Eric Bieniemy’s departure created a ripple effect for the Kansas City Chiefs’ coaching staff.
Matt Nagy resumed duties as offensive coordinator.
He had served in that role for two seasons (2016-17) before he was hired as the Chicago Bears’ head coach for four seasons.
Nagy, who originally came to Kansas City as a quarterbacks coach in 2013, returned to the Chiefs as QB coach last season after he was fired by the Bears.
It was natural to reinstall Nagy into the OC role, but he’s not the only coach moving around on Andy Red’s staff this offseason.
"Every offseason in the National Football League brings change, and for the first time in a while we had some movement on the coaching staff," Reid said in a statement announcing the staff changes.
He had previously announced that David Girardi would replace Nagy as quarterbacks coach.
Girardi had served as passing game analyst and assistant quarterbacks coach.
Kansas City also announced the retirement of Barry Rubin, the team’s strength and conditioning coach for the last decade, on Friday.
“On the strength and conditioning side of things, I'd like to congratulate Coach Rubin on an outstanding career and wish him the best in retirement,” Reid said.
Ryan Reynolds, an assistant under Rubin for the last seven seasons, has been promoted to replace Rubin. He also will maintain his role as the Chiefs’ sports science director.
Nick Casetta and Spencer Reid are joining the strength and conditioning staff from New Mexico State and BYU, respectively.
Here’s how the other dominoes fell:
- Joe Bleymaier is moving from wide receivers coach to passing game coordinator;
- Connor Embree — a former Kansas football player and coach, who also previously served as Blue Valley West offensive coordinator — moves from a quality control role to wide receivers coach;
- Dan Williams moves from former offensive assistant to offensive quality control and assistant quarterbacks coach;
- Kevin Saxton II, a former co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Benedict College, has been hired as an offensive assistant;
- Todd Pinkston, a former wide receivers coach at Austin Peay, will take over as running backs coach after Greg Lewis’ departure;
- Porter Ellett has been promoted from offensive quality control to assistant running backs coach.
“As for our changes this year, I'm excited to see what these coaches can do in their new roles,” Reid said. “They are all talented individuals with unique skillsets. All of them have the ability to bring something different to the table to benefit our team and specifically our players."
All eight non-strength coach coaching changes came on offense, leaving defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s staff intact.
—
