Kansas City Chiefs: How long will Andy Reid coach?

The Kansas City Chiefs have been fortunate to have Andy Reid as their head coach since the 2013 season. During that time, he’s yet to have a losing season and has made it to the playoffs in all but one year.

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has been coaching for a long time. Not even taking into account his 20 seasons as head coach between the Eagles and Chiefs, he has been a coach of some variety in the league since 1992. That’s where he started his NFL coaching career as an offensive assistant under Mike Holmgren with the Packers.

Even that doesn’t even include his ten years in the college ranks with the likes of BYU, San Fransisco State, Northern Arizona, and even Mizzou. For those who can’t do the math, that is over 30 years of coaching.

After that long at most jobs, retirement is discussed, but coaching is no ordinary job. One thing we also need to understand is that Reid isn’t going to be around forever. Eventually, the fat lady will sing on a man’s career but when that is is anyone’s guess.

Luckily we can use a couple of factors in determining how long he will be a coach. Those are age/health, win-loss, the team around him and the last one is one we can’t really determine and that is a passion for the art of coaching.

One thing we can say is that Reid probably won’t be hanging up his hat anytime soon given that he signed an extension with the Chiefs back in 2017 on the same day the team parted ways with now Browns GM John Dorsey.

To start, we are going to talk about Reid’s age and health. Big Red isn’t the oldest head coach in the league with the likes Pete Caroll, Bill Belichick, Bruce Arians, and Mike Zimmer all being older than Reid, but he has been one of the biggest.

Andy Reid has never shied away from his love of a good cheeseburger, but recent knee surgery has forced him to make certain changes. In a 2017 interview with Adam Schefter, Reid said that he had lost close to 60 pounds. While age will certainly be a factor at some point, it won’t be for a while. Periodically though, will someone give this man a hamburger.

Next up, we are going to talk about wins and losses. Typically when a coach is getting near the end of his tenure, he will start losing more than he is winning. Tom Landry was 17-30 in his last three seasons as the Cowboys head coach and for a more recent coach, Tom Coughlin was hovering just above .500 for much of the last five years he was in New York.

Andy Reid’s last couple of seasons in Philly weren’t pretty with one season above .500, but there were other factors involved in his firing there. The only way Reid gets the boot from Kansas City because of the record is if he goes below .500 for a few seasons with this roster.

Penultimately, we are going to talk about the roster around him. Unless you are on a team like Pittsburgh, Green Bay or New England with phenomenal drafting and player development, eventually the talent is just going to run out.

When we look at the Chiefs roster as it stands now, the offensive side of the ball is loaded with reigning MVP Patrick Mahomes, wide receivers Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins, and the best tight end in football Travis Kelce.

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On the defensive side of things, there are some great pieces with Chris Jones, Tyrann Mathieu, Frank Clark, and new Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo providing a new scheme and attitude. The majority of this core will be together for at least three or four more years with only Jones and Hill having contracts about to expire.

Lastly, we are going to talk about Reid’s passion for the game. For me, this is the biggest factor in determining how long Reid will coach. If you aren’t passionate about something, why keep doing it?

Sadly, there is no way to quantify passion, but he has the best offense in the NFL at his disposal and the next big thing at quarterback. For a guy like him, this is like a kid in a candy shop.

So, getting back to the question the title poses, how long will Andy Reid coach? I couldn’t give you a number because only Reid knows that answer.

If one were to guess, five or six years seems like an appropriate response. He would be around 67 or 68 and likely has a ring or two at that point if things stay the course and will have been a head coach for almost 30 consecutive years. Of course, things can change in that span of time, after all, it is the NFL where coaches can get fired after taking a team to the Super Bowl the year before.

Make no mistake about it, Andy Reid will go down as one of the greatest coaches in the NFL even if he were to hang up his playbook tomorrow. He took two franchises that were down on their luck at the time and turned them into powerhouses.

Reid is one of the most creative offensive minds that the NFL has ever seen.  He is stubborn at times, but he also isn’t afraid to take risks and try new plays. It will be a sad day when Andy Reid leaves the coaching ranks, but thankfully that time isn’t now or for a while.