The tree of a dynasty is going to find some branches pruned away by other franchises hoping to graft in some of its sustained success over time. NFL teams that find a way to stave off parity in the name of yearly contention will lose front office executives, scouting personnel, or assistant coaches every year to teams stuck in the divisional gutter. It's found in the hiring cycles of winter.
The Chiefs have suffered the same losses, which is to be expected for a franchise that recently went to five Super Bowls in six seasons. Over the years, the front office has bled Brandt Tilis to the Carolina Panthers, Ryan Poles to the Chicago Bears, and Mike Borgonzi to the Tennessee Titans. As for coaches, Andy Reid's staff has lost names like Mike Kafka and Matt Nagy in the same span of time.
One name to watch in the near future is Joe Bleymaier. He's currently the passing game coordinator for Reid's offense, and a recent column by The Athletic's Jordan Rodrigue identified him as a potential "breakout" candidate. "Bleymaier, who has also coached receivers and quarterbacks in his decade with the team, was described by some who know or have worked with him as the “secret sauce” in the building," wrote Rodrigue.
Bleymaier, originally from Boise, Idaho, is a 43-year-old assistant whose football background tracks back to his wide receiver days at the University of Delaware from 2002 to 2005. From there, he earned a law degree from Marquette while coaching high school ball in Milwaukee and interning in Green Bay's football operations department over three summers. After a compliance stint at Pacific and some quality control work at Colorado (2013-15), Bleymaier joined the Chiefs in 2016 as an offensive quality control coach. It turns out that having other fellow Blue Hen alums like Matt Nagy and Brett Veach around pays off.
Since arriving in Kansas City, Bleymaier has been climbing the organizational ladder under head coach Andy Reid. He was the passing game analyst and assistant quarterbacks coach from 2018 to 2020. He coached the team’s wide receivers in 2021 and again in 2022. Then he made the leap to passing game coordinator in 2023, his current role. Reid has referenced his “Joe Files” in the past, a running collection of plays scavenged from every level of football intended to add wrinkles and unpredictability to the Chiefs’ offense—such as Corn Dog.
Bleymaier has a decade in the building, so it's likely going to take a nice offer for him to leave the nest. But Eric Bieniemy's arrival as offensive coordinator isn't likely a one-year return, which could mean that the obvious pipeline forward is now clogged for a spell. EB's inability to earn a head coaching gig in previous years likely means he's not leaving himself anytime soon, which could give Blaymaier the signal that he's going to have to go around to go up.
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