Camp quote sheet: What Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid said this weekend
Chiefs training camp is in full swing and the players and coaches are speaking with media members on a regular basis.
Here is what the Chiefs said Sunday, per a release from the team. It has been lightly edited for clarity.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes
Question: A number of impressive throws by you today ... when you look back at the video and see those kinds of things, do you just stop to think ‘wow, that was pretty cool’ or are you kind of just immune to those things now? What does it mean to you ... to see Alex Smith back and playing football again?
MAHOMES: “To answer your first question, the great thing about training camp practices and practices with coach (Andy) Reid is he allows me to try those different things and as you’ve kind of seen camp go, there’s been times when I’ve made some of these throws and they’ve worked out and we’ve scored touchdowns. And then I threw one, one day and it was an easy interception so he lets you try those different things that you can just learn from them, see what you can and can’t do. It helps me at the end of the game when I know what I can do and what I can’t. And then the second part of your question, Alex, it’s an amazing thing. I talked to Alex — I texted Alex before the season got going, before training camp got going, him just being there and him just being able to get cleared by his doctors and now getting cleared by the Washington doctors and being able to go out there and be able to perform. It just shows the grit that he has and I mean he’s someone that helped me out a ton in my career and he’s always persevered and I just expect him to keep persevering as his career goes on.”
Q: What are your impressions of Clyde Edwards-Helaire after two padded practices and how much did working with him in the offseason help his game? Eric Bieniemy said you a ‘competitive prick’ the other day, obviously in a good way, what was your reaction when you heard that?
MAHOMES: “Yeah well the first part of your question, I mean I think Clyde has done a great job in the reps that he has gotten, I mean, he’s stepped in, he’s learned the offense. He’s not making a lot of mistakes. He’s playing fast and he has incredible vision, I think that’s what’s been the biggest thing so far. The way he’s been able to run the ball fast, find the lanes to run in and catch up the backfield and run upfield and make plays happen. For him to be able to do that early, it’s a great sign. He’ll keep getting better and better. And then the second part with EB, I mean it’s just kind of in our nature I think, not even with me and EB, we love to compete, we’re fiery, we love to go out there every single rep. We act like it’s the last rep we have to win, and I think we have a lot of guys on the team that are like that. So that’s when you get the best on Sundays, so I’m going to go out there and compete every single rep and I‘m going to have that fire every single time.”
Q: What are your thoughts on people saying quarterbacks all mostly want their pass catchers to be like a basketball team, with a variety of sizes and talents? How do you feel your group fits that or do you like that moniker from the quarterback spot?
MAHOMES: “I think that I’ve learned in my short career so far in the NFL you have all different types of weapons as long as you’re utilizing their skill-sets and maximizing those every single day, I think that you can — it can be the basketball team, you can have those big receivers making those plays over the top, you can have the small receivers doing that stuff in the slot, but I think you see with our team, it’s a lot of different guys that can do a lot of different things and so when you have a team like we have, its hard on a defense to know exactly what we’re doing, exactly who’s running which routes because every single person can do every single route, and I think that’s what makes our offense go and makes us every single week be able to be a variable and change and really be able to execute and have high success.”
Q: After having so much achievement early in your career winning an MVP and a Super Bowl, where does that fire come from now?
MAHOMES: “That’s just the love of the game. I think when you play this sport, the best thing about it is you get to start over every single year. Every single year, no matter if you won the Super Bowl the last year, no matter if you lost in the AFC Championship Game, no matter if you didn’t make the playoffs. You get a clean slate and you get to go out there and compete every single year. You have to have the passion and the mind-set that you’re going to go out there every single day and execute every single rep so you can go out there and be on top again and be able to have those parades, be able to enjoy it with your teammates and your family and your friends. And once you enjoy it, you come back and do it again the next year.”
Q: What do you think you might be missing without having preseason games, and how do you plan to make up for that to be ready for the regular season?
MAHOMES: “The only thing that I think you’re missing is just me not getting hit. Not getting that first tackle of the season out of the way and then getting up and having to go through the reps again and making plays happen. Other than that, I think how we run practices —when you have the Honey Badger (Tyrann Mathieu) out there yelling and screaming and flying around the field, Frank Clark doing the same, Chris Jones — we’re going the best against the best right here at our practices. And I promise you we’re going hard every single rep, and there’s a lot of fire and passion out there on that field. Other than me personally not getting tackled, not getting that first tackle out of the way, I feel like I’m getting just what I would be getting in a preseason game.”
