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EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - DECEMBER 08: Jake Haener #3 of the New Orleans Saints in action during the game against the New Orleans Saints at MetLife Stadium on December 08, 2024 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
The Kansas City Chiefs will be hoping and praying that franchise quarterback and two-time MVP Patrick Mahomes is ready for the start of the 2026 regular season in September after tearing his ACL and LCL in December.
If he is not, the Chiefs will have to rely on the likes of Justin Fields, or in extreme circumstances rookie signal caller Garrett Nussmeier, who Kansas City picked in the seventh round of last month’s NFL Draft.
With the addition of the quarterbacking pair, it appears that there is no longer room for the team’s former offseason addition, ex-New Orleans Saints QB Jake Haener, who was released on Monday May 4.
The #Chiefs have waived QB Jake Haener.
The team also waived defensive linemen Ethan Hurkett and former third round draft pick for the Chicago Bears, Zacch Pickens.
Chiefs Deem Jake Haener Surplus to Requirements
Haener spent his first two seasons in the NFL as a backup option for the Saints, after being taken in the fourth round of the 2023 NFL Draft, 127th overall, including in 2024 where he spent the year as the QB2 behind veteran Derek Carr, during which he made his first and only career start to date – a 20-19 loss to the Washington Commanders in which he went 4/10 for 49 passing yards and 1 interception.
The former Fresno State man was originally bought in to flesh out the bare quarterback room in Kansas City after the departure of 2025 backup Gardner Minshew, where he was listed as the team’s third-choice signal caller prior to the draft.
However, the additions of Fields – who will almost certainly serve as the primary backup to Mahomes in 2026 – and Nussmeier pushed Haener down the depth chart into the fifth stringers, and it appears that head coach Andy Reid and general manager Brett Veach no longer saw a viable road to him making the final roster in the fall.
More to follow…
Daniel Arwas Daniel Arwas is a sports writer who covers the NFL for Heavy.com. Daniel began his career in sports writing in 2022 and has covered the NFL and college football for Gridiron Heroics and The Hammer. More about Daniel Arwas