Andy Reid enters his 10th season at the helm of the Kansas City Chiefs as head coach. In that time, he has taken the Chiefs from a near-bottom-of-the-barrel standings spot to a perennial Super Bowl contender in just the last few years. But for all his successes, Reid has never achieved one thing that most coaches dream of. It’s not just winning the Super Bowl, which he’s done once, it’s winning the league’s Coach of the Year, arguably an even harder accomplishment than winning the Big Game.
How Andy Reid Has Fared Previously in Coach of the Year Voting
Reid has never done better than 2nd when it comes to voting for the NFL Coach of The Year, which is stunning considering how much turnaround he’s given Kansas City the last 5 years. This is a guy that now has 23 years of head coach experience, the first 13 of which came with the Philadelphia Eagles. Reid has had 3 runner-ups for NFL COTY in 2013, 2015, and 2018. The first two instances saw him lose out to then-Carolina Panthers HC Ron Rivera and in 2018 to then-Chicago Bears HC Matt Nagy. Both Nagy and Rivera were also former assistants of Reid; Nagy was the QB Coach of Kansas City from 2013-2015 and their OC from 2016-2017. Rivera, meanwhile, was an assistant for Reid during his time in Philadelphia, working as the Eagles’ linebacker coach from 1999-2003.
What are some reasons Reid may finally break his curse of the NFL’s COTY Award?
Reid has done some significant roster turnarounds in the last few years, including just this past off-season. This is one defining trait of a COTY winner. The biggest amount of change on the Chiefs’ roster heading into the 2022 season will undoubtedly be their receiving core. After sending Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins for a handful of draft picks as well as trading Byron “Chips” Pringle to Chicago on a 1-year deal, Kansas City has blown up their receiver ranks by a fair margin. Not to mention that they also signed former Pittsburgh Steelers WR JuJu Smith-Schuster to a 1-year, $10.75 million deal. Perhaps that may have been in exchange with the Chicago-Pringle deal, but it was most likely just coincidence.
A Tough Schedule
Andy Reid also has his team in the league’s toughest schedule this year. Now, to some, that may seem like a pretty big downside, but it could further emphasize how hard-working of a coach Reid himself is. After all, the Chiefs have won 6 straight AFC West divisional titles, and that’s not something you can easily do just year after year. Plus, in the last 3 seasons or so, the AFC West has been becoming a tougher division, and this year looks to be an absolute dogfight, with the Chargers steadily improving and the Broncos starting with Russell Wilson under center, arguably their first franchise QB since Peyton Manning.
Star Players
One more reason Andy Reid may finally earn the NFL’s COTY doesn’t necessarily relate to his efforts, but rather to one of his own players. If you guessed Patrick Mahomes, you’re correct. Who wouldn’t it be? It seems every time Mahomes loses, he comes back the next year much stronger. He lost to the Patriots in the 2019 AFC title game. What he do the next year? Win the Super Bowl. He lost to the Bucs in the Super Bowl in 2020. What did he do? Made it to the AFC title game and lost, but he definitely had it in him to win that day, I’ll bet. The point is, if Mahomes gets knocked down just 1 peg, expect him to charge back up sooner than you expect. Never count the Mahomie out.
Conclusion
So is it finally Andy Reid’s time for NFL Coach of The Year? One would think 23 years of experience should definitely do the job, but we’ll just have to see come the day before Super Bowl LVII (57).