The decisions made in the front offices of every team in the NFL have direct effects on the product on the field. The Kansas City Chiefs’ success on the field during the 2022 NFL season has a direct correlation with some of the decisions made this past offseason.
Chiefs Wire’s Ed Easton Jr. recently sat down with former NFL executives Mike Tannenbaum and Joe Banner to get their thoughts on the Chiefs this season. The executives spoke on behalf of The 33rd Team and assessed Andy Reid and Brett Veach’s most recent work and how it has led to consistent success.
“Yeah, I think what they did is really impressive from a standpoint. Like, I think when you move on from a guy like Tyreek Hill, it’s a little bit of a resource allocation discussion,” said Tannenbaum. “There’s other guys, (Marquez) Valdes-Scantling or (JuJu) Smith-Schuster. Taking Skyy Moore in the second round, and we’re gonna serve to allocate that money to other areas of the team, be it offensive line or certainly on defense.”
Tannenbaum spent years as an executive for multiple NFL teams, most recently from 2015 – 2018 with the Miami Dolphins after 15 years in the New York Jets organization. As the founder of The 33rd Team, he constantly evaluates decisions made around the league, including the Chiefs trading up for Trent McDuffie during April’s NFL draft.
“I thought what was interesting in the draft was, you know, when they traded for (Trent) McDuffie,” said Tannenbaum. “That was with New England. I thought Belicheck was gonna take McDuffie; I thought he was like the perfect New England corner. I think him and (George) Karlaftis have a chance to be foundational players. And I think (Willie) Gay and (Nick) Bolton can both run. So I like what they’re doing defensively. And I agree with what Joe said about Spags (Steve Spagnuolo). He’s a really good coach. So I think over the course of the season, like they’re getting better, which is obviously being really well-coached. And I think they have a chance to be there again at the end.”
Andy Reid’s head coaching career began in 1999 with the Philadelphia Eagles. He was hired by the then-team executive and later president Joe Banner. The Eagles, under Banner’s leadership, went to five NFC Championship games in eight seasons and played in Super Bowl XXXIX. Banner weighed in on the Chiefs’ progress as well but gave tremendous praise to Reid and his staff.
“It’s not a mistake that — or a coincidence that all of Andy Reid’s teams — they do two things: They get better as the season goes and they win after (bye weeks),” said Banner. “So assume what you’re seeing right now is that the team will be much better over the next two and four weeks.”
As the 2022 season winds down, the Chiefs will be in the mix for another Super Bowl title. A trip to another AFC Championship game alone is a tremendous badge of honor for those that don’t wear the pads in the organization, but they’ll look to go the distance again come playoff time.
