Why Chiefs Andy Reid is stoked his son-in-law is

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Turns out, the marquee matchup Friday night time between the Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs isn’t just a season-opening showdown between two premier quarterbacks and authentic Super Bowl hopefuls.

It’s also a household feud — minus the dangerous blood.

Devin Woodhouse, head strength and conditioning coach for the Chargers, is the son-in-law of Chiefs coach Andy Reid, an under-the-radar connection that additional hems these AFC West rivals.

“In our first game last year, I was a little anxious playing them,” Woodhouse told The Times. “It felt weird rooting against him at times.”

Reid understands, and he loves the fact that before bringing Woodhouse with him from the University of Michigan, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh called his Kansas City counterpart and requested him if that could be OK.

“I said, ‘Heck, yeah, I’m honored that he’s got an opportunity to work for you,’” Reid said. “I got the biggest kick out of that, that Jim would even think of that. … What a class act.”

Woodhouse, modest and targeted on his Chargers duties, was initially reluctant to sit down for an interview. But Harbaugh and Reid nudged him to discuss, as did his direct boss, Ben Herbert, govt director of participant efficiency.

“I don’t want to dim that light on him,” Herbert said. “I want that light brighter.”

Woodhouse, 34, who grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, met his future spouse, Drew Ann Reid, when they have been members of the same ward of their church in Provo, Utah. They had mutual pals, an immediate connection and have been married in 2013.

The couple was additional bonded by tragedy. Drew Ann’s older brother, Garrett, who struggled with drug abuse for years, died in 2012. The twin brother of Woodhouse, Chaz, who was confined to a wheelchair with cerebral palsy, died a yr later.

“As our relationship was growing, her brother passed away,” Woodhouse said. “We grew even closer together.”

The two now have 4 youngsters, two boys and two women, all of whom refer to Reid as “Gramps.” Woodhouse doesn’t call his father-in-law something but “Coach.”

“I would say he’s a better man than he is a coach, and he’s a pretty dang good coach,” Woodhouse said. “And [mother-in-law] Tammy is the head coach of the head coach, so that’s how good they both are. I just love them, and not just the people they are for my wife, but for my kids and their grandkids.

“One of the things I love most about Coach Reid is how much I feel people love to play for him. It’s a cool thing to witness and I respect it a lot.”

Woodhouse feels the same approach about Harbaugh, for whom he and Herbert labored at the University of Michigan.

“Ben Herbert found Dev,” Harbaugh said. “When Herb recommends somebody, I already know it’s going to be good. He doesn’t bring in anybody who doesn’t have a tremendous work ethic. Devin came in, and Herb was right.”

Herbert is meticulous down to the smallest element. For occasion, each dumbbell at the Chargers facility is emblazoned with the membership’s lightning-bolt brand. Not only is that wall of weights always exactly organized, but every lightning bolt is arched in an an identical approach. To guarantee there’s never a speck of mud on the ground, Herbert and his crew use electric leaf blowers each day to clean the large space.

Helping oversee the bodily well-being of so many elite athletes is a difficult task, notably for a franchise that has an unlucky historical past of dropping key gamers to accidents — as the Chargers did in August with left sort out Rashawn Slater, who sustained a season-ending knee injury.

Chargers strength and conditioning coach Devin Woodhouse helps quarterback Justin Herbert with his jersey during training camp in El Segundo on July 21, 2025.

(Ty Nowell / Los Angeles Chargers)

The approach Harbaugh sees it, no one is better outfitted to prepare an NFL group than Herbert.

“We are the tip of the spear,” said Herbert, who is not associated to Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. “Our job is to impact the mental and physical capability of the players. The physical part is much easier. The mental part — emotional stability, consistency — that’s the separator. And trust is everything.”

Woodhouse has a knack for building and sustaining those trusts.

“He has an ability to build relationships across a melting pot of personalities,” Herbert said. “He’s also versatile across range-of-motion, tissue and joint, strength, power and movement traits. So much so that with my 14-year-old, twice a week I want Coach Woodhouse to work with him.”

Woodhouse has a notably eager eye when it comes to evaluating the tiniest points of a individual in movement, serving to gamers make refined changes to the way in which they run in order to improve their velocity.

Chargers strength and conditioning coach Devin Woodhouse works with Chargers vast receiver Ladd McConkey before a sport at SoFi Stadium against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Dec. 15, 2024.

(Ty Nowell / Los Angeles Chargers)

“Dev’s someone who’s going to support you, but he’s going to tell it like it is,” Chargers receiver Ladd McConkey said. “I’ll be running a route, and Dev’s over there with his phone recording me. Then we’ll look at it in slo-mo and break it down.”

During video games, Woodhouse is on the sideline as a “get-back” coach — a time period he doesn’t notably like — making sure gamers and coaches keep a enough distance from the sector.

As for his own feelings, he figures he could have them in test, even with his father-in-law on the alternative sideline.

Family is household, true. But soccer is soccer.