Former Chiefs players got into it on social media and fans loved it
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Former Chiefs players debated coaching, roster fixes and WR room accountability.
- Mitchell Schwartz challenged Gehrig Dieter on coaching impact and player blame.
- Exchange highlighted fan frustration, coaching firings and calls for roster change.
Some fans spent last week debating the moves they want to see the Chiefs make, with many worried the team won’t go far enough in reshaping the roster and/or coaching staff.
A pair of former Chiefs players interacted with fans on social media about the team’s future and then got into it with each other. It began Thursday night.
As fans celebrated reports that the Chiefs were parting ways with wide receivers coach Connor Embree, former KC wide receiver Gehrig Dieter wrote on X: “All these chiefs accounts have all the answers.”
Among the responders to that post was former Chiefs right tackle Mitchell Schwartz.
“What of the major issues that the Chiefs fans here had do you disagree with?” Schwartz asked. “Not playing (Nohl) Williams, (Kristian) Fulton, and (Brashard) Smith, WR coaching, general offensive coaching/details, lack of run game emphasis, not going under center more, Wanya (Morris) over (Esa) Pole in training camp? I’m sure there’s more.”
Dieter’s response: “Sorry I don’t speak to guys with a 13+ handicap”
He then responded to a fan about complaints about Embree, pinning the blame on the receivers.
“If a coach has to get you to be a dawg and have the right mentality then you shouldn’t be there,” Dieter wrote. “Can a coach help with some of the issues? Absolutely but players play the game. No matter who’s in charge of the room, you’re in the NFL. He’s the coach. Be coachable.”
Schwartz wasn’t buying that theory.
“I’m not sure why you’re on this tangent but acting like a bad coach can’t ruin a player’s season or even career is insane,” Schwartz wrote in response to Dieter. “Happens all across the league every year. The best coaches get the most out of you in many ways, sometimes motivation and accountability being the biggest.
“And to your last point, ‘be coachable,’ what if he’s giving you bad coaching points? Teaching you techniques that don’t work and/or aren’t good for you? How do you overcome that as a young player, when your options are accept bad coaching or go against the coaches orders because you know they’re wrong? I really do not get why you’re acting like coaches are infallible let alone one who just got fired because his position group regressed and hasn’t developed the way they were expected to.”
Dieter’s response?
“It’s 11:21pm buddy. Go to sleep,” he wrote.
A short while later, after reading angry responses from fans, Dieter wrote: “Jeeez Loeeeezzz. I’ll be serious for once. I don’t disagree with anything you’re saying. I was a benefit of great coaching in my career.
“I’m talking about clowns that think Coach Reid should be gone, that (offensive coordinator Matt) Nagy isn’t a good coach, those types of takes are what is what annoys me”
That ended Thursday’s fun.
But by 8 a.m. on Friday, Schwartz offered a retort to Dieter’s last message.
“Right so just say that,” he wrote. “In this case you’re responding to a specific question about valid criticisms and concerns regarding the WR room and your response is ‘be coachable’ which doesn’t really add much and makes it sound like you’re blaming the WRs for poor coaching.
“I get where you’re coming from with your initial tweet but if you take everything they’ve been pissed about this year they’ve been more correct about that stuff this year than not. The ones acting like he needs to be fired for this are wrong but I think it’s been an accumulation of a few years (in people’s minds) in terms of the issues and then this year it all came to a head.”
Dieter responded again, only with a little less snark.
“Good morning. Yea I hear you on that,” he wrote. “Again, I don’t disagree. I still think there’s things as a player that are in your control. (Effort, attitude) that was lacking from that room. “Another point of mine is that the Chiefs just made all these firings and all these toxic fans still complain about it all.
“Was Connor a great WR coach? Who knows. Prolly not but they won 2 Super Bowls so you aren’t going to make changes to something that is working. Once it didn’t work, they let him go so what’s the point of complaining”
Schwartz against responded to Dieter.
“I hear you on all of that, and I think we mostly are in line,” he wrote. “For those of you being abrasive towards him we’re just talking ball. Throwing stats out and being demeaning is not cool, he played WR his whole life and knows way more about that than I ever will. I just felt like you had a chance to address your position group and what you were seeing and I thought I’d get more than ‘be coachable’ ...
“But you are right, you shouldn’t need coaching to play hard. That gets into roster building which, uh, people have #thoughts on…”
Fans loved the discussion between Schwartz and Dieter. This is a smidge of what they were saying.
This story was originally published January 12, 2026 at 10:44 AM.
