Kansas City Chiefs: Is Andy Reid the best NFL head coach in 2021?

As the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, Andy Reid has seen plenty of success. Should he be considered the best head coach in the NFL heading into the 2021 season?

With the 2021 Kansas City Chiefs season inching closer and closer, fans should be excited about the potential for this team to make another run to the Super Bowl. There are plenty of reasons for why this team has become a powerhouse, but one crucial reason is the leadership of Andy Reid.

Reid’s brilliance in shaping offenses has helped put Patrick Mahomes in the best position possible, which has allowed the talented quarterback to develop into an absolute star for the Kansas City Chiefs.

He’s done quite a bit throughout his 22-year-long head coaching career, but Reid’s best years and most successful seasons are happening right now.

Because of that, and the fact that he’s leading a team that is seemingly poised to contend for another championship, Reid clearly should be considered one of the best head coaches that the NFL has in its ranks at the moment.

The discussion and disagreements will then come up when trying to figure out just where Reid should be placed when ranking the best head coaches in the NFL in 2021.

Should Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid be considered the best coach in the NFL? Not according to Sports Illustrated.

Andy Reid should be considered one of the key reasons as to why the Kansas City Chiefs are as good as they are, but that doesn’t mean folks are going to rank him as the top head coach in the NFL heading into this coming season.

That happens to be the case with a power ranking of NFL head coaches which was published by Sports Illustrated’s Conor Orr. Despite all that Reid has accomplished and the current trajectory of the Kansas City Chiefs, Orr doesn’t have Reid at the top of his list.

Here’s what the list of the five best veteran head coaches in the NFL in 2021 looks like, according to Orr:

1. Bill Belichick
2. Andy Reid
3. Mike Tomlin
4. John Harbaugh
5. Sean Payton

That’s right, Reid sits at No. 2 on Orr’s list.

(Quick note, it’s worth pointing out that Orr’s rankings are actually split into two lists, one for veteran head coaches, which includes Reid, and another for first-year head coaches. You should read all of Orr’s rankings and the reasoning here. Back to your regularly scheduled programming.)

That’s not a bad spot for Reid to be. There’s a lot to be said about how good of a coach Bill Belichick is. But there’s an equally compelling argument that could be made in Reid’s favor, especially right now in 2021.

Reid’s team is built to win immediately. He’s assembled a staff that is set to win and he’s got a team that thrives at just about everything it does. We all saw the New England Patriots struggle considerably last year.

Which coach has been more successful overall? That’s Belichick.

Who is the better coach right now in this moment? That’s a bit of a tougher question to answer, but you wouldn’t be wrong if you said that it was Reid.