Before he prepared to go to Arizona, Andy Reid met Wednesday with the Kansas City Chiefs to interview for their vacant head coaching spot, NFL sources said.
The former Eagles coach sat down with Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, team president Mark Donovan, and general manager Scott Pioli in Philadelphia for an extended discussion, a source said.
Donovan is a familiar face to Reid. He worked with the Eagles from 2003 to '09 as their senior vice president of operations.
The Chiefs fired Romeo Crennel Monday after one season as coach. Kansas City went 2-1 with Crennel as interim coach in 2011, but the Chiefs went 2-14 this season.
Although the Chiefs have gone 23-41 in Pioli's four seasons as GM, he survived Black Monday. But will he survive if Reid is hired? Reid will likely want final say in football matters as he had with the Eagles, and he may want to pick his own GM.
The Chiefs have a history of hiring veteran coaches, hoping that they could either repeat their previous success or finally get over the hump and win a Super Bowl, with Marty Schottenheimer, Dick Vermeil, and Herman Edwards three of the more prominent names.
After the interview with the Chiefs, Reid was scheduled to meet with the Cardinals on Thursday. On Tuesday, two league sources close to the situation said that Reid was the leading candidate, although he had yet to interview.
The Cardinals have spent the last two days interviewing Ray Horton, their defensive coordinator. Technically, Arizona could hire Reid on the spot because Horton would satisfy the NFL's Rooney Rule that requires teams to interview minority candidates for top jobs.
But Horton is considered a serious player to replace Ken Whisenhunt in Arizona and has already met with the Cleveland Browns regarding their opening.
The Cardinals also have a general manager vacancy that could make Arizona appealing to Reid. Rod Graves was fired Monday, and vice president of player personnel Steve Keim is interviewing for GM jobs with other teams.
Reid's salary demands also could factor into which team ultimately ends up with the coach. Reid was making about $6 million a season by the end of his 14-year tenure in Philadelphia.
Contact Jeff McLane at jmclane@phillynews.com. Follow on Twitter @Jeff_McLane.
