The Kansas City Chiefs are reconfiguring their coaching staff, and there are serious changes afoot.
For starters, former offensive coordinator Matt Nagy is interviewing for head coaching jobs, as is defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, although Spagnuolo is expected to return. The Chiefs have also rehired coordinator Eric Bieniemy as offensive coordinator, so the changes there won’t be nearly as big.
Further down the coaching food chain, the Chiefs have made another move to help get their wide receiver room back on track. According to Matt Conner of Arrowhead Addict, the Chiefs have hired Chad O’Shea as their wide receivers coach to replace Connor Embree, who was recently let go.
The move with Embree wasn’t unexpected. He took the brunt of the blame for the up-and-down performance the receivers put out on the field this week, although it wasn’t entirely his fault. When you go from a Super Bowl appearance to 6-10, though, heads will roll, and Embree’s fate was probably sealed as soon as quarterback Patrick Mahomes got hurt.
As for O’Shea, his background is probably more in line with what you’d expect from a wide receivers coach for a team like Kansas City. O’Shea has been the receivers coach for the Cleveland Browns for the last six years under Kevin Stefanski, whose offensive system was well regarded until the situation with DeShaun Watson blew up on him and he ended up coaching Shedder Sanders this year.
The Browns cleaned house in their coaching staff after firing Stefanski, and O’Shea now has a new home with Kansas City. He’ll have his hands full with this job, but there’s plenty of potential in the Chiefs wide receiver room.
That potential was on display in full when receiver Rashee Rice returned from his six game suspension. Rice reenergized the receivers room, and for the next few weeks Mahomes spread the ball around to multiple targets, so much so that the Chiefs regained their Super Bowl dreams.
It didn’t last, however. Rice began having issues with drops, and speed receiver Xavier Worthy struggled to stay healthy. A shoulder issue sideline Worth early on, and we still don’t know how much he was hindered by the high ankle sprain that turned up on the injury report down the stretch.
None of that will matter to O’Shea, however. He’ll be starting from scratch, and while there is plenty of talent here, the new receivers coach may have to coach this group up without tight end Travis Kelce. But O’Shea also worked with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick during the New England Patriots dynasty years, so he has a track record of success that will doubtless come in handy.