Patrick Mahomes wants four things from Kansas City Chiefs’ next offensive coordinator — and they echo fan frustrations from 2025
Patrick Mahomes knows exactly what he’s looking for in the Kansas City Chiefs’ next offensive coordinator.
It’s looking increasingly likely that the Kansas City Chiefs will have a new offensive coordinator for the 2026 NFL season, as Matt Nagy continues to take head-coaching interviews with multiple clubs.
Speaking to the media for the first time since suffering a season-ending knee injury, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes addressed the situation with Nagy and endorsed him as he seeks new opportunities.
“I love (Offensive Coordinator) Coach (Matt) Nagy, and he’s done a lot of great things in my career to help me become the quarterback that I am,” Mahomes told reporters on Thursday. “I know that he’s looking to take that step and get back to the head coaching spot, and I hope he gets another opportunity to do that. He’s a great man, a great person, and it’s been cool to see the changes to him as a coach and him going to be a head coach and then coming back, but he gave me a lot of ideas to be better as a person (and) as a quarterback and so I’m hoping the best for him as he goes through this head coaching process and he gets another opportunity to go out there and lead an organization.”
With the growing possibility that Nagy is moving on in 2026, Mahomes also addressed the elephant in the room: The likelihood that he’ll have a new offensive coordinator in 2026.
Breaking down what Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes wants to see in his next offensive coordinator
Should Matt Nagy not return as offensive coordinator, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes has a defined vision for what he’s looking for in his next offensive coordinator. Some of those key points echo fan frustrations from the 2025 NFL season.
Remember, he’s only ever had Eric Bieniemy & Matt Nagy as his offensive coordinators during his time as a starter in the NFL. Are there specific coaches available now that he’s eyeing for the role?
“Obviously, there’s names out there,” Mahomes said with a grin. “But with how many vacancies there are at the head coaching job, you have to let that all play out to see how you build the staff. I know (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid – if (Offensive Coordinator Matt) Nags is able to get another head coaching job, that he’ll (Head Coach Andy Reid) have a good plan of who he wants to bring in. But for me, I just want someone that loves football, that cares about football, wants to give everything they can to win, to hold people accountable and then to bring new ideas every single day. That’s something that we have to continue to do if you want to continue to be great in this league, is you have to continue to evolve and get better and better and that’s something that we’ll try to do here and I want to get back to that winning culture of being accountable to each other and going out there and playing great football every single day, practice or game.”
There are some names out there for the offensive coordinator position that are obvious, as Mahomes says. There’s Bieniemy, who is now coaching the running backs for the Chicago Bears. There’s former Chiefs QB coach Mike Kafka, who served as the New York Giants’ interim head coach after Brian Daboll was fired. Then there’s former Washington Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury, who was Mahomes’ head coach at Texas Tech. Do those three fit the four qualifiers, though? That’s a question that Coach Reid & Mahomes will have to come to an agreement on.
What Mahomes wants is pretty simple, and it shouldn’t be too hard to find. Here’s my take on it.
- Loving football: If you’re coaching in the NFL, you better love football, or you’re not going to be coaching in the NFL for long. The same goes for players. I don’t take this as a shot at Nagy, but strictly a necessary qualifier for every coach and player.
- Give everything they can to winning: This is an interesting one from Mahomes. I’m not sure I take it to mean that Nagy didn’t give everything he could to winning, but I wonder if there was some resistance to change that rubbed No. 15 the wrong way. A situation where you’re trying to cram a square peg into a round hole, so to speak.
- Holding people accountable: People might take this as a clear sign of Bieniemy being the guy, given his reputation during his time in Kansas City. I think it’s just clear frustration over “compounding mistakes” that sunk the season on offense. The constant penalties, the dropped passes, the stale passing concepts, poor route-running, failed execution, and so on. You can’t keep trotting out the same guy who lines up in an illegal formation week after week. There has to be some level of consequence if you fail to achieve consistent success.
- Bring new ideas every day: In the NFL, you’ve got to be an amoeba. Teams are going to take away the things you do well, and to succeed, you need to be able to adjust and fire back. The Chiefs were stuck in their old ways in 2025. Heck, they’ve been trying to recapture the magic of the deep passing attack ever since Tyreek Hill was traded away. They need an innovator at offensive coordinator who will challenge Andy Reid with new ideas and concepts. Perhaps someone who can recognize that when the under-center running game is the best thing you’ve got going, you should build a successful offense out of that.
Ultimately, the Chiefs don’t appear to be in too big a rush to find their next offensive coordinator. As Mahomes indicated, the team appears to be waiting for the dust to settle on head-coaching decisions around the league before making its move.