Andy Reid had already begun reshaping his coaching staff when an outcome he didn’t plan for surfaced. After firing two assistants, the Chiefs’ head coach is now facing the possibility of losing one of his closest and longest-tenured allies as well. This time, it’s not by decision but by circumstance, thereby making this wave of turnover hit uncomfortably close to home.

“The #Chiefs could be looking at a new Offensive Line coach in 2026,” Chiefs Blitz reported on X. “Longtime veteran Andy Heck—who has been with Andy Reid since 2013—could potentially retire depending on who is hired as the new Offensive Coordinator.”

That possibility depends on what happens next at offensive coordinator, a spot where change feels inevitable. The current OC, Matt Nagy, is clearly looking for his next opportunity. He wrapped up four head-coaching interviews last week and is eligible for in-person second interviews starting Monday. There’s no promise one of those turns into a job, but his contract in Kansas City has already expired, and all signs point to him moving on. And once Nagy leaves, the ripple effect could reach Heck.

That may sound surprising given how long Heck has been around, but it’s very much in play depending on how the staff reshapes itself under a new OC.

This past season marked Heck’s 34th year in the NFL, including a 12-year playing career along the offensive line. It was also his 22nd season as a coach and his 13th running the offensive line room in Kansas City, where he’s been since 2013. He’s been part of the Chiefs since 2013, and before that, spent nine seasons coaching the line in Jacksonville.

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And quietly, his unit held together better than most would’ve expected in 2025. Late in the regular season, Pro Football Network’s Alex Kennedy released his offensive line power rankings, and the Chiefs landed higher than anticipated, even with injuries to Josh Simmons, Jawaan Taylor, and Trey Smith forcing shuffling all year.

Kansas City’s offensive line finished ranked 15th in the league. Kennedy pointed out that Creed Humphrey was the group’s anchor, grading out as the best lineman on the team by PFF standards, while Jaylon Moore graded at the bottom. Humphrey’s 89.6 overall PFF grade has him widely viewed as the best center in football.

The Chiefs allowed pressure on just 31.4 percent of dropbacks, the ninth-best rate in the league. And there’s another layer here: Kansas City doesn’t employ a dedicated run-game coordinator. That responsibility has largely fallen on Heck’s shoulders as well.

So if Heck does decide to step away, the Chiefs wouldn’t just be replacing an offensive line coach. They’d effectively be filling two roles at once. And he won’t be the only coach not coming back next season.

Andy Reid lets two assistants go

It hasn’t even been a month since the regular season wrapped up, and the Kansas City Chiefs have already seen a noticeable exodus from the coaching staff, all coming off a season in which they missed the postseason for the first time since 2014.

On top of the firings, the potential departures of Matt Nagy and, consequently, Andy Heck add to the staff’s instability. On the defensive side, Steve Spagnuolo has already interviewed for a head-coaching job, while defensive line coach Joe Cullen has spoken with teams about a defensive coordinator role.

Offensive line assistant Louie Addazio opted to leave for the OL job at UNLV, and Alex Whittingham has joined the staff at the University of Michigan. That’s just the movement that happened on its own. Then came the firings.

Andy Reid dismissed running backs coach Todd Pinkston and wide receivers coach Connor Embree. Embree spent seven seasons in Kansas City, but the results simply weren’t there. The Chiefs led the NFL in drops in 2023, and in his three years overseeing the receivers, the team never produced a 1,000-yard wideout.

As for Pinkston, there was little to no progress in the run game from the year before. On non-quarterback runs, Kansas City finished 26th in yards per carry at 3.7, dead last in avoided tackles, 25th in yards before contact, and 25th in yards after contact. It was a tough year across the board.

All of it points to the same thing: Reid wasn’t satisfied with how things unfolded, and he didn’t hesitate to act. The result is a coaching staff in significant flux, with Reid proactively making changes while also bracing for the potential loss of key veterans to promotions elsewhere.