The Buffalo Bills and QB Josh Allen have tried valiantly, but ultimately unsuccessfully, to replicate the success the Kansas City Chiefs have had with Patrick Mahomes over the last decade. The next logical step, and the one to which the Bills resorted yet again on Wednesday, is simply adding former Chiefs players to the roster.
Buffalo took to social media on February 11 to share that it signed former Kansas City reserve quarterback Shane Buechele to a contract.
“We have signed WR Jalen Virgil and QB Shane Buechele to one year deals,” the Bills reported on their official X account.
An undrafted rookie free agent out of Southern Methodist, Buechele inked a three-year contract worth $2.44 million with the Chiefs in May of 2021.
He wound up on the practice squad that season and bumped up to the active roster once in November. Buechele remained in Kansas City as a practice squad player until August 2023, when the team waived him ahead of final cutdown day.
The Bills swooped in and signed the QB to their practice squad two days later. He remained in Buffalo through 2025 before rejoining the Chiefs’ active roster on December 22 following season-ending injuries to Mahomes and Gardner Minshew.
Buechele saw his first-ever regular season action in Week 18 against the Las Vegas Raiders, filling in for Chris Oladokun who got the start in that contest. Buechele finished the game 7-of-14 passing for 88 yards. He also logged one carry for four rushing yards and took five sacks.
Now 28 years old, Buechele inked a reserve/futures deal with the Bills on Wednesday.
Chiefs in Tight Spot at QB Heading Into Uncertain Offseason
GettyKansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Meanwhile, Kansas City has quarterback concerns of its own, with Oladokun and Jake Haener the only healthy signal-callers on the roster heading into the offseason.
Minshew will hit free agency on March 11, while Mahomes is fighting to return from the knee injury he sustained in Week 15. Ben Solak of ESPN outlined the QB situation in Kansas City on Tuesday.
“Mahomes is rehabbing an ACL/LCL tear suffered Dec. 14 with the hope of playing in Week 1, but the Chiefs will likely be uber-cautious with their franchise star. No. 2 QB is not a secure spot either, as Gardner Minshew is a rising free agent,” Solak wrote. “The Chiefs might simply return Minshew and hope to get Mahomes back by Week 5, but they’re a good candidate for a veteran free agent addition, as well.”
Kansas City Needs to Acquire Highly Specific Type of QB to Potentially Fill in for Patrick Mahomes
GettyNew York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson.
The Chiefs won’t have a great deal of players from whom to pick in free agency, as the upper-echelon of what is already a weak class is going to be hunting starting jobs: players like Daniel Jones, Russell Wilson and Malik Willis, for example.
Kirk Cousins could be in play depending on if Atlanta actually cuts him loose, which several insiders have reported is coming, though the Minnesota Vikings also need a QB and could get in the way.
Marcus Mariota, Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo are among a group of very mediocre options and will come available exactly one month from today.
The Chiefs must find a player who is good enough to keep them competitive if Mahomes misses the first month of the season, but not so good that he can go compete for a QB1 role elsewhere — which makes the proposition a tough needle for Kansas City to thread.
Former Chiefs QB Inks Deal With Bills to Play Behind Josh Allen