I watched ESPN’s ‘The Kingdom.’ Here’s what I learned about Andy Reid | Opinion
Over the weekend, I watched every episode of “The Kingdom,” ESPN’s six-part series on the Kansas City Chiefs. By far, Episode 2 was my favorite.
Entitled “Don’t Judge,” the episode mainly centers on head coach Andy Reid. According to Star sports columnist Vahe Gregorian, the term was taken from words on an index card Reid has kept in his office over the years.
Part of what we learn when we attend church is never to judge, Reid told Gregorian earlier this month
“It’s pretty simple,” Reid said. “Just a good reminder.”
What resonated with me most in the episode was Reid’s willingness to take a chance on or support players that run afoul of the law.
I’m writing about this because my colleagues and I on The Star’s editorial board have consistently implored the Chiefs to take a zero tolerance stance toward lawlessness. We believe playing professional sports is a privilege and not a right. As for me, that belief will not change anytime soon. Pro athletes here and elsewhere have a responsibility to do the right thing on and off the field. Fair? Perhaps not. But that is what comes with the territory.
Because of this documentary series, however, I have a much better understanding of the approach Reid — and to a lesser extent, the Chiefs organization — uses to keep players who find themselves in legal trouble on the team.
“I try to look at the positive in somebody first,” Reid said. More of us should share this view.
“We’ve all got our deals that we’ve been through,” he continued. Isn’t that the truth?
Reid added that he tries to use an open door approach with players.
“You got to give people a chance,” he said.
Coaching acumen aside — Reid has led the Chiefs to three Super Bowl wins since 2020, he knows his stuff — he’s easy to root for.
Reid has lost one son. Garrett Reid died of an accidental heroin overdose in 2012. Another son, Britt Reid, pleaded guilty to felony driving while intoxicated, causing injury in a 2021 wreck that severely injured a little girl.
Despite these personal tragedies, Reid forged ahead and continues to show compassion to others that we all should try to emulate.
“More than a coach, he truly cares about you as a person and making you a better person,” star quarterback Patrick Mahomes said in a prelude to Episode 2. “And so seeing behind the scenes on that and seeing how hard he coaches you but at the same time, how much he cares, it showcases why guys play so hard because they know that they have someone that leads a team that truly cares about them.”
Chiefs players’ arrests
If you’ve followed Reid’s coaching career here or at his previous stop in Philadelphia, then you know that he is a big believer in second chances.
Michael Vick anyone?
Don’t get me wrong, I still feel Reid and the Chiefs should have released or traded wide receiver Rashee Rice after he walked away from a high speed wreck on a Dallas freeway last year. Leaving a playbook behind after causing a six-car collision, as Rice reportedly did, is a fireable offense, I wrote in a column last year.
Rice is still employed here but will at some point this season face a NFL-mandated suspension after pleading guilty to a pair of felony charges related to his dangerous and careless driving that day.
Rice is only 25. He has a great opportunity to redeem himself. I am sure Chiefs fans are hoping he steers clear of trouble. If he does, we are looking at one heck of a comeback story.
But the former SMU Mustang was just one of too many Chiefs players to count that were arrested during Reid’s 12-year tenure here. Former players Frank Clark (illegal gun possession), Willie Gay (domestic violence-related offense), Justyn Ross (domestic battery) and others broke the law while playing for the Chiefs. None was cut by the team for doing so.
Reid supported Hunt, Vick
One player — running back Kareem Hunt, featured in Episode 2 — spoke highly of Reid’s ability to work with problem players. Hunt was brought back to the team last season after being cut in 2018 for lying to team executives about a violent encounter with a woman inside a Cleveland hotel the same year.
“When you get a second chance, you just want to, you know, make the most of that opportunity,” Hunt said. “I never thought I’d be back in Kansas City.”
On the show, Reid said of Hunt: “He learned a lesson. Too many people don’t get a second chance, and then they go back and they start doing bad things and they don’t have an opportunity to be successful.”
Hunt described Reid as a father figure.
“He has such a big heart and cares for his players and the people around him,” Hunt said
The aforementioned Vick is another player Reid afforded an opportunity to right a wrong.
Reid coached Vick in Philly after the now-retired NFL quarterback was released from federal prison in 2009 after serving time for financing an illegal dog fighting ring.
When Reid brought Vick to Chiefs training camp in 2017 as a coaching intern, there was considerable blowback — even The Star Editorial Board was critical of the move.
Eight years later, Vick is in his first year as the head coach at Norfolk State University, a historically Black university in Virginia. It would not be a stretch to conclude that Vick would not have had that opportunity without true remorse and Reid’s mentorship
“When a coach believes in you, trusts you, leads you, you trust him,” Vick said in the episode. “That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Sometimes when you growing up, you just need mentors. You need people to talk to and he was certainly one of those guys.”
As the episode ends, Reid profoundly states: “It’s one of the great things about being a coach to have the opportunity to touch people’s lives in that way. Don’t judge. That covers a lot of ground.”
The cynic in me sees this behind-the-scenes look at the Chiefs’ run for an unprecedented third consecutive Super Bowl title for what it is: a well-meaning, self-serving yet highly entertaining infomercial for the hometown team.
Scripted docuseries or not, I found Reid’s vulnerability shown in Episode 2 all too real. And you can’t fake that.