Q: What do you think of Mitchell Schwartz dropping off the NFL Top 100 list, and do you have a theory of why he seems to be underrated when it comes to awards and recognition?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I think obviously the position gets underrated a lot — the right tackle position — just throughout history. For the guys like Lane Johnson and Mitch Schwartz that have been doing it year in and year out — Ryan Ramczyk, I mean I know he was on there — all those guys, they’ve done it year in and year out and had high success. I think with Mitch, it’s crazy to not see him on that list with how clean he keeps the pocket, how he does the run game — he’s really been a great player for a long time. But I think we understand as a group that we’re going to go out there — and when you win Super Bowls and you do these different types of things, everybody is going to get the recognition that they’re going to get after their career is over. I think that’s what you’ll see with Mitch — once his career is over and you look back on it you’ll see how great of a player he’s been from beginning to the end of it.”
Q: What challenges does it pose for your offense to come in with new plays since you’re returning almost everyone and adding Clyde? Also, after speaking with your dad, what made you decide on the gift that you got him for his birthday and how shocked was he to receive it?
MAHOMES: “When you have Coach Reid and these offensive coaches that we have, there’s no shortage of plays. They’re coming up with different plays every single day. We’re trying out everything. I think that’s the best thing about training camp. We’re able to go against our defense which brings a lot of different looks to a lot of different plays that we haven’t ran before. That’s great about training camp. We’re going to keep trying these plays, and if it works, we’re going to put them in and if it doesn’t, push it to the side and try it again later on. With my dad, I ended up getting him the Escalade. It’s the car that he had whenever I was young, and he was in the MLB, so I ended up getting him one for his birthday.”
Q: Have you learned about the receivers wanting to do anything differently this season when it comes to building rhythm on the field? Off the field, how do you feel about Travis Kelce and what he’s doing for the inner-city kids and buying the building for the STEM program?
MAHOMES: “I think the best thing about training camp, like I’ve been saying, is that we try out a bunch of different things. I think when you get those routes, the one on one drills, the reps in practice, you see how guys are running routes and how we’re trying different stuff. Then we go to the sideline after, and we talk about those routes, why they did this, what I was thinking, what they were thinking and we try to get on the same page so that when we get in the game, we know exactly what each other is thinking and execute at a high level. For how Coach Reid runs practice, it’s perfect for that. For the second question, it was awesome to see what Travis did with that building and Operation Breakthrough. I remember about a year ago, he was trying to buy that building and talking about the plan of doing that and to see it finally go through. Obviously, he earned that contract, and his first thing was to do the thing that he had been planning on for over a year. It just shows how much he’s put into this community that has given him so much. Throughout our entire team, we try to do the same. You have leaders who do that, and it brings everyone else with us. I think the Chiefs have had a great history of giving back to the Kansas City community and we’re going to try to keep that going.
Q: How much experimentation are you doing in practice and how much do you enjoy finding something new year after year to use for the benefit of the team because coach Reid gives you that freedom in practice?
MAHOMES: “I don’t want to give away all of my secrets. There is stuff that I work on and stuff that we do. I try to find ways to get the ball to the receivers, tight ends, running backs, whoever it is, in the quickest way possible. The pitch was one thing that we had kind of been working on. I think I saw either Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers do it and I was watching one of those throwback games with the Green Bay Packers. I try to look at things that guys have done before me. I’ve looked at guys like Dan Marino and how he had success. I look at the guys playing around the league with Deshaun Watson, Lamar (Jackson) and Dak Prescott and all of these guys that are having success and I try to find what they do then take it out and put some of it into my game so that I can be a better player every time I step on the field.”
Coach Andy Reid
Question: What’s going on with Clyde Edwards-Helaire — he wasn’t doing much in practice today — and do you still get impressed by the throws that Patrick Mahomes makes in practice or are you immune to it now?
REID: “No, I appreciate his talents and I remind the coaches of that often — that just doesn’t happen all the time with every quarterback. So, he makes it look easy and does it time after time, but you don’t ever get satisfied or complacent with those — you enjoy each one of them. As far as Clyde, he was a bit dehydrated, so we just held him out a little bit.”
