JACKSONVILLE – The Kansas City Chiefs traveled down to Jacksonville, FL on Saturday to take on the Jaguars in the first exhibition game of the 2024-25 preseason. Andy Reid decided to allow Patrick Mahomes to play the first drive for the Chiefs. Mahomes took advantage of his one-drive opportunity and took the ball down the field after a Louis Rees-Zammit kneel in the end zone. The drive lasted three minutes over seven plays ending with a 45-yard field goal from Harrison Butker. Mahomes was methodic, completing three of his four passes for twenty-seven yards.
Marquise “Hollywood” Brown caught an 11-yard pass early in the game, but ended up getting injured on the play. He left the remainder of the game with a dislocated shoulder.
The Jags got on the board on their first drive, finishing off with a nine-yard pass from Trevor Lawrence caught by Travis Etienne Jr. to give Jacksonville the four point lead. Dump passes to Etienne has been one of Lawrence’s favorite options throughout their short tenure together and it’s obvious that isn’t changing anytime soon. Jacksonville followed up the opening drive with a field goal on their following.
It took till the final minutes of the second quarter, but the Chiefs put their first six on the scoreboard since February in Las Vegas with a Carson Steele rushing touchdown. The first touchdown of the preseason was a one-yard run knotting the teams up at ten. Steele is excited for this opportunity with the defending champ after signing as an undrafted free agent after playing his college ball at Ball State and UCLA.
The Jaguars began to pull away after that starting with a 35-yard pass by C.J. Beathard to D’Ernest Johnson. Johnson rolled into the end zone for Jacksonville’s second touchdown of the game after catching it a few yards short of the white painted line. Chiefs corner Nic Jones was in coverage and seemed to lose the ball in the bright lights of EverBank Stadium providing Jacksonville with another lead.
The only other score for Kansas City came four minutes into the fourth quarter when Harison Butker nailed in a thirty-three yard field goal to bring the Chiefs within ten, but Jacksonville quickly responded with a field goal of their own. The final score sat at 26-13 in favor of the Florida hosts.
The Chiefs got a look at all four of their QBs on Saturday with Chris Oladokun, the projected third or fourth string quarterback, putting together eighty-five yards in the air on 7/10 passing. The lone touchdown came from Carson Steele who also tied for the most carries and led for the most yards (29) among Kansas City’s rushers. Receiver Nikko Remigio hauled in three passes for thirty-five yards, setting up a conversation as he continues to fight for a spot on the fifty-three.
The most negative analysis of the game will highlight that the Chiefs really struggled with the new kickoff rules. First, they embarrassed themselves by giving up a safety on a botched return communication. However, in addition to that, the Cheifs special teams unit gave up a total of 166 yards on kick returns over four returns, resulting in an average of 41.5 yards/return. This is a number that you can be sure Andy Reid or Special Teams Coordinator Dave Toub are happy about. Keep an eye out in the next preseason matchup to see what changes are made.
Up Next for the Chiefs: Preseason Game #2 at Home vs. Detroit – Saturday, 8/17 @3:00 PM
Parker Johnson contributed on this post
