The Kansas City Chiefs benched Terrance Mitchell Monday night against the Denver Broncos, replacing him with cornerback Kenneth Acker, who was on the field for all 73 of the Chiefs’ defensive snaps. Mitchell didn’t play at all.
According to Reid, Mitchell handled the demotion as well as someone could.
“He’s a competitive guy, so I’m sure he wanted to be in there—that’s how he is,” Reid explained. “But, I thought he handled it like a pro and he wasn’t a distraction. He’s always had a good attitude and he maintained that during this.”
According to Pro Football Focus, Acker had a decent first game in relief, capping a solid night off with an interception off of a wild throw by Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian late in the fourth quarter.
“Well I thought he did some good things,” Reid said. “He’s got a few things he has to work on but he’ll do that. Back on the drawing board, but he did some things that were OK. He had a nice interception.”
When it comes to Mitchell moving forward, Reid reiterated what he said after the game Monday night.
“Sometimes you can take a step back to take a step forward and we’ll see how things go here as we go forward. We’re going to try to play who we think is the best guy for the situation at that particular time.”
It’s probably fair to believe Acker earned another start next week against the Dallas Cowboys.