Andy Reid Laughed at Idea Kansas City Chiefs Would Draft Matt Barkley
By Josh Sanchez
The Philadelphia Eagles traded up to the first pick in round four of the 2013 NFL Draft to select former USC Trojans signal-caller Matt Barkley. It was immediately believed that the Eagles traded with the Jacksonville Jaguars in order to get ahead of the Kansas City Chiefs who were looking to select Barkley with the No. 99 overall pick, but drafting Barkley doesn’t appear to have ever crossed the Chiefs mind.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid spoke with WHB in Kansas City and said that the rumors of the Chiefs interest in Barkley was laughable.
“Well, we weren’t going there,” Reid said, via NFL.com. “I actually was on the phone with Nick Saban from Alabama before that day ever started, so that’s just not the direction [we were going]. We had pinpointed (Alabama linebacker) Nico (Johnson) and that’s who we were going after.
“I know how rumors start and how people justify picks and all this other stuff, but I think if you look at our roster, we’ve got Akeem Jordan at middle linebacker; that’s the only player that we have there. … That rumor started and I heard it, and I had to laugh at it. That wasn’t even in the picture.”
If the thought to draft Barkley really didn’t ever cross Reid’s mind, then he pulled a fast one on his former employer and got an even bigger laugh out of the whole ordeal.
By grabbing Johnson, the Chiefs got a perfect fit for the middle of their defense and they later added a talented young quarterback in Tyler Bray after the draft as an undrafted free agent. Bray’s skill set is not much worse than Barkley’s and he certainly has a bigger arm that could lead to success at the next level.
The Chiefs did an excellent job in the 2013 NFL Draft and, while it could be a stressful time trying to analyze all of the talent and not slip up, Reid and company were able to find some simple entertainment thanks to a few rumors.