The Kansas City Chiefs continue to reshape the coaching staff under Andy Reid after the close of the regular season. While most of the moves have come on the offensive side of the ball, with more to come, the defensive side has made another addition in the form of C.J. Cox. Cox will be aiding the Chiefs as a defensive quality control coach under Steve Spagnuolo's leadership, providing support in the secondary.
The Chiefs have worked with Cox before via the Bill Walsh Minority Coaching Fellowship in 2022 and 2023. The program allows interested coaches to provide experience and networking opportunities at the NFL level. For someone like Cox, it's allowed him to spend time with the Chiefs during OTAs and/or training camp at St. Joseph in order to work alongside the team's coaches.
Cox is rather well-traveled as a positional coach in the last few years. He was a defensive backs coach for Coastal Carolina in 2025 and served a year at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) in the same capacity. Before that, he spent three seasons with Kent State working with cornerbacks.
The Chiefs have hired C.J. Cox after previously hosting him for the Bill Walsh Minority Coaching Fellowship in recent years.
For Cox, the chance to officially join the Chiefs after a couple of immersive opportunities is a chance to learn more. For the Chiefs, adding Cox to the mix gives them a younger candidate to work at a position that could see some changes in coming seasons. Dave Merritt is the team's DB coach, but he's ripe for a coordinator opportunity, and it wouldn't surprise anyone to see him make such a leap in the next year or two.
Chris Orr is also currently listed as a defensive quality control coach after serving as an intern in 2024.
In other news, the Chiefs have also hired Nate Pagan as an offensive quality control assistant away from Villanova. Pagan served as the Wildcats' wide receivers coach for the last seven years.
As for the Chiefs' other coaching changes, Eric Bieniemy has already been installed as Reid's new offensive coordinator after Matt Nagy left to seek new opportunities. Chad O'Shea has also been hired to replace Connor Embree as wide receivers coach. More changes are coming, including a new running backs coach after Todd Pinkston was let go alongside Embree.