Andy Reid is on the precipice of Super Bowl history.
With a win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, his Kansas City Chiefs can become the first NFL team to win three consecutive Lombardi Trophies. But while their fourth title in six years is within reach, much of the Chiefs’ historic run has been marred by off-the-field controversy connected to their head coach.
Throughout his coaching career, Reid has given players opportunities for redemption, from convicted dog-fighting kingpin Michael Vick in Philadelphia to Kansas City stars accused of domestic abuse such as Tyreek Hill , Frank Clark and Justin Cox.
In September he brought back running back Kareem Hunt, who’d been released from the team years earlier in response to domestic abuse allegations. This season, Hunt rewarded Reid’s leniency with a solid 728 rushing yards and seven touchdowns before adding two more scores in the postseason.
‘I think people deserve a second chance if they’ve done something to work on the first part of it,’ Reid said back in September.
A former offensive tackle at BYU who went on to become a premiere assistant coach in Green Bay, a top head coach in Philadelphia, and three-time Super Bowl champion in Kansas City, Reid’s history of forgiveness is unsurprising to anyone who knows his family’s battle with drug and alcohol addiction.
Andy Reid is on the precipice of Super Bowl history with a chance to win three straight
Reid has already beaten his former team, the Eagles, in a previous Super Bowl in 2023
It was back on November 1, 2007 that his two oldest sons both received drug sentences in separate Pennsylvania trials.
At the time, Montgomery County ( Pennsylvania ) Judge Steven O’Neill likened the coach’s home to ‘a drug emporium’ and questioned whether his sons should continue living there.
‘There isn’t any structure there that this court can depend upon,’ O’Neill said before sentencing a then-22-year-old Britt Reid to 23 months in prison after he pointed a gun at another driver in a road-rage incident.
Earlier that day, 24-year-old Garrett Reid was also given a 23-month sentence for driving into another vehicle while high on heroin. He was later accused of trying to smuggle drugs into prison.
‘I don’t want to die doing drugs,’ a desperate Garrett told the court. ‘I don’t want to be that kid who was the son of the head coach of the Eagles, who was spoiled and on drugs and OD’d and just faded into oblivion.’
Andy Reid would take five weeks off that year to be with his family and accompany his sons to drug rehab, but Garrett’s story would ultimately have a tragic ending: He died of an accidental heroin overdose in 2012 at age 29.
‘We loved Garrett so much,’ Andy and wife Tammy wrote in a joint statement after his death. ‘He was a wonderful son and brother. He made us laugh, he was a pleasure to be around, he always had a smile on his face, and we will miss him dearly. We will never forget him, and we will remember him with love.
‘Garrett’s road through life was not always an easy one. He faced tremendous personal challenges with bravery and spirit. As a family, we stood by him and were inspired as he worked to overcome those challenges. Even though he lost the battle that has been ongoing for the last eight years, we will always remember him as a fighter who had a huge, loving heart.’
Head coach Andy Reid of the Philadelphia Eagles bows his head the the New England Patriots honer Coach Reid’s son Garrett at Gillette Stadium on August 20, 2012 in Foxborough
A moment of silence is observed for Andy Reid’s son Garrett Reid before the game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and thePhillies at Citizens Bank Park on August 5, 2012
Asign from head coach Andy Reid and his family thanking everyone for their support following the death of their son Garrett at Lincoln Financial Field on August 9, 2012
But the Reid’s pain wasn’t over as Britt would become the source of a major scandal in the years to come.
He was intoxicated and driving at about 84 mph in a 65 mph zone when his Dodge truck hit two cars on an entrance ramp to Interstate 435 near Arrowhead Stadium on February 4, 2021, as the Chiefs were preparing to face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl LV.
Six people were injured in the collision, including Reid and 5-year-old Ariel Young, who suffered a traumatic brain injury. One of the vehicles he hit had stalled because of a dead battery, and the second was owned by Ariel’s mother, who had arrived to help.
‘My heart goes out to all those that were involved in the accident, in particular the little girl who is fighting for her life,’ Andy said after the crash. ‘I can’t comment any more than what I am here, so the questions that you have, I’m going to have to turn those down at this time. But just from a human standpoint, man, my heart bleeds for everyone involved in that.’
Britt pleaded guilty in September of 2022 to driving while intoxicated causing serious bodily injury and was sentenced to three years in prison.
The charge carried a maximum penalty of seven years in prison, but prosecutors agreed to ask for a maximum sentence of four years in prison. Britt’s attorneys sought probation, while the injured girl’s family opposed the plea deal entirely.
A picture of the wreckage from the February 4, 2021 crash that left Ariel Young in a brief coma
Ariel Young (right) was severely injured in a 2021 car crash involving Britt Reid (left)
Gov. Mike Parson, who commuted Reid’s sentence, is a self-proclaimed Kansas City Chiefs fan
Last March, however, Missouri Governor Mike Parson commuted the remainder of Britt’s sentence to house arrest, which is slated to continue until October 31, 2025, with requirements that include weekly meetings with a parole officer, counseling and community service. Britt had been expecting to be released about eight weeks later.
The Republican governor, a longtime Chiefs season ticket, has faced criticism even from within his own party.
‘This is not justice,’ said State Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, a Parkville Republican who chairs the Missouri Senate Judiciary and Civil and Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, in a post on X.
Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker felt the original sentence was ‘just,’ noting that the crash wasn’t Britt’s first legal issue. After all, Britt had graduated from a drug treatment program in Pennsylvania in 2009 after a series of run-ins with law enforcement, while Andy was coaching the Eagles.