Q: Chad Henne is taking almost all the reps with the second team — what is separating him in that role?
REID: “Well, Chad is the No. 2, so we want to make sure that we get him enough reps. This is where we’re in a time period now, kind of a time crunch with the way the ramp-up is set, so you want to make sure the guys get enough reps in there within that time constraint. So, the threes get short-changed just a little bit.”
Q: What do you want to work on with Clyde Edwards-Helaire in the rest of the padded practices leading up to the regular season, and because of the injuries in the secondary, what are your thoughts on how that group has looked so far?
REID: “I think it’s been great for those guys. Continuity is important back there — opportunities to play with one another. I think both groups are doing well, and it’s given us a chance to look at some of the twos in there, and really some of the threes. We have a lot of numbers there at that secondary position, so we’re good. ... I think he’s (Clyde) doing a good job, he just needs reps and to continue to practice. So, practice time is important for him.”
Q: There seems to be a spirited battle between Gehrig Dieter and Jody Fortson — what have you seen from them this camp, especially with Jordy Fortson?
REID: “He feels more comfortable out there and he’s learning. Dieter has every position down and knows them all. Not that they’re in competition necessarily, but they’re all just trying to do the best that they can do. Listen, we’re getting good work out of them, great reps to get on tape so we can evaluate them. Jody, this is new as of last year for him and we started him off as a tight end if you remember and now we’ve moved him out to wide receiver, so every rep again is a great rep for him.”
Q: In what ways did you see Patrick Mahomes work harder to improve this offseason?
REID: “I thought he attacked the offseason aggressively. He was on every Zoom meeting we had and asked great questions, which he normally does. He wants to know everything, wants you to feed him new plays and wants to continue to grow, and that’s about all you can ask. Every opportunity he had to throw, he got his guys together and they threw. So, my hat goes off to him on the way he’s approached it.”
Q: What do you and Eric Bieniemy think of Clyde Edwards-Helaire when it comes to pass protection so far in camp?
REID: “He’s a real smart kid, so he’s picking it up — and he wants to be good, so that’s a good combination to have, and he has the talent to go with it. He’s strong. He’s short, but he’s strong. So, he gets himself in good position with his quickness and his leverage and does a good job of protection. He has a pretty good base of what’s going on with it — who’s coming, who the offensive line has and his responsibility. Reps will continue to help that.”
Q: Can you talk about how you try to work and grow during the offseason in calling things for Patrick Mahomes, and what was your reaction to Eric Bieniemy’s comment on Patrick’s competitiveness yesterday?
REID: “We get to see it every day. We get to see how competitive he is. It’s something that the fans only get to see on game days, but we get to see it every day. He keeps practice alive, challenges the defense, and really makes everyone around him better just by his attitude and how he goes about it. I think if you talked to people, he probably competes at everything he does. As far as myself, we always try to grow and I’m lucky enough to have the Eric Bieniemys and Greg Lewis and Mike Kafka, all these guys — Joe Bleymaier, Deland McCullough — they’re all in it to grow. So, I love that part of it, and they’re always bringing ideas to the table. Even though we were doing it over Zoom or Webex, we were able to grow and kind of do it together. I love that — that’s the fun part of this thing, bouncing ideas off each other.”
Q: Given that you don’t have preseason games, what have you had to adjust in order to make those final decisions on roster spots?
REID: “So, we’re trying to practice them and let them go. We try to keep it as fast as we can so you get some form of evaluation of the guys. Then, you don’t have that game part of it, but you’re not going to be able to get that either. But you know how we do practices and how fast we go, so you see how guys compete. There’s enough competition on both sides, and it should draw the best out of you if you’re willing for it to do that, so that becomes important. Then, we do it day in and day out. These guys are going on their third day of pads and they’ve got a 10-10-10 tomorrow and they’re working. So, you get a pretty good idea I think when we’re all said and done here of what you’ve got.”
Q: What are your thoughts on Alex Smith getting cleared for football activity and his miraculous journey?
REID: “Yeah, how great is that? I’m so happy for him. I know how he is — he’s dirty tough and he loves playing the game. He didn’t want to end the way it ended with the leg, so now he’s back. We all saw the special on him and the rehab that he went through, that day in and day out grind of the rehab, so I’m happy for him. I’m very, very happy for him, and I’m happy for the Washington team too.”
