The Kansas City Chiefs are slightly in rebuild mode, after a disappointing 2025-26 season that saw the team falling out of playoff contention for the first time in the Patrick Mahomes era. Following the team’s 14-12 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, the team’s management is regrouping, and they’re looking at all the options when it comes to their coaching staff.
Having head coach Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs seeing their 10-year playoff run finally run dry at the end of the 2025-26 season was unexpected, especially since the team was at the big game just one year ago. But, the team’s season ended with a 6-11 record and a six-game losing streak. It marked their first losing season since the 2012-13 run.
So, what’s a team to do? Make changes, and some of those changes are already happening. The Kanas City Chiefs’ offensive coordinator Matt Nagy is doing the interview rounds, and most think he’ll be gone in the 2026-27 season.
Just-Fired Head Coach Could Be a Fit With the Kansas City Chiefs
So, Nagy’s contract is expiring, and he’s openly interviewing for head coaching jobs, especially with the Tennessee Titans. Even if he doesn’t get a head coaching job somewhere else this year, it seems like he’ll be leaving the Chiefs for some kind of heightened role.
Who will replace Nagy? A candidate for offensive coordinator just popped up, and it has the NFL world buzzing.
The newest NFL coach that split with his team during the offseason is Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel. The team was already looking at other coach options while McDaniel was under contract, so the move was expected, but it’s always a jolt.
McDaniel’s time in Miami wasn’t stellar, but he’s known to be a very offensive-minded coach.
Matt Conner of Arrowhead Addict has a feature out on Thursday, January 8, discussing the possibility of McDaniel going to Kansas City. In it, he says, “if McDaniel has to take a step back, the Chiefs might offer an ideal place to land.”
“Patrick Mahomes is injured but could very well be ready to play in Week 1 after a torn ACL halted his season with three games to play,” he adds. “The chance to work with the best quarterback in the game should be enough to woo any potential hire, but the Chiefs’ dynastic success—at least before the ’25 campaign—also works in their favor.”
An ‘Immediate Upgrade’ for the Kansas City Chiefs
In another piece, Jovan Alford of KC Kingdom also praises the idea of McDaniel in Kansas City, even saying that he’s an “immediate upgrade over Matt Nagy.”
“What’s one thing we know the Chiefs have on offense? It’s speed at the skill positions,” he notes in the feature, out on Thursday, January 8. “Now, would McDaniel have to freshen up his offense, as some teams figured it out? Yes.”
He adds, “That said, Kansas City would be the perfect spot to try different things on offense and bring back some creativity to an offense that desperately needs it.”
So, yet another possible offensive coordinator is on the beach, and the Kansas City Chiefs are on the hunt.
