Hour 1:  Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid, plus NFL Schedule Release Reactions

23:02Rich Eisen:Yeah, and then, you know, obviously you've got to play them when you play them. But weeks 12 through 14, you mentioned those Thursday-nighters. Week 12 is the Thanksgiving game, and then the league does like to put a Thursday night after Thanksgiving between two teams that play on Thanksgiving. So it is a regular week's worth complement of rest in between games for a normally otherwise short week. You're at the Rams on that one. And then you're at Cincinnati the following Sunday. There is a mini bye, but it is still three in a row on the road. I'm sure you've done that before multiple times. What's the challenges for something like that?

23:40Sure. Well, they're all good team. We played Buffalo for the first one. and you've got the Rams, Buffalo, and then you've got Cincinnati. So they're all three are really good football teams. That, to me, kind of charges it up. You don't have to say much to the guys about getting fired up. So it doesn't matter the days or where you play. It's the teams that you're playing are explosive football teams on both sides of the ball and special teams for that matter. And that fires you up. So it really doesn't matter. Listen, we'll go play in the McDonald's parking lot as long as they're giving out cheeseburgers.

24:20Right. That's right. Of course.

24:23Rich Eisen:I know that. I know you're not going for the chicken sandwich. That's right. Chicken sandwich or nuggets.

24:32Rich Eisen:That's a good one. I'm calling back some of your commercial work right there. I picked up on that one. So and then you take a look at the schedule and you see how you're finishing as well. I mean, their last four, you've got the defending AFC champion, New England Patriots, coming to your house on a Monday night. Then you've got San Francisco after that, a visit out here to take on the Chargers before you have Vegas at home. What is the plan about finishing? I mean, how does one prepare for something like that, Coach? Because, again, you've been there, you've done that. It's not like you're seeing things for the first time.

25:10Rich Eisen:Yeah, well, you better be ready. You better be ready to go all the way through this season. And you finish with two AFC West opponents, so you better not relax. And those two teams right there, make sure that you don't do that. And so that's a positive. The guys see that. They understand it. And they know how the season goes. It's a long season. A lot of things can happen. there are always ups and downs and you just keep pounding, pounding forward. Andy Reid here on the Rich Eisen show. All right, let's get right to it here. Looking at weeks one through 18. I know we're sitting here in the middle of May.

25:52Rich Eisen:What week do we see Patrick Mahomes as the starting quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs? Andy Reid. Oh, Rich, man. Oh, yeah. I went there. Just straight. I walked through the door with you right through the front door. Yeah. Listen, I can tell you, I'm not confucius at all, but I can tell you that But we're sitting here and, you know, I hear people say, well, he's ahead of schedule. I'm not sure who makes a schedule. So everybody's different. I would tell you, though, that he spent a ton of time here and he's getting better every day. He's not taking any setbacks. And that's what you look for.

26:24You're making sure that as you push him, which Julie, our trainer, is doing, the real trainer, actually, if you go back to the commercial, she's a real trainer in the picture. So she's pushing him. and he wants more. And so I would tell you he's doing very well, but it's a day-to-day thing. And as long as he keeps making the progress forward, maybe you have a chance to see him the first game. But again, we'll play that as we go.

26:56Rich Eisen:Well, in my world, where I sit in front of a microphone and talking to people, television, this, that, radio, callers, and things of that nature, basically outside of your world, the notion that the league, the NFL, and its schedule makers put your team at home Monday night, Denver Broncos defending AFC West champs in your house, and week one means the league believes Patrick Mahomes will be the starting quarterback that night and might have gotten some sort of indication. Is there any? Well, deep down, Roger Goodell wanted to be a physical therapist, So he said, listen, two of the top quarterbacks in the National Football League need some motivation to get themselves back on the football field.

27:39That works. So let's put them against each other. Let's just put them against each other, and we'll see what happens. So here we sit. But we wouldn't want it any other way. I don't think Denver would want it any other way. This is a great thing. And if the guys can be there, they're going to be there. And both of them are great competitors. And we'll just see where it all goes.

27:59Rich Eisen:What do you, obviously you're going to take the cue from, as you mentioned, the trainer, medical staff. And again, this is not your first rodeo on this front either, Andy Reid. But what do you want to see, your eyeball, your gut, your feel, what do you want to see from Mahomes July, August, so you can feel comfortable taking the advice from the medical staff? There's probably a couple. You want to make sure that it's healed, number one, and that he can keep himself out of harm's way as needed. In other words, be able to play the game. And, you know, if you can't do that, then you got to spend more time getting yourself to be able to do that.

28:40And we'll keep a close eye on that. And if that decision needs to be made and when it needs to be made, we'll make that. But, you know, we're obviously not going to just throw him out there to throw him out there. and I know his competitive nature is he's going to want to play. But we've got to evaluate all that as we go forward.

