LAKE LAS VEGAS, Nevada — At his final media obligation until Super Bowl LVIII postgame, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid repeated consistent denials he’s on the verge of retirement, win or lose to the San Francisco 49ers.
“Yeah, I haven’t gone there,” Reid, 65, said Thursday morning at the team hotel. “I don’t think about that. I’m tied up in the game and trying to take care of that. I’m sure somewhere, I’ll know when that time is. It’s not today and it won’t be Sunday.”
If Reid does ride off into the sunset with a third Super Bowl win during the upcoming offseason, Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt and quarterback Patrick Mahomes would both be caught off-guard.
“I’m highly doubtful (Reid would retire),” Mahomes said. “It’d be very surprising to me.”
Hunt said the team has “no sense he is ready to hang it up,” when discussing Reid’s future.
Mahomes, 28, believes having a team in its prime and perennially among contenders for the league’s most coveted trophies will be enough to keep Reid and others in the picture for longer than some expect. Mahomes said earlier this week he could definitely envision playing into “(Tom) Brady range” or around 15 more seasons that puts him into his 40s.
The draw for Mahomes is what he described again Thursday as a brotherhood and like-mindedness among leaders that includes Reid.
“(Travis Kelce) wants to take every single rep at practice. He wants to be out there for every single play. When you see that mindset, this is a Hall of Fame tight end and he wants to be the guy working the hardest, it raises everybody’s standard,” Mahomes said.
–By Jeff Reynolds, Field Level Media