Even if Chiefs coach Andy Reid was ever interested in Matt Barkley, he has absolutely no reason to admit it now.
The story was going around during the draft that the Eagles traded in front of the Chiefs in the fourth round because they thought Reid might have wanted the Southern Cal quarterback.
But Reid laughed off the notion, in an interview with Soren Petro of WHB in Kansas City, saying he was locked in on Alabama linebacker Nico Johnson.
“Well, we weren’t going there,” Reid said, via SportsRadioInterviews.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 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. So we needed a middle linebacker, we had a good one sitting right there and it fell that way and we were tickled pink to go get Nico and bring him on board. That rumor started and I heard it, and I had to laugh at it. That wasn’t even in the picture.”
Which is fine, because after trading for Alex Smith and signing Chase Daniel, the Chiefs have all the quarterbacks they need for the moment.
The chance to stick it to his former employer was just icing on the cake.