KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If you’ve followed the Chiefs in the Andy Reid era, you know that he’s the fourth-winningest coach in NFL history because he’s a unique fusion of his compelling experiences.

He’s both a brilliant tactician and a taskmaster. Equal parts encouraging and exacting. And pragmatic with a playful side — a blend befitting the son of one of the first female radiologists and a Hollywood set designer.

In another life, he might have been an artist, welder or carpenter — skills he embraced as a child. Or a sportswriter, which he dabbled in as a senior at Brigham Young.

But whatever Reid was to be, it was going to be animated by who he is at heart: a man of empathy whose belief system is steeped in the virtues of second chances.

“I think it makes the world a better place,” Reid said Tuesday morning in his dormitory office at Missouri Western.

Those words could sound hollow if you didn’t know how much Reid lives by them, which is why we’ve written about it a few times from different angles over the years.

But the new documentary on the Chiefs, “The Kingdom,” lends some fresh illumination to the revealing point in Episode 2 of the six-part series premiering Thursday on ESPN+ and Disney+ and overseen by Kansas City native Connor Schell, founder of Words + Pictures studio.

It’s entitled “Don’t Judge,” a term taken from words on an index card Reid has long kept posted nearby at work. It’s been a constant from his assistant coaching days to a bulletin board in Philadelphia to, well, now “kind of tucked behind” a pile of stuff in his office at the Chiefs training facility in Kansas City.

Obscured as it might be today, it’s never far from his mind.

“It’s pretty simple,” he said. “Just a good reminder.”

When I asked him why those words resonate so much with him, Reid said it was “part of what you learn if you go to church or anywhere (you receive) a religious background.”

The spirit, he said, is “don’t judge; you’re here to teach.”

Naturally, it became all the more applicable as he went into coaching.

One way in particular: He soon recognized the difference between voluminous reports and data on prospective players … and who they actually are in person.

“You almost have this image of them before you ever meet them, because of all the digging that goes on,” he said. “And you want to try not to judge before you meet the guys. I mean, let’s meet him and get to know him a little bit, and then go from there.

“So many times the information is wrong.”

And many times, he added, a change in environment or approach can lead to knowing “a different, different person from what maybe you’re told.”

Like he recognized with Travis Kelce, who once was what Reid called “kind of a wild pony.”

That mentality pours into Reid’s well-known belief in second chances, examined in-depth in the documentary through the lens of Reid’s forgiving embraces of Michael Vick and Kareem Hunt in particular.

We’ve all had “our deals,” as Reid puts it in the documentary.

And that shouldn’t mean an entire life thrown away, Reid says over and over with his actions.

At least as long as he senses true remorse and a desire to become a better person.

That outlook is central to why he was willing to sign Vick with the Eagles after he served 18 months in prison following pleading guilty in a dog-fighting scandal.

And it’s why last year he welcomed back Hunt, who had been banished in 2018 after a video revealed he had shoved and kicked a woman — contradicting what he had told the Chiefs.

In each case, Reid felt the player was a good-hearted person who had done something terrible but was sincere in his desire to atone and grow.

“I knew (Hunt) had changed,” Reid said last year.

When the Chiefs in 2016 drafted another example of Reid’s penchant for second chances, Tyreek Hill, he cited his forgiving view of Vick as part of why.

“He tried to come out of prison and right the wrong; I saw that and was sensitive to it and gave him a second chance,” Reid said then, also alluding to Vick’s subsequent efforts against dogfighting. “It was the greatest thing to ever happen to anti-dogfighting, and he’s been on a mission to help stop that.

“Every situation is different, and you’ve got to study it, see the person and see the heart that belongs to that person.”

Along those lines, one day last year I asked Hunt about how his relationship with Reid had continued and sustained him even after the Chiefs cut him.

“It’s not just about football,” Hunt said. “He always wants the best for me as a person. Even when I wasn’t in Kansas City, he would text me, checking in on me and seeing how I’m doing as a person. He’s a father-figure type of guy. …

“Having a coach like that, (who) you want to go out there and put it all on the line for, is something amazing.”

Without even being asked, Reid offered that “not everyone works out.” Hill, now with the Dolphins, remained controversial virtually his entire career, and it’s gone awry with others off the field.

Then there’s the likes of Kadarius Toney, whose mercurial attitude had worn out the New York Giants. He became a star of Super Bowl LVII with a touchdown and an unforgettable punt return, and his words after the game suggested he was grateful for the fresh start under Reid.

“He gave me opportunity,” Toney said in the locker room. “I mean, most coaches, anything (goes) wrong, they hissy-fit, cry, complain or whatever, you know? Him, you mess up anything, he’ll come over and crack a joke with you. You know what I’m saying?

“He’s coming back to you if you mess up anything. He’s just a coach that you want to play for. You want to go out there and do all you can for him.”

By last fall, though, the former first-round pick had exhausted even Reid’s patience with his erratic behavior.

While it’s true that all of these examples are about players with immense talent, the empathy that goes into that way of thinking is a consistent trait of Reid’s.

It’s why he remains connected with many players he coached at Missouri during a three-year period more than 30 years ago, for instance. And it’s why several years ago he hired Porter Ellett, now the Chiefs assistant special teams coach despite losing his right arm in a farm accident that nearly killed him when he was 4.

Because Reid’s brother, Reggie, had lost the use of an arm from a motorcycle accident and went on to become a geologist accomplished in the martial arts, Reid had a clearer view of Ellett’s intelligence and energy and poise and not what he might seem to have lacked.

“He saw me and obviously my weaknesses, and he chose to ignore them and see my strengths,” Ellett told me after the Super Bowl LVII victory over the Eagles. “And he does that same thing with all the players. He knows the weaknesses, but he works hard to find the strengths. And you see it on every play.”

And that strength starts from the same place — the difference between having good judgment vs. being judgmental.

It’s a notion reminiscent of the line brought to life through “Ted Lasso”: “Be curious, not judgmental.”

It’s also not foolproof, to be sure.

But it’s hard to dispute that such a way of life makes the world a better place ... and Reid’s teams, too.

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