The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the world tremendously, changing the way people interact due to fears of the virus. The NFL was forced to change their original plans of having the draft in Las Vegas with a large crowd to an impromptu virtual draft with franchise’s drafting from home.
The process would seem ideal for many younger coaches that often rely on technology. The veterans, such as Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid are quickly getting up to speed on the virtual aspect of the offseason. Reid spoke about adjusting to the digital offseason, including this year’s draft.
“Listen, it’s been interesting. For us old guys, coaches-wise at least,” said Reid. “It’s been an opportunity to learn all this technology. They’ve got a setup here in my basement that’s crazy good. And we’ve been able to work through it. I’ve been impressed with the draft and kind of how it’s gone off, there haven’t been too many glitches. You get a unique opportunity to get into peoples’ homes and see them, kids, you get to see them. My wife, after our first pick, she got a bunch of text messages after our first pick that she never would have gotten before. So, it’s little things like that that have been a bit different. My hat goes off to Brett (Veach) and his crew for gathering information, setting up all the chats that we had with the players where you have to actually orchestrate. Not everybody sits in a nice house and has access – Willie [Gay, Jr.] being one of those. You’ve got to time it up where you get Willie to be able to drive into town, get someplace where he’s got access, and then talk in his car, in that case. So, everybody’s got a little bit of a unique situation, but the guys have powered through that. We’ve done the same thing with our players. I gave the coaches last Monday to just kind of get the technology figured out with their players and then I called all of them to check on it and I jumped in on a few of the chats with the players and they all had it figured out. They were in and going and it’s been really pretty smooth going here.”
The 62-year old head coach won his first Super Bowl last season after over 20 years in the league. He began his soon-to-be Hall of Fame career as an offensive assistant for the Green Bay Packers in 1992.
“Hopefully we can get back to it, I think we all want to do that right, within being smart and safe,” said Reid. “We’d all like to be able to get things back to normal. But that might take a little bit and if it does, then we keep pounding it out the best we can do and we’re always going to try to maximize that with a positive attitude. Put on the Tommy Bahama and let’s go Vahe (Gregorian), doggone it, you just feel a little bit better.”
Chiefs general manager Brett Veach shared his thoughts on not being able to have a typical offseason, possibly affecting team continuity.
“Well yeah, certainly when you have the chance to return so many players and you have a coaching staff stay together, and have a group that went through a long season and played right through February,” said Veach. “We’ll see what happens moving forward. But I think it certainly plays in your favor for the continuity and knowing the playbook and knowing what’s expected. Whenever we get back into the swing of things with camp, whether it be shortened or whether we start at the original start date, I think guys just knowing how things operate and knowing the terminology and the playbook, I don’t see how it could be a disadvantage. I think it would certainly put us in a good position here. We’re certainly looking forward to that. Hopefully, we get this thing started on time, but I think that the guys are ready to go, and we’ll be in a good position this year to have a chance to repeat.”
The world continues to adjust and await word on improvements regarding the virus. The Chiefs along with the rest of the NFL are hoping for the best so next season won’t be affected in the slightest.