29:06Rich Eisen:And then, you know, last one for you on this. It's new for him, although, you know, his healing powers we've seen before. My gosh, that time on a quarterback sneak where his kneecap wound up on the side of his leg, and I thought his year was over, and it was the exact opposite. That said, what are you seeing from him in his rehab when he's around and how he's attacking it, if there's anything different, any sort of sensibility you see from him differently with a chip on his shoulder about this injury potentially. No, it's funny you mentioned that game. That was in Denver, by the way. And so he was trying to talk me in at halftime of going back in the game.

29:46So, I mean, that's how this guy is wired. It's a great thing, but at the same time, And, you know, you got to kind of you got to make sure that everything's right. And and I wish everybody could see how he's gone about his business on getting himself ready. It's I mean, it's pretty impressive deal. Seven hours in the building every day, every day is in here and going and working. And so but at the same time, he's still got a lot left in his career and you don't want to put him in a bad position there. So we keep a close eye on it. We've got great people here that do that with our trainer, Rick Burkholder, our head trainer, our medical staff, doctors, and Julie is, I'll put her against any PT in the league.

30:34I mean, she's a good one.

30:36Rich Eisen:Andy Reid here on the Rich Eyes' Show, a few minutes left with the Chiefs head coach. Kurt Signetti in Indiana had a line about his new quarterback from TCU saying that he introduced him to his two new best friends, a running game and a defense and he winked at the media and it was really great so I want to talk about those two aspects of what might help Mahomes here right in his return from injury the running game couldn't help but notice the signing obviously of the defending Super Bowl MVP and Kenneth Walker III in the last thousand yard rusher you've been fortunate enough to field was Kareem Hunt in his first season in the pros back in 2017 how much should Chiefs fans expect to see your new free agent running back run the football coach.

31:24Yeah, he's a, I'll tell you, he's a heck of a player. What a great year he had, Jamie. That's a, and the, and the Seattle Seahawks, what a great year they had. So we were very excited to get him on board. Brett Veach and his crew did a great job of getting him here along with Ken's agent. They, they orchestrated this thing to where he could be a Kansas City chief. and heck, we'll utilize him. I mean, he's a great thing to add to great addition to the offense. And I think he's excited to be here. He's been here every day during the OTAs, working his tail off. And I think he's really looking forward to the opportunity of playing.

32:06And so I guess we'll have to use him, Rich.

32:10Rich Eisen:But more than we've accustomed to maybe see, you run the football or dedicate to running the football on a week-to-week basis? Yeah. So we'll utilize them. We utilize Kareem. I was lucky to have some pretty good running backs when I was in Philadelphia, and we utilized those guys. And Pacheco came up a couple yards short of 1 ,000 yards. So I know, listen, when you go to BYU, Rich, it's like going to Michigan, except even a little bit better, right? So I went to BYU, went to BYU, we get tagged. We're not into tattoos, but if we have a tattoo, it would say pass game, right? Yes. Right over our heart, right over the heart.

32:54And that's what we'd have. So, but anyways, we'll run the ball. We're going to try to do whatever we can to score points. Doggone. I mean, they're hard to come by in this league. And if we have to throw it, we'll throw it. If we have to run it, we'll run it. And, hey, if we can do both good, we'll do both good.

33:12Rich Eisen:And obviously, if you get the points and you stop the other team, that's how you get wins. I could not help but notice the first four draft choices for the Kansas City Chiefs this year, all on the defensive side of the ball, starting with Mansoor Delane, who you traded up to go get. What do you like about this kid and the others that you got defensively that might give Spagnuolo a few more arrows in his quiver. Coach? Yeah, we lost a few of the secondary players to free agency and trade. So bringing him in gives us a legitimate corner there to go along with the guys that we have here. But a very good corner.

33:53He was tremendous at the college level, and we anticipate he'll do the same here. and Spags utilizes those guys and relies on them too. And then we've got a defensive tackle, a defensive end. I mean, we've got some nice additions that we can add in there. We're lucky enough to have a couple first-round picks so that we were able to put some people in place there that Spags will use.

34:22Rich Eisen:And I'm sure coaches don't look gift horses in the mouth and you've got an all-time great thoroughbred and Travis Kelsey's deciding to continue to play. So I'll ask you the question about him this way. Why do you think he came back to play? Why do you think he's still out there with you? Well, I think he loves the game. That's what I think. And he still can play. And so those things help. But he surely didn't want to leave on the year that we had. I mean, that's not – he made that clear right after the season. So he wanted to come back and we worked out his contract to where his contract was up.

