HEAD COACH ANDY REID
OPENING STATEMENT: “Alright, first of all, good to see everybody. (We’re) back and ready to go. Just on the injury front, BJ Thompson will start on NFI (Non-Football Illness/Injury). He’s still going through some procedures; he’s doing great but he’s going through some procedures as we talk here. He’ll keep going with that and then we’ll keep you updated as we go. On the PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) list, Jaylen Watson, (Charles) Omenihu, (Derrick) Nnadi and (Joe) Thuney will probably start on that. We still have a few days before all that goes on, but we’ll just see where we’re at with that. Really those are kind of the main guys that were injured. (Leo) Chenal will be up here, Nazeeh (Johnson) will be up here and (Xavier) Worthy will be back, he’s doing well, you just saw him come in. He’s doing well on his rehab from his hamstring. All in all, listen, we look forward to being back here, we love the setup here with the people here treat us great at Missouri Western State University. It’s beautiful facilities, it’s great to be able to get away from the city and be able to house guys in the same dorm. I’m saying this as the coach but they’re probably not going to say this but it builds a certain camaraderie as you go and you’re eating together, you’re sleeping in the same building together so you can’t help but talk to each other. In today’s world, that’s a positive thing. Anyways, time’s yours.”
Q: What are your expectations for the four guys you mentioned on PUP on when they might be back?
REID: “I think they’re all a little different and listen, something might happen different by the time we get the vets in here and we have to do it. I was just giving you a heads up on kind of what we’re thinking there on that as we start but we’ll see how they all – whether they get cleared or not cleared.”
Q: On Joe Thuney.
REID: “Joe (Thuney) is doing great and he’s close, close.”
Q: So you don’t expect it to be long if Joe Thuney can’t practice right away?
REID: “I don’t think it will be but we’ll see, we’ll just see how it goes.”
Q: Is Xavier Worthy ready to go after missing OTAs?
REID: “Yes. We’ll ease him in, we’re not going to just give him every rep. The lines are kind of short here, right (laughter)?”
Q: How valuable will this time be for the players like Xavier Worthy to get reps in with Patrick Mahomes before the veterans come in?
REID: “This is great, I think it’s great for all these guys just to get in and become familiar and go through it one more time before the veterans get in and everything is going 100 miles an hour. It’s slowed down, they’ll get the same install, the first three installs for when the vets get in. I think it’s a real positive for everybody and especially Xavier (Worthy), who didn’t have the opportunity to be on the field. Just going through those routes and doing what he needs to do there will also be positive.”
Q: How do you keep guys hungry after winning back-to-back Super Bowls?
REID: “I think we all know, in the NFL, every year is its own year. We’ve said that every year along the way here. You have to stay on top of your game, you have to practice, you have to go through this camp and be in condition so you can perform well – mentally and physically – once the games come around. It all starts from scratch and happens over. We talked about it in the offseason and I think the guys will be ready to go.”
Q: How much do you rely on guys like Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce and veteran leaders to sort of get that message across?
REID: “Yeah, they are great with it. That’s what I was saying before we had the break, I appreciate that leadership, Chris Jones, (Nick) Bolton, I mean these guys that have been around here they do a nice job. When players start helping players out and helping them understand what’s going on, normally you have a pretty good thing going and these guys, we’re lucky to have that leadership.”
Q: How do you see that? What specifically do you see that you like from those guys?
REID: “They go 100 miles an hour and they make everybody around them go 100 miles an hour. While the coaches are kicking them a little bit, the players are kicking them and that peer pressure, there’s nothing like that.”
Q: Where does last year’s regular season sit as far as do you mention that to the guys as an example of the ways you need to get better?
REID: “We talked a little bit about it in the offseason. That won’t be a big thing coming into this camp. The guys know we had our ups and downs. I just expect the young guys that were here last year to continue to build on what they finished with. I thought we finished strong on both sides of the ball and special teams. It is important that you – and we had a nice offseason where we were practicing some of the kickoff return stuff. Let’s pick up where we left off and get better.”
Q: What is it about Patrick Mahomes that makes you know that he is just getting hungrier instead of more satisfied, what’s inside of him that tells you that?
REID: “The one great thing about Patrick (Mahomes) is he is always going to work on his game and then he always wants more. As coaches, you can’t ask for more than that. That’s why we are in it, we are trying to give you one more nugget Vahe (Gregorian) so you can be greater than you already are. That’s what the great players do, they want you to dig as a coach and find something, give me something here that can help me become better than what I am.”
Q: I get the feeling that if you guys had a five-star hotel available right here you wouldn’t take it. You’d be here and there is a reason for that, what is it that you get out of the spartan aspect of this?
