Chiefs have two prime internal candidates to replace Matt Nagy as offensive coordinator should he become Jets' head coach
The Kansas City Chiefs could be gearing up to lose their offensive coordinator to another AFC team. Chiefs OC Matt Nagy and assistant GM Mike Borgonzi are set to interview with the New York Jets on Wednesday for their head-coaching and general manager vacancies. This could be a package deal in New York, which desperately needs […]
The Kansas City Chiefs could be gearing up to lose their offensive coordinator to another AFC team.
Chiefs OC Matt Nagy and assistant GM Mike Borgonzi are set to interview with the New York Jets on Wednesday for their head-coaching and general manager vacancies. This could be a package deal in New York, which desperately needs a culture shift. The Jets haven't had a winning record since the 2015 NFL season.
Should Nagy leave for New York, there will be a large outcry in the Chiefs Kingdom for the team to bring in an outside offensive coordinator with some new concepts and ideas. If history tells us anything, Andy Reid will have a strong preference for internal candidates. The team just so happens to have a pair who are prime for promotion to offensive coordinator.
Chiefs pass game coordinator Joe Bleymaier is the team's top internal offensive coordinator candidate
Bleymaier has strong ties within the organization, which will only strengthen his claim. He was a college teammate of Matt Nagy and Brett Veach at the University of Delaware. During the 2016 NFL season, he started in Kansas City as an offensive quality control coach and has worked his way up the ranks to become one of the most respected offensive minds in the building.
Bleymaier served as the team’s pass game analyst/assistant QB coach from 2018 to 2020. After working with the receivers in his role as a pass game analyst, Bleymaier became the team’s full-time wide receivers coach in the 2021 NFL season. That lasted for two seasons before he was promoted to pass game coordinator at the onset of the 2023 NFL season.
What should be most exciting about the prospect of promoting Bleymaier is that he was behind some of the more unique concepts we've seen adopted in the offense over the years.
“I’ve got good coaches that love the challenge of finding new things and experiment with them, and I’ve got players that thrive on that stuff," Chiefs HC Andy Reid said back in 2021. "I mean, they want you to find something that’s out of the ordinary and make it the ordinary and practice it, so I appreciate all of that. I’ve mentioned Joe Bleymaier in the past, I joke about the 'Joe Files,' but he’s got a file of things that take you anywhere and everywhere that football is played.”
When the Chiefs steal a play from the 1948 Rose Bowl in Super Bowl LIX, you can bet that Bleymaier played a part in bringing that play to Andy Reid's attention. You can also bet it's been in the playbook for a long time, too.
Bleymaier isn't the only internal candidate with qualifications for Kansas City
The path to internal promotion to offensive coordinator has often come from the QB coach position in Kansas City. When Doug Pederson left for the Philadelphia Eagles job back in 2016, Matt Nagy was promoted from QB coach to serve as co-offensive coordinator in 2016 before taking over the role full-time in 2017. That happened again with Nagy in 2023 when Eric Bieniemy left to join the Washington Commanders. He was the team's QB coach in 2022 and was promoted to the role of offensive coordinator. Even Mike Kafka went on to become the New York Giants' offensive coordinator after serving as a QB coach in Kansas City.
That brings us to David Girardi, who is in the midst of his seventh season with the Chiefs and his second season as the team's QB coach. In his first three seasons (2018-2020) with the team, Girardi served as an offensive quality control coach for Andy Reid’s offense. At the onset of 2021, Girardi was promoted to assistant QB coach and pass game analyst. While his resume as QB coach isn't exactly the strongest given Patrick Mahomes' performance over the past two seasons relative to his early career, the fact of being in that position sets him up for promotion.
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