Earlier this week, ESPN’s Jordan Reid had this to say:
Make no mistake about it, the Minnesota Vikings present one of the more accommodating offensive ecosystems for a rookie quarterback to have immediate success. But I can certainly think of a better situation in recent memory.
In 2016, Andy Reid‘s Kansas City Chiefs ran a spread offense akin to Chip Kelly’s at Oregon or Urban Meyer’s at Florida and Ohio State. Mind you, Reid is the same head coach who had 10 different offenses that ranked in the top-10 scoring, with Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick, and Alex Smith as his quarterbacks. Until this point, Reid’s best offense came in 2010 with the Philadelphia Eagles when he resurrected Vick’s career — seemingly on the fly — after starting quarterback Kevin Kolb went down with a concussion in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers. Those 2010 Eagles ranked third in scoring and lit the NFL ablaze with must-see offensive explosions weekly.
After taking over the previously 2-14 Chiefs in 2013 — which ranked dead last in scoring before his arrival — Reid’s Chiefs went 11-5 with the NFL’s sixth-best scoring unit. Fast forward to the conclusion of the 2016 season, and the Chiefs were armed with:
- 2016 first-team All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce coming off a season with 85 receptions, 1,125 receiving yards, and four touchdowns
- 2016 second-team All-Pro right tackle Mitchell Schwartz
- 2013 No. 1-overall draft pick left tackle Eric Fisher, who would eventually become a two-time Pro Bowler in 2018 and 2020
- Tantalizing rookie sensation wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who amassed 860 scrimmage yards and 12 touchdowns
That core four of Kelce, Schwartz, Fisher, and Hill were an average age of 25.25 years old. Pair that with Reid’s proven track record of being the NFL’s best play-caller of the 21st century, and you have exactly why John Dorsey, Brett Veach, and Reid felt compelled to aggressively trade up 17 spots in the 2017 NFL Draft for a rookie quarterback — even though Alex Smith was a two-time Pro Bowler with Reid and the Chiefs in 2013 and 2016.
At the time, the quarterback KC went all-in on was a relative unknown from Texas Tech with countless red flags by the consensus. This particular signal-caller came from the Air Raid offense in Lubbock, where no previous quarterback had achieved success on Sundays. And as we all know, Patrick Mahomes was the missing piece to help bring Kansas City’s aforementioned core four to the NFL’s mountaintop by capturing the 2019 Lombardi Trophy.
So, how do the Vikings stack up against the pre-2017 Chiefs? There’s no denying that Justin Jefferson has already established himself as the superior receiver to post-2016 Tyreek Hill. And Jordan Addison is in an entirely different stratosphere than what Kansas City had at WR2. Those are the clear check marks in Minnesota’s favor in this discussion. Everything else? Not so much.
Coming off two consecutive seasons cut short by serious Achilles and leg injuries and entering his age-29 season, there’s an argument to be made that Brian O’Neill‘s best football is in the rearview mirror. Whereas Fisher’s best football in Kansas City was still in front of him in 2017 and beyond. Christian Darrisaw is a promising left tackle. But he’s never made a Pro Bowl, let alone be named an All-Pro like Schwartz was in 2016 with the Chiefs. While T.J. Hockenson is a two-time Pro Bowler, he’s never been the NFL’s best tight end, like Kelce was in 2016 with KC. Not to mention, Hockenson is coming off a season-ending ACL injury.
It should go without saying, but the biggest differentiator when comparing Minnesota’s current situation to the 2017 Chiefs is Reid and Kevin O’Connell. Yes, O’Connell is a creative play-caller, as ESPN’s Jordan Reid put it earlier this week. But if you look around the NFL, the entire league is seemingly full of those, aside from maybe the Las Vegas Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, and the New York Jets. If there’s one recurring flaw accompanying O’Connell after two seasons in Minnesota, it’s that his offense appears to lack innovation, that’s he’s directly responsible for.
Notice how Mike McDaniel created a trend throughout the entire sport last season with his cheat motion? O’Connell has yet to demonstrate an ability to create for himself. He’s still relying on the same tricks he picked up from his old boss, Sean McVay. And with most of the league running some variation of the Kyle Shanahan/McVay offense, innovation is imperative to differentiate from the current league-wide trend of this scheme.
Creativity, innovation, and the ability to adapt to his existing personnel’s strengths have never been an issue for Andy Reid. Shoot, to help acclimate Mahomes during his first year as a starter in the NFL in 2018, Reid implemented Air Raid concepts that Mahomes not only was familiar with but was wildly successful with at Texas Tech. The same scheme the NFL’s alleged gatekeepers said couldn’t produce effective quarterback play at the highest level. Now No.1-overall picks in the NFL draft (Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, and presumably Caleb Williams) are coming from that same Air Raid scheme.
Point is, let’s not go overboard with how magnificent the existing situation is for the Vikings and a rookie quarterback. Not when folks are still old enough to remember Andy Reid’s 2017 Chiefs.