REID: “Well, listen I don’t want to slight the university because they actually renovated here a little bit and (have) done some things in here (Scanlon Hall) – I look forward to our meeting at the end of this before you guys get a taste of it – the cinder blocks are still cinder blocks no matter how you cut it. I am sure most of us have been in those buildings before, so that part hasn’t changed, it seems like dorms are kind of – that’s the way they are everywhere.”
Q: Is there something to that though, that you want the conditions to be understood to be kind of grueling?
REID: “Yeah, listen, there is a certain toughness this game requires and I think if you talk to the old veterans they’re going to tell you, ‘Well, it’s not as tough as it used to be.’ There is still a part of it that – it’s a tough guy sport and lady sport for where we are going with all of flag football. We’ve got that part of it going and it’s important that you develop that. If you are fatigued, then you are going to be fatigued mentally. If you are fatigued physically, that’s going to affect you mentally and if you are fatigued period then you can’t think and you can’t play, at least not to the best of your ability. The objective here is let’s get ourselves in shape, make sure we are in football shape, they are all going to come back in shape, but let’s get ourselves in football shape, both mentally and physically, so that we can perform at our best. The guys understand that. I mean that makes sense, so we try not to ask the guys to do anything that doesn’t make sense and if they have a question, ask us. Everything’s got a purpose of why we do it and ask if you don’t know. That is kind of how we go about it.”
Q: In regard to Rashee Rice, what are you expecting in terms of the suspension?
REID: “Yeah, I don’t know that, Adam (Teicher). I haven’t heard anything up to this point, so I just let all the people in charge do that are looking over that part of it.”
Q: You talk about easing Xavier Worthy in, I mean we talked to Patrick Mahomes, and he just said there is no easing in there. He’s going to get that regular rookie treatment, how important is that for young players to get?
REID: “I think you know – he’s looking forward to it actually, I think. He wants to get in there and go. It was driving him crazy to have to watch. You don’t want to be the number one pick (first-round draft pick), come in and be sitting on the bench and watching. He’s a competitive kid who wants to be in there. We are going to get him going. We just – we got to see how he’s doing here. Like I said, in this rookie camp these lines are short, so they are going to get plenty of reps. You just don’t want them re-hurting the thing and setting himself back.”
Q: When it comes to evolution of offense every off-season, what are your conversations like as you try to make sure you’re putting in different wrinkles. How does it start during camp?
REID: “It actually starts in the OTAs. That’s where you introduce all of the new stuff to the guys, and then you get reps on it now. So, you get a few in the OTAs – now (at training camp), you get reps, and reps and reps on the new stuff. It will be great for the guys to be able to get that and kind of perfect some of the things that we’ve tried to incorporate.”
Q: In terms of the offseason, we see what a lot of your guys do on social media, you don’t have a very big social media presence, but did you have some fun? And did you have any revelations, any good stuff you found in those hours?
REID: “I don’t know about revelations, I’m not sure about that but, I had a chance to look our stuff. I try to spend a little time doing that when I’m away and I enjoy doing that part. And as far as relaxing, absolutely I had a chance to do that. I got a little sun and a little beach air and that’s good right, but I’m ready to go and I know these guys are ready to go. I know you’re ready to go. That writing hand is ready to roll, man (laughter).”
Q: You and the Raiders are the last two teams standing that don’t do any joint practices. You said before you don’t want to give anything for free. Is that kind of still your philosophy or do you think you would ever change on that?
REID: “I think the way we go about it – I think we go fast, we practice hard, we do those things amongst ourselves, and the guys challenge each other, and I don’t think there’s a better way to do it, if your guys are willing to do that. Our guys are up for that challenge, plus you’re not giving things away, so you can’t help but do that. Then you’re not having those skirmishes that you get in these inner squad deals, and no matter how much you talk – you put on a different uniform, you’re the enemy. It doesn’t matter if it’s during joint practices or not.”
Q: You’re going to be in a movie, how are your acting chops?
REID: “I’m not real good at that, but I’ve only had about seven words. I can handle that. I can handle seven words.”
Q: What was the line?
REID: “No I can’t, I’m under a contract (laughter).”
Chiefs Player Quotes
July 16, 2024
QB PATRICK MAHOMES
Q: You guys have been really good over the years about turning the page from one season and moving on to the next one. Has it been as easy as you’ve made it look or is it more difficult than that? What’s your message this year? Any different than what it might normally be?
