KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. He also serves as our game-day digital reporter for the Chiefs. Share your story idea with Tod.
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The Kansas City Chiefs are facing an offseason without Patrick Mahomes, so Gardner Minshew had a potentially important audition during the final three weeks of the season.
It lasted four uninspiring drives.
Mahomes won’t be available to lead workouts in March or April in his native Texas as he has the last few seasons. He won’t be available for mandatory minicamp and it would take a minor miracle for him to be healthy by preseason training camp.
RELATED | Mahomes begins rehab after knee surgery
In fact, the Chiefs will be lucky if Mahomes — who underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL and LCL in his left knee, an injury he suffered last Sunday in a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers — is ready by Sept. 10, when the 2026 NFL season gets underway.
The typical timeline for recovery from Mahomes’ injury is nine months.
Minshew, who signed a one-year contract to serve as Mahomes’ veteran backup this season, had a chance to show Kansas City’s staff that he was equipped to shepherd the team through the uncertain months ahead.
Instead, Minshew appeared to hurt his knee on a third-and-long scramble on the game’s opening drive. He hobbled off the field after the 8-yard run and returned for a few more series, but was limping noticeably at times.
After a Jeffery Simmons safety ended Kansas City’s fourth drive, Minshew had his left knee evaluated on the sideline and was taken to the locker room.
The Chiefs quickly announced that Minshew was questionable to return before ruling him out for the remainder of the game at halftime.
QB Gardner Minshew is questionable to return with a knee injury. pic.twitter.com/cuVj6SqdGT
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) December 21, 2025
He finished 3 of 8 for 15 yards passing with that 8-yard run.
Chris Oladokun, who Kansas City signed from the practice squad amid a flurry of roster moves Saturday, took over for Minshew.
Oladokun, 28, is in his fourth season with the Chiefs, but he’s appeared in only one game during that time and had yet to throw an NFL pass entering the game.
During last season’s finale, a lopsided loss in Denver with Kansas City resting its starters, Oladokun had a 5-yard run, but he’s now in line for the most-significant action of his pro career.
Oladokun, a native of Tampa, Florida, entered the league as a seventh-round pick by Pittsburgh in 2022. He started his college career at South Florida, where he attempted only 45 passes in nine games across two seasons, before transferring to Samford.
He played in 19 games for the Bulldogs, making nine starts, in two years with the Alabama-based FCS program before finishing his career with one season at South Dakota State.
Oladokun went 238 of 384 (62%) for 3,164 yards with 25 touchdowns and seven interceptions, adding two touchdowns rushing and two more receiving, in 15 games during his lone season with the Jackrabbits, leading them to the FCS semifinals.
Minshew’s injury left Oladokun as the only QB on the Chiefs’ roster. Tight end Noah Gray would serve as the emergency quarterback if Oladokun goes down.
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