The Kansas City Chiefs have lost two games in a row, and their fans are understandably frustrated. The Chiefs got absolutely dominated by the Seattle Seahawks two weeks ago, and last weekend they choked away a chance to all but lock up the division only seven games into the season. The Chiefs have roster issues, consistency issues, and their coaching staff has made some very questionable decisions. Fans have every right to question things, including the job of head coach Andy Reid, but when it comes to managing players, it seems like Reid deserves some benefit of the doubt.
Let's start by establishing a few things that all Chiefs fans can agree on.
- Andy Reid is a first-ballot Hall of Fame coach, and his leadership brought the Chiefs their most successful era in team history.
- Despite being one of the best head coaches in NFL history, Reid has some frustrating tendencies that include time management, play-calling, and being too set in his ways at times.
All Chiefs fans appreciate what Reid has done and accomplished, and all Chiefs fans have wanted to pull their hair out at some point over some of Reid's decisions. So this isn't about shaming Chiefs fans for not appreciating Reid or turning a blind eye to his weaknesses. This is about looking at his track record of how he handles players and applying some logic to the Kingsley Suamataia situation.
Reid is pretty much universally known as a player's coach. Talk to his current and/or former players, and they all will say as much. He never throws players under the bus. Never. You hear from countless players that he lets players be themselves. He has an incredibly long track record of giving players second chances even when other teams, the media, and fans don't think the player deserves it. You can make a strong argument that he's the most successful player's coach in NFL history.
So when Reid benched Kingsley Suamataia for the second time last Sunday, it seems shortsighted for Chiefs fans to act like Reid has lost his mind. It's to the point that if Reid were to bench Suamataia again for this weekend's game against the New York Jets or any other game this season, some fans would be calling for his head. So let's look at this situation and several fan complaints about it through the lens of Reid's track record over his 28 years as an NFL head coach.
1. Andy Reid won't tell us what Kingsley Suamataia did to get benched
Fans are livid that Reid won't tell us why he has benched Suamataia twice in recent weeks, but this shouldn't shock anyone. Reid doesn't air dirty laundry about players in the media. Ever. The only time he'll even acknowledge something bad a player has done is if it is already out there for everyone to see, and even then, he downplays it. This goes back to what has made him a player's coach for his entire NFL coaching career. He's not going to suddenly change that philosophy for Kingsley Suamataia.
The best thing that Reid can do for us fans is continue to lead a winning team. He has done that throughout his career by defending players in the press and dealing with issues behind closed doors. It may be frustrating when we want answers and explanations, but Reid's track record in this area is proven, and his players appreciate it and respect him for it.
2. Andy Reid is hurting the team by bencing Suamataia and should find a different way to handle the situation
Reid has been a head coach for 28 years and the Chiefs' head coach for the last 14 seasons. How often do you remember him benching a starter like he has with Suamataia? I'm sure if you go back over all 28 seasons, you can find some instances here and there, but it isn't something that has happened very often. So if a player's coach, who is known for second chances and doesn't bench players very often, has now benched a player twice, what seems more likely?
A.) Suamataia has done the same kind of thing that dozens of players have done before in Reid's coaching career, and Reid has just randomly decided to be harsher on Suamataia.
B.) Suamataia has either done something more severe and/or hasn't responded to Reid's behind-the-scenes ways of handling things, thus forcing Reid to resort to a stronger response than usual.
If Reid were a young head coach, these two options would be equally likely, but given Reid's track record of how he handles players, the logical option has to be option B. Since Reid doesn't air player issues publicly (as we've established), let's speculate for a moment that Kingsley Suamataia is doing something like chronically being late or missing meetings or mandatory conditioning sessions. Something that is not okay, but probably happens here and there for occasional players on every team in the NFL.
Let's speculate that maybe the first thing that happens is the position coach talks to him and says, "Hey, this has to stop," but it continues. Then Reid meets with him and says the same thing, but it still continues. Maybe he has to run at practice or go last in the meal line or whatever "friendly" correction tool Reid prefers to use. If those methods that have fixed the issue with the vast majority of players still don't work, and Reid has to finally go, "Hey, we're to the point where if you won't fix this issue, you aren't playing, and it's going to hurt the team," and then Suamataia still doesn't fix it, he deserves to sit. Period. He's a grown man getting paid over a million dollars this season to play football. Do what your coach asks.
We may not know the specifics, but Reid's track record with players over a very LONG career says that he treats players with a ton of respect and gives them second chances. That should be worth something. That should bring more questions about Suamataia than it does Reid when Reid benches him (twice). Yes, every Chiefs fan wants Suamataia to play, but the fact that Reid feels like he needs to sit despite it hurting the team should tell you something.
3. Signing Justin Tucker means you can't discipline players
The logic here is that if you sign someone with sexual assault allegations like Justin Tucker because you think they can help you win, then you lose the ability to take the moral high ground and bench players for not meeting whatever standard they fell short of. I'll be honest, I couldn't disagree with this take more.
To be clear, I hate that they signed Justin Tucker. Even if I didn't believe he was washed as a kicker, I would still hate it. However, the fact that the Chiefs are a team that is known for giving players with issues in their past a second chance is even more reason to make sure that you have clear expectations and accountability in your locker room. If you bring in troubled players and leave them free to just do whatever they want whenever they want, your team will literally self-destruct.
Andy Reid has mastered the art of handling a locker room full of unique, different, and challenging personalities by treating them with respect and placing clear expectations on them. Chiefs fans now seem to want him to stop doing both of those things. They seem to want him to throw Suamataia under the bus in the media, but then let him play on Sunday. That might make fans happy, but that just isn't how Andy Reid operates.
Fans can rightly question Reid on a number of things, from his time management to play-calling to fourth-down decisions to refusing to run quarterback sneaks because of a fluke injury years ago to refusing to play talented young players in favor of struggling vets who know the system, but it's hard to question Andy Reid's relationship with his players and how he handles the team/discipline. Hopefully, Reid won't have to bench Kingsley Suamataia again this week or any other game this season, but if he does, his track record points to that being a sign that Suamataia is letting the Chiefs down, not Reid.
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