MAHOMES: “Not necessarily. I think for us, it’s just we’re back in St. Joe, it’s time to get better. Every season starts different, you’ve got to come in with that same mentality you had the year before, even a higher intensity. Even though we won the Super Bowl last year, we felt like we didn’t play our best football, especially offensively, so it’s our goal to be better that way and we’ve got to come with that mentality every single day.”
Q: How do you emphasize the importance of the regular season given what you just said? That maybe things didn’t go well in the regular season, but you guys still survived and played well in the playoffs.
MAHOMES: “Obviously the end result was awesome, but I think a lot of us still have a weird feeling in our mouth because we really didn’t play football the way we wanted to play all year long and it wasn’t fun. Every single week, having to try to just continue to get better and better and the results not paying off the way you want it to. It wasn’t a lot of fun, and we have a lot of those same guys back and they know how that felt and so we’re going to try and prepare ourselves better this year so that we can play better throughout the season and obviously, try to end with the same result.”
Q: I think you’ve said this before, but I wonder if you still feel this way that you’ve somehow gotten hungrier the more you’ve won. If that’s true, can you explain how that works?
MAHOMES: “Once you win the Super Bowl, I feel like – even to another extreme like – when you don’t win it, it sucks even more. You experience the offseason of being able to say you’re the champ and you experience all the different things and activities you’re able to do because you’re a Super Bowl champ and you experience the feeling of just winning the Super Bowl. For us – I’ll speak for myself, I mean, when you don’t win it now, it sucks because you know what it could be like if you were to go out there and win it.”
Q: When it comes to the offense for you guys, every year it evolves but this year, how excited are you with the new pieces in place to have that evolution and to start working on that now?
MAHOMES: “I’m extremely excited. I mean, we added a lot of speed – obviously, y’all know that but we also added players in every single position group. I’m excited for the offense to go out there and attack and we have some of those young guys here at rookie minicamp. I’m excited to get a couple days with them and get some early work in with them and (work on) timing and then adding the veteran guys as the week goes on and trying to just continue to get better and better. I mean, what’s better than going against our defense? It’s the best defense in the NFL and we get to go against them every single day and really show where we’re at and how we can get better.”
Q: Since you’ve been through this so much, how are you going to try to ease and navigate Xavier Worthy through this because you guys probably will be relying on him pretty early on in the season?
MAHOMES: “There’s no easing. He’s going to have to be ready to go. We’ve got a lot of competition on this offense. (General Manager) Brett Veach and (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid did a great job of bringing a lot of competition in. Xavier (Worthy)– I mean, he got a lot of mental work in these last few weeks that he had during OTAs and minicamp but it’s time to go now. Y’all saw with Rashee (Rice) last year, some of the throwing up days he had. We’re going to push you to the limit and prepare yourself to be ready to go for the season and that’s not just him, that’s everybody and everybody has to have that mentality when they come into camp.”
Q: For Jared Wiley you did get to work with him a little bit during the offseason. What are you anticipating from him early on?
MAHOMES: “I anticipate he comes in and learns and gets better and better. The physicality and the size and speed, you see that. Now, we get to test the mental ability and that tight end position is hard in the NFL, especially in (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid’s offense. You have to be able to block and make all the blocking assignments but also do all the passing stuff, too. He’s doing a great job with that so far and we’re going to keep pushing him and see what we can do. There’s going to be a lot of competition in that room, obviously with Travis (Kelce) and Noah (Gray) but even the other guys that we have. I’m excited for him to get in and get the work and come back and hopefully be a big impact on our team.”
Q: As you get older how much of an emphasis, if at all, do you put on yourself for conditioning and being ready for what hopefully is another long run?
MAHOMES: “It’s a little bit of the negative of winning the Super Bowl is it shortens your offseason, but I’ll take it every time. It makes the offseason that much more enjoyable. Obviously, we started earlier this year I think than I’ve ever started but we’re here to go out here and win football games, and that’s our job so I’m excited for it. It’ll be a big emphasis of just preparing your body and once you get here, (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid will make sure to know if you’re prepared or not.”
Q: We’re seeing vets like Derrick Nnadi and Leo Chenal show up early. How crucial is it for you guys to be all together in this kind of old school setting?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, it’s fun. The only thing for me is leaving the family’s always tough, especially as the kids get older, but being in the building and being at lunch together, being at dinner together, always kind of being around the guys, you build this kind of culture and this family-type (of) brotherhood. I’m excited to continue to do that with a lot of new faces, and then with guys that have been here before because we know that this is what it takes in order for us to go out there and be great.”
Q: What’s the evolution of dorm life for you?
MAHOMES: “This is my first year I’m bringing a TV. I haven’t brought a TV ever before, but NCAA (College Football 25) came out and I’m going to have to turn it on (laughter). I brought a TV for NCAA and the Olympics, so that’s my first year of doing that.”
