Here’s how Andy Reid convinced Drue Tranquill to swap sides in rivalry

Drue Tranquill, one of the Kansas City Chiefs’ key free agent acquisitions this offseason, has seen his share of Patrick Mahomes during his four-year career.

In his first season as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, Andy Reid saw his team swept by then-San Diego Chargers back in 2013. Since then, he and his team own an impressive 15-3 record in this AFC West rivalry.

For the past five seasons, quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been Reid’s starting signal-caller. The team owns a 7-2 record when he’s at the controls against the Bolts. One of the Chargers’ defenders who got a chance to witness what Mahomes could do in a 60-minute contest was linebacker Drue Tranquill. He was in five of those games against the Chiefs’ quarterback and on the losing end four times.

Is this a case of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em?” The 2019 fourth-round pick of the Chargers inked a one-year, $3 million dollar deal with the Chiefs back in mid-March (via Spotrac).

Tranquill comes off a career campaign. He led Brandon Staley’s team with 144 defensive stops in 2022. He finished with five sacks, four passes defensed, one interception and a forced fumble.

Tranquill also totaled five tackles and had one of the Chargers’ four interceptions of Jaguars’ quarterback Travor Lawrence in the Wild Card loss at Jacksonville. Now he’s a member of the reigning Super Bowl champions.

“Well, obviously, to me, obviously football is a business, but football’s also family,” explained the former Notre Dame product earlier this week on NFL Total Access, via Kevin Patra of NFL.com. “I poured my heart out there for four years in L.A. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out.

“I was really honored by the way the Chiefs pursued me, all the way from the front office down to the coaching staff. Andy Reid literally texted me the morning of [when] I was going to make my decision and he was like, ‘Think red. Think red. Think Super Bowls.’

“I just felt really valued over there, felt like they really had a role for me and really wanted me over there. So, I’m excited to join up with those guys. I’m going to miss a lot of my teammates and coaches over there in L.A., but excited for this next step.”

Excited might be an understatement. Now he only has to deal with the likes of Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce and the rest of Reid’s offensive arsenal in practice.