Biggest Takeaways From Andy Reid and Brett Veach at the Combine
The Kansas City Chiefs' 2023 offseason will determine whether the team can successfully defend its Super Bowl LVII championship, and there are plenty of decisions that need to be made in the coming days, weeks and months.
Whether it's draft preparation, free agent work or calls on contract extensions and the salary cap, general manager Brett Veach is slated to have his hands full for the foreseeable future. Head coach Andy Reid, while not directly involved, is also a significant part of some of those steps.
At the NFL Scouting Combine, both Reid and Veach took the podium in succession to answer questions about the offseason thus far and what could be on the horizon. Here are some of the main points they went over on Tuesday.
Reid discusses his offensive coaching staff
In the aftermath of Eric Bieniemy going to the Washington Commanders to be their new assistant head coach and offensive coordinator, Kansas City promoted Matt Nagy to offensive coordinator last week. On Tuesday, Reid revealed that the team also interviewed renowned offensive mind Pep Hamilton and recent Philadelphia Eagles offensive consultant Marcus Brady as final candidates for the job. Nagy was the clubhouse leader from the beginning, though, and ended up getting the promotion.
In Nagy's (former) place, Reid shared that David Girardi will be the Chiefs' new quarterbacks coach for the 2023 campaign. Girardi, who was already with the team and is receiving an internal promotion, was the club's pass game analyst and assistant quarterbacks coach in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.
The franchise tag is absolutely on the table for Orlando Brown Jr.
Last offseason, the Chiefs had a decision to make regarding left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. Would the club extend him after an up-and-down first year on the job in Kansas City, or would Brown get slapped with the franchise tag and play on it for the 2022 season? The latter ended up being the case and while Brown did play better down the stretch, he also struggled immensely early in the year. Facing a similar predicament this offseason, Veach said it's possible that Brown faces a similar path this time around:
Veach added that Brown not having an agent for a large chunk of the 2022 offseason slowed down the process of working out a contract extension. It would behoove both sides to reach a finalized deal, but neither camp was able to satisfy the other one's demands a year ago. Those talks are expected to resume very soon, and Brown's contract status with the club is a major storyline to watch as the offseason continues to unfold.
Will Frank Clark remain a Chief in 2023?
When asked about the possibility of defensive end Frank Clark staying in Kansas City for this coming season, Reid deferred to Veach for finance-related matters but added that he "loves him to death." That's a ringing endorsement for one of the best playoff performers in recent memory, although Clark's underwhelming regular-season play has led to his contract being an elephant in the room that the Chiefs must address in the near future.
Clark, who turns 30 in June, is coming off a five-sack season and has a $28.68 million cap hit for the upcoming campaign. Playing at that figure is highly unlikely, and Veach acknowledged that the team may need to manufacture some salary cap space soon. With that said, he continued to say that the Chiefs want to make contact on that front soon and see if there's a logical path moving forward. Clark's long-term future in Kansas City remains in question.
