The virtual offseason kept the Kansas City Chiefs to their home offices, and that included Chiefs head coach Andy Reid.
Appearing on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” late last week, Reid told Cowherd about how that allowed him much more time to fully dive into one of his favorite activities as an NFL head coach — offensive play design.
“That’s what we do, and so I’ve had a lot of time to do it,” Reid explained. “And I love doing that part of it. And we’ve got some good stuff. The challenge is to keep challenging Patrick and to keep him growing — to give that opportunity. Players hate to be sitting there stagnant, so one thing you love doing as a coach is just finding that one more thing you can get to even make them greater than they already are.
“That’s what we do, and we enjoy doing it. And I’ve had a lot of time to do it, and we got some really good stuff. I know you’re picking the Denver Broncos, but I can’t wait to jump in and get this thing rolling.”
Cowherd’s controversial pick of the Denver Broncos to win the AFC West led our Arrowheadlines last Wednesday. With Reid on the line, Cowherd nervously laughed off the suggestion, noting that since it’s June, he has plenty of time to change his pick.
It might be foolish for Cowherd to pick against the reigning Super Bowl MVP in Patrick Mahomes.
“As great a player as he is, he’s even a greater human being,” Reid said of Mahomes. “He’s smart. He gets it, you know, Colin? When you find guys that kind of have a pulse on life — even at a young age, in which he is, he understands, and he’s able to navigate through tough situations, whether it’s in a game and/or off the field.”
“He cares about people,” Reid of Mahomes. “He loves people. You see him sitting at all tables, man. He could go around the dinner table and talk to anybody. It’s a joy to be around and the greatest part about this, Colin, is he’s so young, and he’s just going to keep getting better on my end, the football side — he’s just going to keep growing and growing.”
Mahomes came to the Chiefs via the 2017 NFL Draft, and it is now widely known that current Chiefs general manager Brett Veach played a significant role in convincing the team’s brass to go after him aggressively.
That ultimately required then-GM John Dorsey to orchestrate a trade with the Buffalo Bills, jumping up 17 picks to land Mahomes with the 10th selection. This was a change for Reid from his Philadelphia days.
“For 14 years in Philadelphia, I did that,” Reid explained, speaking of times when he was in charge of personnel. “I had a say on it, and I wanted to be involved, and so I was. I made the final decisions on things. I got here (in Kansas City), and I just wanted to coach. I wanted to get back to the thing I loved doing most. Dorse (John Dorsey) was here, who I had a relationship with. Brett Veach came along with us from Philadelphia, and Brett was an up-and-comer and when Dorse stepped aside, Brett stepped in and has done an unbelievable job. Pat Mahomes really is here because of Brett Veach and the effort in which he put in to find him. He wore Dorsey and I out on this kid, and so that’s how we ended up taking him. It was just Brett relentlessly hammering us, and he did the same thing in Philadelphia with LeSean McCoy, DeSean Jackson and (Fletcher) Cox. All the major guys there, he was involved with and responsible for having us take them.”
Before the interview ended, Cowherd pressed Reid on Kansas City barbecue. Reid said that for him, the challenge has been finding a restaurant he doesn’t like.
“They take our parking lot once a year and they have these contests,” Reid said, presumably referring to the American Royal barbecue competition. “I’m begging to be a judge in one of those. They won’t let me. I think they’re afraid I’m going to eat all the product.”
Watch the full interview above or by clicking here.