Kansas City Chiefs: Offensive coordinators will cause time issues

Andy Reid is renowned for his time management issues, especially when it comes to the play clock.

Remember when the Kansas City Chiefs took a delay of game penalty after a time out? That should not happen in the modern day NFL.

However, it did, and Andy Reid, while has done a terrific job with the Chiefs over the past three years, is known for such a shortcoming, and has been an issue that has plagued this offense throughout his tenure with the organization. Unfortunately, that issue is not looking as though it may be resolved any time soon with the new confusing structure of the Chiefs’ coaches.

Last season’s offensive coordinator Doug Pederson has left to replace Chip Kelly as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and the Chiefs, in a very surprising move, appointed two men to be co-coordinators to replace the outgoing Pederson.

It is a confusing set up that has not very often been seen in the NFL before, and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Andy Reid, when the appointment was made, stated that he would be the primary play caller, while Childress and Nagy would have input. While I am not a fan of Reid maintaining play calling duties, there is a greater issue here, and that is one of numbers.

The old adage of too many cooks spoil the broth rings true in this scenario, and it could well be time management that comes as the cost of such an unclear and confusing structure. With Reid already struggling to give Alex Smith and the offense enough to set up in between plays, adding two offensive coordinators is simply going to complicate a system that already struggled.

Reid is far from the worst play caller in the NFL. He is certainly not the best, but he is an adequate, if sometimes frustrating play caller. Adding Childress and Nagy will change the structure of how plays are called. Smith could well have three guys down his ear throughout a game, all pining for different plays at different times.

When this is added to Smith’s growing understanding of the offense and the trust that Reid has placed in his quarterback in allowing him to audible in and out of plays at the line of scrimmage, then there is a lot for the Chiefs’ offense to do in very little time.

Reid’s West Coast offense is notoriously strenuous to learn from the outset anyway. It is why Chris Conley, like many other rookies, have struggled to make a significant impact early in their careers. This simply adds to an already confusing recipe, which once again, threatens the smoothness and continuity of the Chiefs’ offense.

Ultimately, there is a lot of people involved in calling and then executing a play, and the more mouths talking, the more time that takes, something that has been a weakness for the Chiefs over the past few seasons. It may well be time for Andy Reid to invest in a new watch.