Andy Reid first became an NFL head coach in 1999. He has coached a team every year since then. In recent years, he has emerged not just as one of the best coaches in the NFL but one of the best ever.
Since 2019, Reid has three Super Bowl appearances and two wins. And while it helps to have quarterback Patrick Mahomes, Reid has gotten the most out of Mahomes, who hardly entered the league as a can’t-miss, no-brainer superstar.
Reid has always gotten the most out of every quarterback he has worked with. He has made great quarterbacks spectacular, good players great, and average players into someone who could be flipped for a draft pick.
Look at what his quarterbacks have done with other teams. Typically, their best work happens when working with Reid. He is the ultimate quarterback whisperer, and he also does a damn good job with the rest of the team.
He has a big presence and a measured personality. Players respond to him. They want to please him. They want his approval. They want to win for him.
And they have. If he coaches into his seventies, he could indeed catch Don Shula and Bill Belichick for the all-time wins record. With Mahomes, Reid could catch Belichick with six Super Bowl wins. Reid also has coached in 10 conference championship games.
It’s easy to overlook Reid given the brilliance of Mahomes, but it’s Reid who finds the right balance between creativity and discipline, embracing Mahomes’s uncanny skills but not letting the backyard stuff get out of hand. Reid empowers players to come up with ideas, and he uses the best ones. The ownership they have over the offense makes them more invested in the overall cause.
The Eagles fired Reid after the 2012 season. The Chiefs instantly hired him, in a cycle that saw vacancies with the Chargers, Browns, Bears, Jaguars, Bills, and Cardinals. In hindsight, each of those teams surely wish they’d made a beeline for Big Red. Clark Hunt’s decision to be the one to bring Reid to town laid the foundation for what could be three, four, five, or more Super Bowl wins.
