been some thought that for the coming season, Kansas City was considering moving Shane Buechele into the primary backup role — but it now appears that the Chiefs still believe Hennething is possible.