The Kansas City Chiefs could luck into keeping their coaching staff intact once again, thanks to the Detroit Lions loss to the Washington Commanders in the AFC divisional round.
The Chiefs have been lucky to avoid coaching staff departures during their recent string of success. The team’s offensive and defensive coaching staff has been left mostly intact regarding coordinators getting poached for head-coaching opportunities by other NFL teams.
Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo has been in place since 2019 despite leading multiple iterations of the team’s defense to Super Bowl victories. Matt Nagy has been in place as offensive coordinator for two seasons after Eric Bieniemy’s contract expired, and he was given permission to seek other opportunities.
This head-coaching cycle seems to be different, at least regarding interest in Kansas City’s coordinators. Spagnuolo has interviewed virtually with the Las Vegas Raiders, the New York Jets, and the Jacksonville Jaguars, while Nagy has interviewed virtually with the Jets. So far, the Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, and New Orleans Saints have not expressed interest in either. It makes some sense, given that Nagy already failed as head coach of the Bears, and Spags was fired by New Orleans as defensive coordinator back after 2012.
So what does the Lions’ loss to the Commanders have to do with this situation? They have two of the most prominent head-coaching candidates in this cycle on their staff: defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn and offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. Now that they’re no longer in the playoffs, Glenn and Johnson can take in-person interviews, and several coaching searches could accelerate to land those top candidates.