As Baker said of the governor last March: ‘He used his political power to free a man with status, privilege and connections.’
She also criticized the governor’s office for not contacting Ariel’s family before freeing Britt, but a Parson spokesperson said that is not part of the clemency process.
‘It seems the laws don’t apply equally to the haves and have nots. The haves get favors. The have nots serve their sentence,’ Ariel’s mother, Felicia Miller, said in a separate statement provided through the family’s attorney.
The Chiefs, who have declined to comment on the commutation, reached a confidential agreement with Ariel’s family to pay for her ongoing medical treatment and other expenses.
Britt Reid was an assistant coach for the Kansas City Chiefs until February of 2021
Young’s family of Ariel Young leave the Jackson County Courthouse after Reid was sentenced to three years in prison for driving while intoxicated in November 2022
As Baker mentioned, Britt had been in legal trouble several times.
He was arrested in January 2007 in Pennsylvania a road-rage incident in which he pointed a gun at another driver, and he was sentenced to up to 23 months in jail and five years of probation after pleading guilty to charges of carrying an unlicensed firearm, simple assault, possession of a controlled substance and possession of an instrument of crime.
Seven months later, Reid was arrested and charged with driving under the influence, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to up to six months in jail.
Britt appeared to get his life on track, beginning his coaching career as an intern for his father with the Eagles in 2009. He spent the next two years as a graduate assistant at Temple, his alma mater, before joining the staff in Kansas City.
After two seasons as a defensive quality control coach, Britt was promoted to assistant defensive line coach. He then spent three seasons as the defensive line coach before shifting to outside linebackers.
Now, though, Britt remains on house arrest while his father leads his Chiefs into Super Bowl LIX, where Coach Reid has a chance to add to a Hall-of-Fame resume linked to some of the most controversial players in league history.
Tyreek Hill was dismissed at Oklahoma State after pleading guilty to strangling his girlfriend
Reid and the Chiefs famously drafted Hill in the fifth round of the 2016 NFL Draft out of West Alabama, where the lightening-fast receiver known as ‘Cheetah’ transferred in 2015 after being kicked off the team at Oklahoma State.
At OSU, Hill pleaded guilty to domestic assault and battery by strangulation involving his then-pregnant girlfriend. But after Hill stayed out of trouble at unheralded West Alabama, Reid and the Chiefs felt comfortable giving him a second chance.
Initially, the decision paid off and Hill would earn All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors while becoming one of quarterback Patrick Mahomes’ favorite targets.
But while he continued to burn opposing secondaries, Hill found himself in trouble again in 2019, when he was investigated for the alleged battery of his three-year-old son, who suffered a broken arm.
The boy was placed in child services and Chiefs executive Brett Veach announced Hill would be suspended from team activities while the investigation was conducted.
Johnson County District Attorney Steve Howe announced in April of 2019 that he would not be filing charges against Hill, but reversed course days later, re-opening the probe when audio emerged in which Hill purportedly threatened his now-former partner, Crystal Espinal.
However, the second investigation never found any concrete evidence against Hill, who was allowed to return to the team and ultimately signed a three-year, $54 million contract extension with the Chiefs en route to a Super Bowl title.
Hill was eventually traded to the Dolphins in March of 2022, and later signed four-year, $120 million contract extension.
And Hill wasn’t the only player accused of domestic violence to find his way to the Chiefs.
The team signed Clark in 2019 five years after he was kicked off Michigan’s roster when his then-girlfriend accused him of throwing a TV remote at hear head and punching her. He later pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct.
The team added Cox to the practice squad in 2015 after he was accused of domestic violence at Mississippi State, although he never made Kansas City’s 53-man roster.
David Irving, another practice squad invite for the Chiefs in 2015, also faced domestic violence accusations in college at Iowa State.
‘We knew he was a good football player,’ Reid said at the time. ‘He had some issues, obviously. [Then-Chiefs GM] John Dorsey and his crew, I thought, did a nice job getting in there and making sure with him that he would fit in here and that he kind of had things going in the right direction.’
Irving and Cox weren’t high-profile players, of course, but Vick was a different story entirely.
Michael Vick of the Philadelphia Eagles addresses reporters July 19, 2011 on Capitol Hill
Reid was still coaching in Philadelphia when Vick was released from federal prison in 2009 after serving 21 months on dog-fighting charges. And while much of the country was still outraged by the disturbing animal-abuse allegations against Vick, Reid and the Eagles felt comfortable making the former Virginia Tech star a backup to starting quarterback Donovan McNabb.
A year later, Reid promoted Vick atop the depth chart and the Eagles briefly looked like Super Bowl contenders as a result.
And even while Philadelphia’s title aspirations fell short, resulting in Reid’s dismissal in early 2013, Vick stayed out of trouble and has since remained grateful to his former Coach.
‘When I met Andy,’ Vick recently told The New York Post in 2023, ‘I didn’t have anything. I won’t say anything, I just had my family. I had my family and a sense of hope that I can do it all over again, and I only told two people this post-incarceration — I told two people that I just needed another opportunity, a second chance. I told my wife and I told Andy. When he brought me in, I told him I just needed one shot at it. And he gave me that shot.’
Some may criticize Reid for his willingness to give players second chances, but that negativity has done little to impact his reputation as one of the best coaches in NFL history.
‘This man is a genius,’ former New York Jets head coach Andy Reid said on ESPN before Sunday’s game, adding: ‘I don’t think there’s anybody that does it better as a head coach than Andy Reid.’
