Andy Reid Provides Update on Josh Gordon’s Expected Workload vs. Bills

Josh Gordon Chiefs

Getty Chiefs WR Josh Gordon before the team's Week 4 game against the Eagles.

The Kansas City Chiefs Week 5 game on Sunday Night Football against the Buffalo Bills doesn’t just present a rematch of last season’s AFC championship game. It will also be the debut of veteran wide receiver Josh Gordon in a Chiefs uniform.

Gordon, who was signed to the Kansas City practice squad on Monday, September 27, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, and learned the lay of the land so quickly in Chiefs Kingdom that he was promoted to the 53-man roster on Monday, September 4. Gordon’s work ethic and ability to learn the playbook so quickly led to his promotion, but one question still remains: what kind of workload will he receive in his debut?

Head coach Andy Reid gave an update on that during his Friday, October 8 press conference.

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Reid on Gordon: We’ll See

“We’ll see just how that goes. We’ll just see how all that works out as we go through tomorrow and get ready for Sunday,” Reid said of Gordon’s expected workload versus the Bills. “I’m going to talk to him and just see how this week went for him.”

While Big Red didn’t exactly give much insight into Gordon’s playing time in Week 5, he did make it clear that Kansas City will take a wait-and-see approach to Gordon’s workload. If the veteran is productive against Buffalo, he will likely garner more playing time as the game ensues. However, if there are some lapses in his knowledge of the playbook early in the game, then he may be sidelined in favor of other players on the depth chart, especially if it’s a close game in the second half.

Reid spoke earlier in the week of what led to Gordon being promoted so quickly to the active roster.

“[Gordon] feels good. He feels like he’s in pretty good shape and wants to get going,” Reid said. “He’s got experience, and I’ve learned over the years that the veteran guys will tell you how they’re feeling and where they’re at because they know what’s ahead of them and they surely don’t want to embarrass themselves. So, he feels good about getting in there and kind of getting it started, and we’ll see where it goes from there. Whether he’s active or not, we’ll just see how it goes.”

Reid also discussed Gordon’s level of comfort is with the Chiefs’ playbook.

“He’s very smart and has picked things up quickly. Now, he’s had a little flavor of the offense when he was in Cleveland, so he understands some of the language.”


Mahomes on Gordon

Along with Reid, quarterback Patrick Mahomes also spoke about Gordon prior to the team’s game against Buffalo.

“Yeah he’s a tremendous guy. You can tell he loves playing football, he loves being here, loves being part of this locker room and the talent, you can just see,” Mahomes said of Gordon. “I mean how fast he is, how big he is, the way he’s able to get in and out of cuts. I’ve been able to throw to him a little bit here and now kind of off to the side a little bit and I think we’ll try to do whatever we can to bring him up to speed as quickly as possible and try to utilize his skillset.”

Mahomes also mentioned what he’s learned about Gordon off the field.

“[Gordon] has those Texas ties, so we talked about – no offense to (Gehrig) Dieter because he’s a Yankees fan, but we talked about the Astros, we talked about stuff like that, him going to Baylor and things like that,” he said. “Just how humble of a guy he is, he truly is someone who wants to be here, wants to be a part of this locker room. I’m sure we’ll keep building that relationship as the season goes on.”

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