Cardinals Excited to Face Chiefs Starters in Preseason

When the Arizona Cardinals host the Kansas City Chiefs this Saturday, some familiar faces will be on the visitor's sideline.

It was nearly a year ago when Patrick Mahomes and company walked into State Farm Stadium and ran away with a convincing victory to open the 2022 regular season. Months later, they ended their campaign back here in Glendale with confetti falling and a new Lombardi Trophy to add to their collection.

The Cardinals - fresh off of hitting the rebuild button - have some new faces from top to bottom in the organization. Their preseason got off to a great start after a thrilling 18-17 win over the Denver Broncos last week, and their second matchup featuring the reigning Super Bowl champs hopes to yield similar results.

When Arizona lines up for kickoff, they can expect to play against Kansas City's starters for about a half according to Chiefs coach Andy Reid.

"As far as the playing time goes for this coming game, the ones will go for a half and then we'll mix in the twos and threes in the third quarter," Reid said via Arrowhead Report.

"Obviously, there are things that happen during the game — don't hold me accountable if we pull people out whenever."

That includes Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the slew of other stars that have helped turn Kansas City into the gold standard across the league.

Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis is up for the challenge.

"Do I enjoy good competition? Absolutely. Yes, I do. That's a phenomenal offense. Obviously, [getting to face] one of the best quarterbacks in the game, you'll find out how high of a level you can compete, so I'm excited for that," Rallis told reporters.

Rallis - along with head coach Jonathan Gannon - was part of a Philadelphia Eagles staff that fell to Kansas City in Super Bowl LVII. Rallis says there's no extra incentive considering recent history.

"It's just another game. There's no connection for me to go back to the Super Bowl - I think that's what you're kind of getting at right? No, I'm just looking forward to going out there and competing against them," he said.

Earlier in the week, left tackle D.J. Humphries dodged a similar question and said they're just trying to win regardless of the opponent.

"I think anytime you go on the grass and get a win it's huge. So that's the kind of point I'm trying to make, just developing that mentality of it doesn't matter the situation - when we go on the grass, our mentality is to make sure we win," he said.

While the Chiefs are set to play their starters, it's unknown how the Cardinals will assemble their first-string players.

The following Cardinals did not play last Friday: Jeff Driskel, Kyzir White, BJ Ojulari, Trey McBride, D.J. Humphries, James Conner, Keaontay Ingram, Budda Baker, Marquise Brown, Myjai Sanders.

Zach Ertz was recently activated from the PUP list but is not expected to play in the preseason.

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