35:03So we had to redo the contract and that part worked out and here we sit. So look forward to having him here. He's been up here and doing his thing and I think he's excited to be here.

35:14Rich Eisen:Did he call you personally to say, hey, this is going down? I'm coming back. Did he give you a ring? Yeah, we talked about it right on the day after the season. And so, and he told me, he says, listen, we get this thing worked out. I'd love to be back. So we dug in on that. And then here he is, you know. And we all love Travis. He's a chief, and we appreciate him. And it's amazing. I wish I had that energy now. I'm not sure I had the energy when I was his age. So, I mean, this guy, he wants to fight you if you take him out of the game or take him out of practice or anything else. Oh, you saw that in the Super Bowl, Coach.

35:58Rich Eisen:We saw that. Well, that's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying. But I'd much rather have it that way. So, you know, I'd much rather have it that way. I don't like guys that want to duck out of the game. I want them to cherish being in there and cherish every play, and that guy does it better than anybody. Well, last one for you before I let you go, and I appreciate the time here. again not to cause you to be introspective or put you in that direction since that's not usually maybe your default but this is year 14 for you in Kansas City the same number of years you coached the Philadelphia Eagles when you hear that what do you think?

36:35Rich Eisen:I'm old 28 years as a head coach that's like dog years no you're grizzled you're not old man you're experienced that's right you know i love every minute i put a tommy bahamas shirt on go to work and enjoy it man that's uh i get to be around these young guys and they keep me young and at heart and then when i'm doing shows like this and i have to look at myself in this in this camera right here i go doggone man you look great we got to get you a more high definition camera don't worry about it we can put a filter on you we could do that sort of thing Don't worry about it. But in all seriousness, though, I remember when Holmgren was a coach of Seattle longer than he was in Green Bay, where, you know, you obviously were an assistant.

37:20Rich Eisen:And I'm like, man, like you're almost at that point in time of your career in Kansas City. Yeah, we're tied. We'll be tied this year. So 14 Philly, 14 here. And listen, I'm excited. There's one when you think about this, Rich, we're one out of 32 guys in the whole world to have a chance to do what we're doing as head coaches. And that's an honor. I mean, and so I cherish every day of it. I have since I was in Philadelphia. I cherish it when I was a tight end coach for the Green Bay Packers and quarterback coach for the Green Bay Packers and loved every minute of it. And now here I'm sitting doing this thing.

37:55So every day is something. And you got highs and lows in it, but that's that's all part of life. We're just a microcosm of life. And you come in and you duke it out. You challenge yourself. You challenge guys around you. They challenge you. And here we go, man. And you try to work off of each other's, you know, whatever your strength is, Rich, you're going to cover up my weakness and vice versa. And let's go. Let's put it together.

38:22Rich Eisen:Coach, thanks for the time. Appreciate you. Appreciate always when you are kind enough to accept the invitation to come here. And I look forward to the next time already. Thank you. You betcha, man. You do a great job. Right back at you. Thank you. That means the world. That's Andy Reid, head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs right here on the Rich Eisen Show. The great Andy Reid, man. My great Andy Reid story of all time is that here I am, 2005. I'm at the Combine, and I'm doing all the visits with the teams. And it can be intimidating. And here I am, you know, just a young guy just trying to make it, just hoping to get drafted.

39:00and I walk into these little tiny rooms in Indianapolis when they had the combine at the old RCA dome and we stayed in a hotel across the street. One of those meetings I had was with the Philadelphia Eagles. I walk into the room and when I walk into the room, I'm talking about this small room, probably couldn't be, almost felt like a closet with every like feel like Philadelphia Eagles staff member in there. And then they kind of lead you to like almost like a godfather movie type of intro. And so they lead you to a room. Trust me, there's no lighting in there. I mean, poor lighting. And then they walk you to the table and you sit down.

39:40But before you sit down, you look and Andy Reid is sitting down. Then he starts to rise and he keeps rising and he keeps rising and he finally eats his foot. And I'm like, okay, this is really Andy Reid. sticks his hands out. Hey, I'm Andy Reid, head coach, Philadelphia Eagles. And I'm like, I know who you are. And I'm Kirk Morrison. And it's like Steve Spagnuolo, Steded X. It was just crazy just thinking about that moment for me. But that's like my Andy Reid story that I always love. So every time I see him, I reminded him because he was supposed to select me with the pick in that second round and he didn't do it.

40:22And I let him know about it every day. Let him know. Yep. You know who he drafted? Yeah, my best friend. So it's like, yeah, it's all good, though. Things worked out for a reason. But great to have Andy Reid on the show. And obviously we got the timeline of what we expect. And we'll come back and kind of dissect that just a little bit because he did give us some Mahomes news there. So do we expect him sooner rather than later? We'll discuss that next right here on The Rich Eisen Show.

