Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy hasn’t been extended by the Chiefs so far, and he seems fine with that. Nagy has been endorsed by coach Andy Reid as a candidate for his second head coaching position, although there’s considerable doubt about whether he’ll get it given his first time around with the Chicago Bears.
But Nagy has a very good idea of what he’ll do differently, and he laid that out to Jesse Newell of The Athletic, starting what applying what he’s learned from Reid.
“I’m always watching him and taking whatever I see and putting it in my back pocket,” says Nagy, who at 47 is 20 years younger than Reid. “I didn’t do that very well when we were together before I became a head coach.”
Nagy’s situation with Reid is somewhat unusual, in that Reid is the primary play caller but says Nagy often makes suggestions.
“And if I feel like I’m in a rut, I give it to him and let him dial it up,” Reid says. “I guess the point is if he’s got something he likes, you go call it. I have that kind of trust in him. He gives you an honest answer, whether it’s good or bad.”
One situation that proved difficult for Nagy was his relationship with receiver Allen Robinson. Nagy shared a lot with his players, which worked out well initially when the Bears were winning.
“He kept it pretty simple as far as what we were asked, which was just for us to be ourselves,” wide receiver Allen Robinson says. “We were winning and everybody was buying in. It was exciting.”
As his team unraveled, Nagy became more open—too open at times—to suggestions from players, assistants and staff members, according to Newell. That resulted in a string of changes in the weekly schedule and routine.
“With Matt being so personable and being open to opinions, everybody felt their suggestions had a lot of weight, as opposed to just being on board and trusting,” Robinson says.
That led to a rift with Robinson, who was hoping for a contract extension. Instead, the team used the franchise tag on him, and Robinson and Nagy didn’t talk about that or anything else for months. He had to listen to “Fire Nagy” chants constantly, which ended up affecting his family.
“In the end,” he says, “I believe going to Chicago is going to end up one of the best things that ever happened to me.”
Reid, however, still believes in Nagy, regardless of what happened with Robinson. “What I saw in 2018 was a coach of the year,” Reid says. “And that’s what I still see — there’s a coach of the year in there.”