Michael Vick is one of the Chiefs’ coaching interns this season

Eight years ago, Andy Reid gave quarterback Michael Vick his first shot at reviving a dormant career.

Perhaps it’s fitting that Reid is also the first coach to give Vick his first shot at what he hopes is the next phase of his career — coaching.

Vick has joined the Chiefs for training camp, and he’s serving the team as a coaching intern throughout their tenure in St. Joseph for the next three weeks, the team announced Tuesday.

Vick, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft, revived his career with the Philadelphia Eagles after serving time in prison for dogfighting. He played for Reid from 2009 to 2012.

During his time under Reid, Vick went 18-16 as a starter and threw for 8,769 yards, 52 touchdowns and 30 interceptions.

“Andy was great, he was like a mentor,” Vick said in a podcast with ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “He was a guy you could talk with about anything that came up.”

Vick also spoke to Schefter about his desire to coach one day.

“The priority for me is to continue to help kids, and at some point, if I could coach one day or be an ambassador for somebody, that’s a great opportunity, too,” Vick said in the podcast.

“I think my heart is really into teaching the game of football. I feel like I’ve learned so much from so many great coaches over the years.”

Vick said coaching the higher levels of football was a particularly attractive proposition to him, just because he’s been through so much in his career.

“I don’t want to bottle up a lot of knowledge,” Vick said. “I really couldn’t relay the messages I want to relay to a high school kid because ... you can’t be as complex. I get that.

“On the collegiate level, on the professional level, you can express ideas, you can go into details and you can coach harder — that’s what I want to do. I’d love to coach in the NFL one day.”

Vick said he’d love to be a position coach one day and work his way up.

“I would definitely love to work with young quarterbacks and develop them and still compete. It’s another way to chase a championship,” he told Schefter. “I’m not done by any means. I didn’t get the championship when I was playing, so maybe I’ll get lucky one year.”

Prior to Tuesday’s practice, Vick had already spoken to the Chiefs’ uber-talented young quarterback, Patrick Mahomes II, during the rookie premiere in May, and seemed upbeat about Mahomes’ potential to grow under Reid as Alex Smith’s apprentice.

“He’s in a great position, so I told him to pick Andy’s brain, never be afraid to ask a question, don’t be afraid to go into his office and be very outspoken, very outgoing and show you can be a leader at a young age and take pride in the scout team,” Vick said.

Vick also told Schefter he texted Reid after the Chiefs moved up to select Mahomes.

“I said ‘Coach, I think this is a good one,’” Vick said. “And he texted me back and said ‘I hope so,’ with a wink.”

Now, Vick will get to see what Mahomes can do up close and personal — at least for a few weeks. The Chiefs regularly have coaching interns during training camp. Last year, the Chiefs had six former players — Chris Naeole, Samie Parker, Cory Peoples, Jody Owens, Mikal Smith and Nick Akaunaki — in camp to participate as interns.

All six were a part of the Bill Walsh Minority Fellowship, which was established in 1987 to provide NFL coaching experience to a diverse group of coaches.

A record 187 minority coaches took part in the program last year, and more than 1,800 minority coaches have been tutored by the program since its creation.

Three current NFL head coaches are graduates of the program — Cleveland’s Hue Jackson, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin and Cincinnati’s Marvin Lewis — the latter of which participated in the program with the Chiefs in 1991.

This story was originally published July 25, 2017 at 1:50 PM with the headline "Michael Vick is one of the Chiefs’ coaching interns this season."