40:53Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.

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41:57Rich Eisen:Brought to you by PayPal, official peer-to-peer payment sponsor of the NFL. So that trade, the Washington Commanders acquiring Alex Smith, I always remember because I was getting ready for dinner at the Super Bowl that year. It was 2018, right? 2018? Yes, it was. So I'm getting ready for a dinner amongst colleagues, and this is the day and age that we're in now. It's crazy. It was eight years ago, the 2018. We were getting ready, and everyone's phone started just going off. Boom, boom, boom. Like everybody's notifications were like, what is going on? It was a Tuesday as well. Tuesday. It was a Tuesday night.

42:38That's what I remember. It was a Tuesday night. We're all getting ready for dinner. We're all walking in. I think a lot of NFL guys and just a couple of agents. and general managers, we're all just having a good time. And everybody's phone literally just starts going crazy. And we all sit down and we read the notification. The Kansas City Chiefs are trading quarterback Alex Smith to the Washington commander. We're like, wait, what? I mean, we're in the Super Bowl. This is the Chiefs. They come off a playoff appearance, and they're going to make this trade for one. And Patrick Mahomes will now be the starter.

43:16They trade away Alex. Patrick becomes a starter. And how crazy, like, the rest is history. The rest is history. And so fast forward to where we are right now currently. And so it makes you think. Because I look at this schedule release, and everyone's saying, like, oh, man, the Denver Broncos, they open up against this team and that team. and they play, what is it, like seven of eight or seven teams last year that made the playoffs, I kind of laugh and say, but do we not consider the Kansas City Chiefs a playoff team? Now, look, I get it, people. I know they went 6-11. Yeah, they didn't make the playoffs.

43:55But I feel like for a team that went 6-11, we sure do carry them with the weight of a playoff team, right? And the Denver Broncos have to play them twice. They open up, obviously, here's the schedule. They opened up on September 14th, that Monday night game, versus Denver. So Denver comes to Kansas City. And then you have the rematch a little bit later on in week number eight. But I just think it's hilarious when I see the schedule people or the people who talk about the schedule and say, well, this team is playing against X amount of teams that made the playoffs last year. Do you not consider the Kansas City Chiefs one of those teams that could have been a playoff team had Patrick Mahomes been healthy?

44:37Are the Detroit Lions not a team that, you know, they didn't make the playoffs, but aren't they playoff-type worthy? So I always laugh at how we look at last year's teams that made the playoffs, and you really think that are they going to be those same types of teams? It's crazy. The teams, there's going to be a team or two that don't make the playoffs from last year. That's just part of the way the NFL works. I just don't know when I'll see Patrick Mahomes. Will we see him at the beginning of the season, middle of the season, or end of the season? We don't know. I mean, these injuries, the ACLs, I feel like when you used to have the ACL, you were done for like, what, a year, year and a half.

45:15Now dudes is done and they come back in six months. Oh, six? For ACL? ACL, like, oh, yeah, go ahead, put some Robitussin on. You'll be all right about six months. You know what I mean? Like, I'm looking at Micah Parsons over there doing beach workouts already. I'm like, dude, you just tore it, like, what, five months ago? and he's already back doing workouts and doing workouts. I think that's what this season's really about right now. And Tussin is a miracle cure. It is. It's a cure. Some Tussin and ginger ale. Those are the two mixes that, like, you put those together, all of a sudden the body just feels so much better.

45:45I'll cure anything. But, I mean, I think when you look now moving forward, that's going to be what this season's about is when Patrick Mahomes, because I think Bo Nix as well. I mean, you know, I give Bo Nix his credit as well. I mean, here's a guy that should have been starting that AFC championship game, but took his team into a division championship last year. So the reigning division champions, Bo Nix, and then you got a team that we think can get back to where they once were after going on a almost three-peat just a couple seasons ago in the Kansas City Chiefs. But it's all predicated on Patrick Mahomes' health.

46:16And I get it. Andy Reid, this team, went all defense, all defense. But we know as long as you've got number 15, you've got an opportunity and you've got a chance. So I consider them a team that, yeah, they're probably a playoff team. I'll be real with you. Probably a playoff team this year, except when they play against the Raiders. Now, I don't want to see all that, okay? I'd rather, hey, is it Justin Fields or is it Patrick Mahomes? I'm going to go with Fields first. You know what I'm saying? Let Patrick heal up. Make sure he's doing all that. Make sure he heals up. But that's a big storyline going into the 2026 season for the NFL is when will Patrick Mahomes be ready to go?

46:55the only people who know that is Andy Reid and obviously Patrick Mahomes.

47:00Rich Eisen:The Rich Isis Show Podcast.