Camp quote sheet: What Chiefs coach Andy Reid said at Wednesday’s news conference
It’s three weeks until the Chiefs open the 2020 season and their title defense.
For the most part, training camp has been quiet but Chiefs coach Andy Reid had plenty to talk about on Wednesday when he met with the media in a Zoom call.
Here is what Reid had to say, per a release from the team. It has been lightly edited for clarity.
Question: How do you feel about your depth at cornerback now with Bashaud Breeland’s suspension, what young guys have caught your eye? And how does it feel to have Juan Thornhill back out there?
REID: “It’s good to have Thornhill back. He was limited today, but he’ll keep ramping up. He sure had a good couple workouts prior to getting activated again there, so we think that’s a plus. As far as the young corners, we’ll see. Time will tell here as we go, but we have a good nucleus of guys. It’ll all sort out here in the next couple of weeks. Everybody is working hard and getting a lot of reps, which is good, and we should be fine there.”
Question: Have you seen the spectacular throws from Patrick Mahomes enough to expect them when they happen?
REID: “I have seen it and my advantage is I know where the guys are going and kind of what the secondary is doing, so I can normally tell when it leaves his hand whether it’s good or bad. I trust him because he has tremendous vision and he makes good decisions. So, he’s not going to do something to hurt the team like throw interceptions — that’s just not his deal. When he moves, he’s aware of what’s going on, what the situation is in the game, which all become important — down and distance and obviously field position.”
Question: What gave you confidence that you would get cooperation from your players in the offseason in order to get this roster back, and what does it reveal about your group that you did?
REID: “It’s a good thing that we were able to get them back. You never know going into the offseason how that’s going to work out. Obviously, guys want to be here, but at the same time, Clark Hunt gave Brett (Veach) the opportunity to go get the guys, and I thought that was important. Brett and his crew, I thought, just did a heck of a job with it. Then, there’s a want-to. The guys want to be here, and they know they have an opportunity with hard work and working through the process to be a good football team.”
Question: Patrick Mahomes is evolving as he comes along, so do you have to evolve with him and maybe give him more options in the plays as he progresses?
REID: “I’m not sure we have one play that has one option, so normally there’s three of them and any time there’s three, it obviously keeps pressure on the defense as long as you’re reading it the right way, and normally it’s good versus just about everything. So, Pat has a good feel on that. He reads quickly and accurately. Listen, he’s blessed with great vision. That’s the thing I keep coming back to you with is he sees, and he has a mind that is decisive with decision making. For the young guys out there, kids that are trying to be quarterbacks, nobody works harder at it. Nobody studies more than he does. So, he’s blessed with this, but he also works tremendously hard at the job.”
Question: What have you seen from Nick Keizer so far in camp taking second-team reps behind Travis Kelce?
REID: “Nick has done a good job. He’s getting better every day. He’s a smart kid, tough kid, and he has a good mentor there with Trav, so he gets to see it done the right way. I’m asking all those guys, just try to get yourself better every day, work through it. We ask a lot out of that position within the run game and the pass game, and if you’re not focused in every day that you come out and disciplined, then you’re going to take a step backwards. So, they’ve done a good job with it — Nick being one of them there that I think is really working hard at getting himself to where he’s one of the guys.”
Question: What would be your pitch for Mike Holmgren to be in the Hall of Fame?
REID: “He kind of raised me in the business of the National Football League. At the time, I had a hard time believing anybody does it better. I’ve been a head coach for a couple years and I still feel the same way. He was phenomenal. The way he handled the players and management and us as coaches — nobody that I’ve been around has done it better than he did. So, he just had a good way about him, he’s brilliant, and there’s two of the three of them that are in the Hall of Fame — that strong triangle that we had with Ron Wolf and Brett Favre — and we need the other part of that to really make it whole.”
Question: What is the message to Mecole Hardman as he continues to grow and maintaining his desire to be more involved in the offense?
REID: “He’s coming in with the right frame of mind. He worked his tail off in the offseason and he’s working hard now. He understands all that, but he keeps working and getting opportunities. He had a couple great snaps today. He was learning last year, but now it’s fit in. He’s in a group of guys that can play — D-Rob (Demarcus Robinson) is another one who probably doesn’t get the ball enough that is very worthy of it — but again, there is one ball and they understand it and we kind of check our egos at the door and we roll the best we can, and we keep it fast and furious. So, that’s how they’ve handled it. I’ve been pleased with Mecole and how he’s gone about his job.”
Question: How comfortable are you with the current depth at the tight end position, and what’s it like having wide receiver Marcus Kemp back?
REID: “I’m OK with the tight end situation as long as we keep growing. Marcus — having him back is great. He’s a great kid and I’m so glad that he’s back now because he was playing the best football that he had ever played since we’ve had him here when he got hurt. It was a shame that happened and now he’s getting a chance to come back. It looks like he’s worked his tail off. We worked him out yesterday and he did a great job with it. So, he needs to get himself into football shape as he goes, but he took some reps today and did a nice job with it, and we’ll just see how it goes. But we need depth at that position, you know that, there and the secondary because they do quite a little bit of running.”
Question: With no preseason games and guys going all-out in practice in order to make the team, is there a message to keep your key guys safe?
REID: “We always try to do that because you can be a great coach, but if you don’t have your players — we’re all in it together. So, we try to keep bodies off the ground and do those things that are important. Play hard and play fast, but we’re not taking cheap shots on each other, we’re not doing that. We’re trying to stay away from collisions on the back end, bodies on the ground with the bigs and that. If you just watch our veterans practice, they kind of know how to do it. So, I tell the young guys that, ‘see how they do it, they’re moving like crazy, but you don’t see guys flopping around on the ground.’”
Question: For you as an offensive guy, what kind of challenges does a versatile guy like Tyrann Mathieu present, and how does he help Steve Spagnuolo make up for being down a few guys in the secondary?
REID: “We’re using Tyrann at a couple of different spots, but he easily could play corner – not that we’re doing that — but he has that kind of coverage ability. So, when a guy comes in to play that position outside, he knows exactly what that guy has to do to work in that spot and he’s able to communicate with him, and he does that quite a bit. You hear him out there talking and he knows everything that’s going on. He’s got a full understanding of what Spags wants — he’s really an extension of Spags on the field — and for Steve that becomes so important to have that guy. So, he’s able to kind of get everything right in the secondary, plus he’s got great instincts at the safety position and nickel position. He just knows how to do that, and he has great anticipation. He’s very football-aware on things. Sharp kid.”
Question: Over the years, what have you identified that ensures you get the maximum effort from guys in training camp so that they’re ready for the regular season?
REID: “Normally if guys practice fast, they stay relatively healthy. It’s when somebody is not doing that and then somebody trips over somebody and falls down and then you’ve got a problem. Over the years, you see those things happen. So, it’s important that guys are moving and trying to move at the same speed. Then, it gets you prepared. We don’t condition after practice — that’s not what we’re doing. We’re not lining up and running sprints, so I ask them to condition during practice and we’ll keep you watered down. So, we’re not playing the ‘no-water’ game, we try to keep them hydrated and ready to go. But we know in games you have to be ready — no more important than this year. I mean, you have to go into a game without any preseason games, so you have to keep your tempo up and get yourself sharp. The guys believe that and so they fly around. They remind each other, which is important, and so the coaches don’t really have to do it. The players can give each other a heads up on ‘let’s go — it’s time to roll, you’re a little tired, let’s go.’”
