Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy was the Kansas Chiefs’ primary play caller during the 2017 season. But Nagy is now the head coach of the Chicago Bears. Replacing Nagy as Kansas City’s play caller in 2018 will be head coach Andy Reid.
“I’m gonna go back to doing that — I’ll do that,” Reid said, via Terez Paylor. “I did it at Denver, against Denver. And I was very happy with Matt (Nagy), but we’ve had some change, and whatever I think is best for the team, I’ll go from there.”
The revelation that Reid called the plays for the Week 17 game against the Denver Broncos is interesting. It could have simply been a matter of Reid anticipating that Nagy would get a head coaching job and deciding to dust the cobwebs off in a meaningless game.
Yet, the fact that it was also the one and only start for Patrick Mahomes at quarterback can’t be ignored. Perhaps it’s a sign that Reid intends to turn the team over to Mahomes in 2018 and wanted to get some practice.
Beyond that speculation, though, this move is sure to spark some debate.
Reid called the plays for the Chiefs in 2016. That year, Kansas City ranked 20th in yards and 13th in points. In 2017, with Nagy calling the plays, the Chiefs were 5th in yards and 6th in points.
For Reid’s sake, we can only hope that he has someone ready to step into that role if the team’s struggle resurface.