Q: How are you and the training staff working on dealing with some of those soft tissue injuries, and is there any clarification on Derrick Nnadi because I’m not sure he’s worked in pads yet?
REID: “Derrick had the ankle, so we’re just kind of easing him back in. The soft tissues are the same as it is every year — you get into that third and fourth practice and guys are sore, normally in the groin area, that’s how it works. So, we’re still dealing with that now, and it’s right about the same number as we have every year, so it hasn’t been anything crazy.”
Running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire
Question: How have the veterans been, especially Patrick Mahomes, helping you out especially with no preseason games?
EDWARDS-HELAIRE: “For me, the guy that I’ve always looked up to is Darrel (Williams). He was in my room at LSU, and he’s also in the room with me now. He’s been on this offense. As far as anybody that I turn to, it’s always Darrel. When he’s not around and I need those pick-ups from anybody, from Sammy (Watkins), to Travis (Kelce), to Pat (Mahomes), to Fish (Eric Fisher) on O-line, they understand. Everybody has been a rookie before, and they understand what’s going on. Everybody is here for me and everybody is here for the team. As long as I go out there and do what I need to do, they feel like I’m calm and secure, then the ball keeps rolling.”
Q: You said before that Andy’s playbooks looked easy. Do you still feel that way and how well are you picking everything up?
EDWARDS-HELAIRE: “As far as the concepts go, the biggest thing is understanding football. If you can understand football and understand positions and placements, then you understand where you need to be in certain plays. The biggest thing is language. Once you pick up the language, everything else just kind of falls into place. It seemed a little disrespectful of me to say ‘easy,’ so I would say it’s a playbook. It’s an NFL Playbook. As long as you’re doing stuff you need to do as far as studying, it’s not as complicated.”
Q: When you get the word on Damien Williams, what went through your mind? What kind of pressures did that put on you?
EDWARDS-HELAIRE: “As soon as I heard the news, I didn’t have Damien’s phone number, but I wanted to get it. I sent him a text because obviously if a guy chooses that route, it’s more than what meets the eye. Initially from that point, I’ve always been a guy who feels like I need to be 100% tuned in from the beginning. I didn’t have to flip a switch. Since the day I was drafted I just felt like, “let’s get this playbook, get rolling, and let me do my job.” It was never really like a shell shocking moment for me. For the most part, I just wanted to come in and do my work and do my job. I’ll find a way on the field.”
Q: From your time at LSU, did you feel like that prepared you for the tempo at practice here or was it a bit of an adjustment?
EDWARDS-HELAIRE: “Oh yeah. No doubt. Leaving LSU, having three-hour practices and just the whole tempo of everything. Freshman year, having NFL caliber players across from me on the defensive side of the ball, where everything is pretty much live, it tends to just be fast and that’s just what it is. As far as coming here, it was no real speed adjustment. The biggest adjustment is understanding what you have to do and how to fine tune those details.”
Q: How does your vision give you an advantage? What’s it like going from Joe Burrow to Patrick Mahomes?
EDWARDS-HELAIRE: “Vision wise, I was told at an early age, it might’ve been six or seven, ‘the one thing you can’t teach is eyes.’ I can’t sit here and say this is what makes me different. Every set of eyes sees things differently. As far as what I see when I’m running the ball or on a route, that’s just my mind doing its own thing and making its own adjustments. Just off of leverage and understanding the concept of the play call. Joe did some things last year in practice that it just kind of makes you turn your head, shake your head, or put your head down. Being around K Faulk (Kevin Faulkner), he’d sit and tell me, ‘that’s some stuff that I’ve only seen Tom (Brady) do.’ And when he’s been around Tom for 11 or 12 years. I had an interview yesterday where I was talking about Pat rolling out to his left. The play just looked completely shut down and by the time he got to the bottom, he just said, ‘I got it. I got it.’ Nobody looked open and he tossed it up and all of a sudden Tyreek (Hill) came out of nowhere and completed the pass. They extended the play which is something you see time and time again but for him to not throw it out of bounds. His vision and everything he’s got going on in his head, it’s a little different and a little special.”
