Tracy Wolfson Refutes Retirement Chatter Regarding KC Chiefs' Andy Reid
For the second year in a row, there's buzz surrounding Andy Reid's potential retirement late into the NFL postseason.
Prior to Super Bowl LVII, Jay Glazer of Fox Sports hinted at Reid having a decision to make following his championship game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Reid has since cleared the air regarding that, but a new crop of rumors has popped up again. During the Kansas City Chiefs' current playoff run, there's been more retirement speculation.
In the last week alone, the discourse has reached a new high point. Recently, Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk wrote that the Chiefs "have a possible Andy Reid retirement after the current postseason on their radar screen." This is in addition to several posts on X, from Florio, about that possibility. On Thursday, a clip from ESPN surfaced in which Adam Schefter was being "purely speculative" about former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick possibly replacing Reid should he walk away from the game.
Earlier this month, Reid seemed to shoot down any talk about him retiring when he said, "I'm old, but not that old." On Thursday, Tracy Wolfson of CBS Sports took to X to double down on that.
"From my conversations with a lot of people close to Andy Reid and 2 years left on his contract I would be very surprised if Reid retired," Wolfson wrote.
Wolfson's statement seems to fall more in line with the reality of the situation than either Florio's or Schefter's.
Publicly, there have been very few (if any) signs that Reid intends to stop coaching the Chiefs after this year. Regardless of the end-of-season outcome, the 65-year-old is still enjoying his position and is having great success while doing so. Although he's several decades into his career, his love for the game remains high. Just last summer, he spoke to Paul Domowitch of The 33rd Team about how Patrick Mahomes helps keep him feeling young:
"You know how Kenny Chesney has that song about his blue chair? I joke about that but when I can't get out of my blue chair down there at the beach house, I'm going to retire. So I got out of it this year and we'll just see how it goes every year after this, right? But I feel good, and he (Mahomes) does make it fun. He does make it fun, but there are other things that go into being a head coach that you have to look at, too. But listen, I enjoy doing what I'm doing and I think that's probably the most important thing. I like teaching and I like the group of kids I've got — Pat obviously being one of the big ones. And it's a great organization. I've been very fortunate to work for three great organizations, I've been very lucky that way."
It's hard to see too much changing between then and now. Let this be a cautionary tale that until someone brings concrete evidence that Reid is putting his whiteboard marker, pen or play-calling sheet down, there shouldn't be serious speculation about it. Unless the future Hall of Fame head coach provides a legitimate reason for it, that is.
