Kansas City quarterback Chris Oladokun has never played in an NFL game, and he won’t play when the Chiefs take on Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship Game on Sunday.
But if Kansas City advances to Super Bowl LVIII with a victory on Sunday, the former Samford QB would have played a part – even if Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo can’t pronounce Oladokun’s last name.
Oladokun is a member of Kansas City’s practice squad, and he makes his contributions during the week instead of on Sunday, especially if the Chiefs are preparing to face a dual-threat quarterback.
Before Kansas City’s 27-24 playoff victory over Buffalo last week, Oladokun posed as Bills quarterback Josh Allen when the Chiefs’ first-string defense faced the scout team in practice. This week, he’s pretended to be Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson.
Spagnuolo talked about Oladokun when asked how a defense could prepare to face Jackson.
“We do have a guy,” Spagnuolo said on Thursday. “Now I’m going to ask Sid to help me out: Chris, and I can’t say Chris’ last name with O. There you go. Thank you. He did it yesterday for us. We’re fortunate that we have Chris. He did it last week for us. He was Josh Allen, and Blaine (Gabbert) did it a little bit, too.
“But you can’t simulate it, even in practice – of course, you’re not tackling anybody, so you’re not finishing on a guy. But there are some things that we have talked about in how we should practice to prepare for him. And I think Chris gives us as good a look as we’re going to get during the course of a practice week.”
Oladokun spent last season on the Kansas City practice squad, too, as the Chiefs won the NFL championship.
Oladokun entered the NFL from South Dakota State as a seventh-round draft choice of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022. Released at the end of the preseason, Oladokun joined the Chiefs’ practice squad.
Oladokun returned to Kansas City in 2023. In three preseason games, he completed 16-of-26 passes for 181 yards with one touchdown and one interception and ran for 37 yards on two carries. Oladokun ended up on the practice squad again. He was elevated to active status for the Chiefs’ regular-season finale but didn’t play in a 13-12 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.
South Dakota State was Oladokun’s third college stop after South Florida and Samford.
In two seasons with the Bulldogs, Oladokun completed 206-of-328 passes for 2,289 yards with 19 touchdowns and nine interceptions and ran for 517 yards and 10 touchdowns on 149 carries.
In Samford’s 59-58 two-overtime loss to Tennessee Tech on Aug. 31, 2019, Oladokun threw for six touchdowns and ran for another.
The Chiefs and Ravens will square off in the AFC Championship Game at 2 p.m. CST Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. CBS will televise the game.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.