With Travis Hunter being drafted No. 2 overall during the 2025 NFL Draft, playing both ways is all the rage in the NFL right now. While no other players have ever done what Hunter intends to do—play full-time on offense and defense—we have seen many players flip sides of the ball for a play or two. Especially when they’re playing for Chiefs HC Andy Reid.
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Reid is known as one of the most creative and innovative offensive minds in NFL history, and that absolutely includes trick plays. Any NFL fan worth their salt surely remembers defensive tackle Dontari Poe jump-tossing a TD pass from the one-yard line back in the day. But Poe wasn’t the only Chiefs DT offered a chance on offense.
Matt Nagy, who worked for Reid and the Chiefs from 2013 to 2017, returned to the club as an assistant in 2022 before graduating to offensive coordinator in 2023, a job he continues to hold. This week, Nagy did a guest spot on Chiefs TE Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast, which is co-hosted by his brother Jason. During the episode, Nagy and Travis revealed that All-Pro DT Chris Jones once got the same opportunity as Poe.
“Even to the point, Kelce, you know. We put that play in for Chris Jones that we had him doing a little bit of a pass,” Nagy said, laughing.
Travis jumped in with a grin, “Jason, you have no idea. This sh*t was—it was bad. Dude, I love Chris Jones to death. I don’t know what it was, but he needs to stay on the defensive side.”
Nagy was explaining how there are basically no ideas or plays that are off the table when you’re working for Andy Reid. When the OC brought it up, it was clear that Kelce remembered exactly what he was talking about. He burst out laughing before he and Nagy started to explain what the play was and why it didn’t work.
“We put it in for him, and we had him doing a little throw. And I mean, usually we put it in the incubator, like with Dontari Poe, you know, with the jump pass. This one was called ‘Swinging D’ and man, that play wasn’t working,” Nagy recalled.
Jason burst out laughing, “Swinging D!?!? That’s amazing. Oh. My. God.”
Then Travis added, “It had the name, it had the reference. We ran it, it was a throw to me, every single throw was like five yards behind me, at my feet, I’m just like coach, I don’t think this is gonna work.”
If you’re wondering why you’ve never seen Chris Jones throw a pass in the NFL on the ol’ “Swinging D” play, that’s because it never saw the light of game day. Nagy said that after two weeks of trying, they simply had to scrap the play.
But he asserted that it is likely the only wacky play suggested to Andy the Walrus that didn’t end up making the playbook. Jones was undoubtedly excited, but unfortunately, he will not be following in the footsteps of two-way guys like Poe, J.J. Watt, and Mike Vrabel anytime soon.
