The Kansas City Chiefs will be hiring a new offensive coordinator, and a good chunk of the team’s fan base is hoping for a big change. The Chiefs ended up 1-9 in one-score games, and there were a lot of key drives that didn’t get home when they should have.
Former OC Matt Nagy took some of the blame for that, but he’s moving on. Nagy is currently interviewing with multiple teams to become a head coach again, and he’s doing that with Reid’s blessing. Fans want the offense to have a new flavor, and most of all they want a running game.
There are candidates like offensive innovator Mike McDaniel and Kliff Kingsbury on the market, and adding someone that kind of reputation would definitely be considered a sexy hire, especially since Kingsbury coached quarterback Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech.
That big change might now be coming, though. As Stacy D. Smith of Arrowhead Addict points out, “Andy Reid’s history is marked by continuity and predictability, and his next offensive coordinator hire is almost certain to follow that trend.”
Two name are surfacing in the early discussions—former interim head coach of the New York Giants, Mike Kafka, and Eric Bienemy, who of course is very familiar to Chiefs fans.
Kafka’s an interesting name. He was considered a strong young coach who would eventually get a chance as a head man, but then he ended up with the Giants, who have been a mess for a while. Their latest issue is a quarterback, Jaxson Dart, who also considers himself a part-time fullback, and Chiefs fans want nothing to do with that dynamic.
Reid does need some new energy in this situation, however. The Chiefs motion-based version of the West Coast offense has been stale for a while, and it would nice to add some new wrinkles.
More importantly, however, the running game needs to be rejuvenated. The Chiefs have been playing smaller running backs like Isiah Pacheco who dart between the tackles, and it would be nice to add some size and thunder to the mix. Running back Kareem Hunt is basically a short-yardage specialist at this point in his career, even if he did have some impressive games as the primary back when Pacheco was out.
As for Bienemy, he’d be more of the same. He’s obviously familiar with Reid’s offense, but he doesn’t add much tactically, and the Chiefs are going to have to change something to support Maomes now that he’ll be coming back from a serious knee injury.