Andy Reid roundup: 4 takeaways from the Chiefs’ head coach

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid met with the media over a Zoom conference call on Monday, two days after the team’s 24-10 win over the Seattle Seahawks.

Listen to the full presser above or by clicking here.

In his opening statement, Reid said that he had no new injuries to report following Saturday’s game. Then he took questions, which we have rounded up in four takeaways:

Reid loved the Christmas gift the team gave him after Sunday’s win: a huge cheeseburger.

“The cheeseburger was great,” said Reid, who is well-known as an expert on the subject. “It was fresh — and one of the better ones I’ve had. [It was a] great Christmas present! And yesterday, I got to hang out with the family. I gave the coaches the day off — and the players, obviously, the day off. That was one of the advantages of having a Saturday game. You know, having Christmas off [is unusual]; you don’t get many of those as a coach or a player.”

Reid isn’t sure when we’ll next see practice squad defensive tackle Danny Shelton play, but thinks we’ll continue to see tight end Blake Bell.

Both players saw action for the first time this season on Christmas Eve. Bell has been out with an injury all season, but was activated to the roster on Friday. Shelton was elevated to the roster for the Seahawks game after Khalen Saunders missed all of last week’s practices with an injury.

“It was good to get Blake back in,” said Reid. “He didn’t have a ton of snaps, but he had enough to help. Danny, I thought, was kind of in that same situation: not a ton of snaps, but he did a nice job when called on.

“Can I tell you what’s going on [with Shelton]? No. You’ll get Khalen Saunders back, so how does that fit with Danny’s situation? Blake will probably still be in the rotation. But Danny? I can’t tell you how that will go for him. But we sure are glad to have him. He’s a great kid — and a good football player.”

Reid said that head coaches tend to stick around as long as the owners can still share their vision.

Shortly before Reid spoke, news had broken that the 4-11 Denver Broncos had fired first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett. Reminded that he had posted a similar record in his first year as a head coach with the Philadelphia Eagles, Reid spoke about why he thought he ended up remaining there for 14 seasons.

“Every owner is different,” said Reid. “We were able to finish strong in my first year. [We] started out very slow but progressively got better. I think that as long as [the owner] can see a vision for the future with what they’ve got, they normally hang with you.

“Listen, I can’t speak for [the Broncos’ new ownership group]... it is a big-money business. These guys have made a lot of money — and they’re shrewd businessmen.”

Reid said that after the game that Denver played against the Chiefs in Week 14, it wasn’t necessary for the team to fire its head coach to get his attention for this Sunday’s matchup.

“I mean, their receivers are good receivers — and Jeudy is really a good player,” explained the head coach. “Listen: they played well against us last time — a few weeks ago. The quarterback had some big runs and then some big catches. Their defense played well against us after we had taken the 27-0 lead. We had the interceptions — their pass defense was tremendous, which it’s been all year.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re on our A-game. They already have our attention from our last game — whatever they did with Hackett or didn’t do with Hackett... We know we’ve got to be ready.”