Patience is a virtue in the NFL, yet many teams don’t seem to have much of it. The Tennessee Titans further proved that on Monday, when news broke that the organization fired now-former head coach Brian Callahan. In the aftermath, the Kansas City Chiefs are being connected to the organization’s search.
One of Andy Reid’s top assistants could be in the mix in due time. Per a Monday evening report from Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy is a name to monitor.
Chiefs OC Matt Nagy Tied to Titans’ Head Coaching Job
Rapoport seems to hint that although senior offensive assistant Mike McCoy is the Titans‘ interim head coach, they could eventually look elsewhere. That’s commonplace in the NFL, especially considering the offseason is months away.
Nagy’s ties to first-year Tennessee general manager Mike Borgonzi may help him.
“As far as the Titans, they now have to find a new head coach,” Rapoport began. “A couple of names to watch, Colleen [Wolfe], I would say Matt Nagy. He worked with Mike Borgonzi in Kansas City. Certainly would be a name to watch, the decorated Chiefs offensive coordinator. And then Arthur Smith, the former Falcons head coach, also a former OC in Tennessee.”
This is the first time Nagy’s name is linked to the 2025-26 coaching cycle, but he’s no spring chicken. The 47-year-old has a four-year head coaching career, leading the Chicago Bears of 2018-2021 to a 34-31 regular-season record. Nagy’s Bears went 0-2 in the postseason during his time in town.
Nagy has two separate stints in Kansas City as offensive coordinator: first under Reid back in 2017 and again since 2023. Last season’s struggles (15th in scoring, 16th in yards) left a sour taste in many folks’ mouths, but it didn’t stop teams from knocking on the Chiefs‘ door. Nagy was linked to head coaching vacancies with the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets earlier this calendar year.
Callahan, a former offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals, led the Titans to a worrisome 4-19 record. McCoy now takes over a team featuring a rookie quarterback in No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward.
Nagy Helping Kansas City Enjoy Offensive Renaissance in 2025 Season
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why the Chiefs‘ offense sputtered at times a season ago. For starters, players like wideouts Marquise “Hollywood” Brown and Rashee Rice missed tons of time due to injury. The left tackle position was also an abject disaster, seeing Kansas City cycle through a multitude of options. They still got all the way to Super Bowl LIX, where they ultimately got exposed by the Philadelphia Eagles.
Things are going smoother this time around, even before Rice’s season debut. Entering Monday night’s play, the Chiefs rank second and fifth in yards and points per drive, respectively. They’re fifth in EPA per play, per SumerSports, with quarterback Patrick Mahomes back to playing MVP-level football.
There aren’t many better examples of that than Week 6’s Sunday Night Football triumph over the Detroit Lions. After the game, Reid tipped his cap to Nagy and company for putting Mahomes in good positions to succeed.
“It’s hard to get everybody going, but I thought Patrick did a nice job getting everyone involved and spreading things around,” Reid said. “I thought Matt Nagy had an unbelievable game plan for the guys, and they bought into it and he and (pass game coordinator) Joe [Bleymaier] kind of worked that thing together and put this thing together and come up with stuff with (offensive line coach) Andy Heck and the rest of the guys. It was strong.”
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Nagy is tied to a coaching cycle. Now, it’s a matter of waiting and seeing where the Titans‘ search is at come January.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Prominent Chiefs Staff Member Dubbed ‘Name to Watch’ for Head Coach Job appeared first on Heavy Sports.