Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes are on top of the NFL world. With two straight Super Bowl Championships and three in the last five years, the Kansas City Chiefs are, in many ways, what the New England Patriots were in 2010’s. The best team, quarterback, and coach are all part of the same franchise.

Andy Reid will be 66 this upcoming season, and while that doesn’t necessarily mean he has to or is even close to retirement, some have begun to speculate about when Reid will walk away from his Hall of Fame career and ride off into the sunset.

According to former NFL Head Coach Mike Smith, the time may be less dependent on Reid’s timing and more on the timing of his quarterback.

Mike Smith Believes Patrick Mahomes Controls Reid’s Future

During an interview with Betway Insider, Mike Smith opened up about what he believes will be the future of Andy Reid. He shared the following:

“I don’t know how much longer he’s going to go, but I don’t anticipate him stepping out before [Patrick] Mahomes does… He will stay right where he is as long as Mahomes is there. If Patrick decides he wants to retire early, then Reid may consider retiring, but people don’t realize coach Reid is a grinder. He loves the preparation as much as the competition. He’s the mad scientist, and we see it in all the Reid signature plays; they run in pivotal moments.”

Patrick Mahomes is 28 years old, and with his playing style, he could easily remain in the league for another decade. Whether or not Reid would want to stay that long seems like a stretch. However, the thought that if Mahomes were to retire early or leave for another franchise, it would lead to Reid’s retirement actually makes a lot of sense.

Andy Reid Is Already a Top 5 NFL Coach All-Time

Whether looking at overall wins, Super Bowl titles, or overall impact on the game, it is hard to argue that Andy Reid is not already a top-five coach of all time. Could he reach the level of Bill Belichick, who is considered by most to be the greatest coach of all time? Perhaps, but he still has quite a hill to climb to reach that level.

Reid is in a three-way tie for the third most Super Bowl Championships as a head coach with three. Chuck Noll (Steelers) sits second with four, and Bill Belichick stands alone with the most at six. All three of these coaches won their Super Bowls with the same team. Even though Reid was successful in Philadelphia, without a Super Bowl win, he has to be graded at the same level as Noll and Belichick. If Reid were to go off to another team and win another title, he could argue with being the best since he would have done it with two different teams, although at Reid’s age, that seems very unlikely.

A Lot Will Be Decided In The Next Two Seasons

Could Andy Reid reach six Lombardi trophies in Kansas City? As crazy as it sounds, that actually depends almost exclusively on Patrick Mahomes’s success. If Mahomes can win a third Super Bowl in a row, Andy Reid could realistically try to reach six championships, even if it means coaching well into his 70’s. But if Mahomes struggles and the Cheifs fail to win another Super Bowl in the next two years, I could easily see Reid calling it a career and leaving.

I don’t believe Reid will still be coaching if Mahomes becomes the next Tom Brady to decide to play into his forties, but I do believe that Mahomes controls Reid’s fate. Reid will also retire if Mahomes decides to leave in a few years. If Mahomes cannot win a championship in the next few years, the same result. But if Mahomes can continue to find January magic, we could see Andy Reid on the sidelines for quite a bit longer.