Q: Last year Chris Jones wasn’t here and that was kind of hanging over. There are not question marks like that this year. Does that feel pretty good to not have those kinds of things hanging around?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I mean it’s always good to have everybody in the building, especially vets and guys that I’ve built great relationships with. I’m not going to say it’s awesome to see him on the other side of the ball because he can disrupt the play kind of whenever he wants (laughter). It’s always good to have everybody here because we all try to – like I said – build this brotherhood. When we go through these tough days at camp and (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid puts us to the test so that when we get in games we can come together and really go out there and find ways to win, I think that’s why we’ve been able to have all these kind of late, finishing comeback type of wins because Coach Reid tests us every single day.”
Q: Plenty of guys go into their school’s Hall of Fame, but I don’t know if anybody gets their name, their logo, their initials on the field. What’d that mean to you and how’d that come about?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I think just the partnership with Texas Tech has been awesome. With Adidas coming in, I’ve built such great relationships there, and I’ve kind of kept those relationships. It’s really exciting that I’ll be able to wear the Texas Tech stuff and not have to cover it up, the Under Armour logo and everything like that. To have my logo on some of their gear is going to be really cool, and I’m excited for the future of the partnership. I think it’s just at the beginning now, and it’s going to take off even more.”
Q: Just along more of the offseason lines. You announced your family is expecting a third child. Continuing to do all this stuff in the business world, how are you seeing yourself evolve just trying to manage everything?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I’m done. I’ll say that (laughter). I said three and then I’m done. No, it’s awesome. I always wanted to have kids young. I got to grow up in the locker room. I think I’ve talked about it before, and it made such an impact in my life. I wanted to have kids young, and we’re having our third kid now to join our family. Brittany (Mahomes) does a great job of doing that, and we still go out and enjoy our life and let our kids see these great things. They might not be able to remember what (the) videos (are) of – It is really cool because I spend so much time in the building, at football, for these eight – seven (or) eight, months. Whenever I’m with my family, I want to enjoy those moments.”
Q: You looked nervous watching Royals Shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. last night.
MAHOMES: “Oh, I was very nervous man. He was close, and I thought that last one was gone. I was excited for the world to see his talent because, I mean, we’ve (Kansas City) seen it the last two years here. He’s a tremendous talent. One of the best players in the MLB, and I’m excited for the second half of the season. I’m excited for the All-Star game tonight and then the second half of the season, and then see the Royals make a push at trying to get into the playoffs and see what they can do. It’s been a long time building and these young guys are ready for it.”
Q: What’s the process of getting Kingsley Suamataia ready to play and be involved in this system?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I think it’s practice. I mean, it’s not going to be perfect every single day and we don’t expect it to be, but we expect you to go out there and put your best effort forward every single rep. It’ll be a great competition in that o-line room, especially that left tackle spot. We’ll send kind of all those guys out there and just see who can go out there and compete and come out the best. Whoever wins the job, wins the job, but I’m excited for the competition of it. That’s what you want in any team, in any position is you want competition. I’m excited for those guys to see who can kind of rise to the occasion.”
Q: I know that minicamp doesn’t have pads and everything, but what were your impressions of Kingsley Suamataia during minicamp?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, he got better and better and he wasn’t scared of the moment. I think that’s a big thing. I remember me coming in as a rookie and I didn’t even get thrown in with the one’s like that. I mean, he’s coming straight in from combine training getting thrown in with the one’s and he’s competing. He’s not making the same mistakes twice. That’s huge. The pads will come on now, it’s another step in the journey for him. I think he’s excited for it, honestly. We’ll see where we’re at and we’ll keep building and try to see – like I said – who comes out on top at the end of the competition.”
Q: What do you think specifically would be lost about things you get to do here at camp if you didn’t have to stay in the dorms? What specific things happen in St. Joe?
MAHOMES: “I think it’s just the relationships. I mean, when you’re all in this together, every single step of the way, you have to build friendships or you’re going to hate each other. You build friendships, you go to a lot of different places where you’re either eating on campus together or you’re eating at different places around the city. Then, you go to practice, and you work hard, and then you can talk about it right after. It’s not like you’re going on your way back home or whatever that is. I have a lot of conversations with guys like Justin Reid, Nick Bolton, and we talk about what can make each other better. Coaches – sometimes (Quarterbacks Coach David) Girardi gets mad (that) I give them tips on what they can do to hide stuff, but I’m like, ‘Dude, it’s going to make us better in the long run.’ At the end of the day, it’s just fun to kind of get to go up against the best of the best every single day.”