Read comments from Andy Reid, Chris Jones, Creed Humphrey and Josh Gordon, from Training Camp on Monday.
Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid Quotes
August 8, 2022
Opening Statement: “Injuries here, we’ve got (Daurice) Fountain has a groin strain. (Rashad) Fenton same thing with his shoulder, he’s making progress. Jody (Fortson) is making progress. (Gary) Jennings, (Lucas) Niang and (Taylor) Stallworth has a knee contusion and working through that. Other than that, everybody else practiced. Lighter practice today. Lighter weather for us so it was cool today and the guys got good work in. Listen, I appreciate the effort and attention to detail that they’re doing. We can always get better in that area, which we’re working on but they’re focusing in and working and that’s so important. With that, time is yours.”
Q: Looking at Josh Gordon’s total body of work from the offseason to 11 days of camp, how would you evaluate him?
REID: “Yeah, Josh has really attacked it. The last few days here, he’s had really good days. Again, I appreciate his effort and he’s kind of the senior citizen of that group. He’s the older receiver in that mix and has had success in this league and the way he approaches it is full throttle. He’s going for it and there is great competition, but for him to be in there doing what he is doing, I appreciate every snap he takes.”
Q: On cutting Deandre Baker.
REID: “Well, (he’s a) good kid. We had to make some decisions on who’s who there and that’s the route we went.”
Q: With so much depth at the wide receiver position, is this about the most competitive group of wide receivers you have had?
REID: “Yeah, I would tell you probably yes. I mean every camp is competitive, but I’d tell you that because of some of the openings that we’ve had with people leaving, there is competition. And it’s good and then (General Manager) Brett (Veach) has brought in great people. He’s brought in good players that are going to compete and somewhere we’re going to have let some good players go, I’m sure. It’s a tribute to Brett and the job he has done.”
Q: You mentioned the new faces, you have new veterans in and also have a lot of rookies this year, has that changed your rotations this camp?
REID: “Well we’ve done that before, so I don’t want to tell you we haven’t. We’ve moved people in and out just to see what we’ve got. One of the tricks is to come out of this thing, especially with the three games, come out of this thing knowing who you’ve got and so we’ve tried to mix them in and some of that chemistry stuff is important. See how they do with the ones and the twos, mix them in with the ones and see how they handle it. Depth in this league is a beautiful thing; you want to make sure you’ve got it. You don’t want to miss on that, sometimes those guys get neglected a little bit.”
Q: You went to see (Dick) Vermeil before he went in the Hall of Fame. What compelled you to take that trip?
REID: “He’s been a great mentor for me for a lot of years. You know how Coach (Dick) Vermeil is, if he’s in with you and knows you, he’s in so I have some great times. We kind of followed a little bit of the same steps here. Philadelphia, which is a unique place and Kansas City, unique place. We’ve had that experience and when you’re a head coach, there is not a lot of guys you can talk to that have been in the same places you’ve been and he’s been tremendous that way just coaching me up on things.”
Q: Do you have any stories about what type of resource he was back when you were first starting in Philadelphia?
REID: “Yeah, I invited him out to practice and when he was done with his coaching and I had called him and talked to him before I took the Philly job and you know he just said ‘listen, it’s a great organization, great people. It’s tough but it’s a great place to be. And if you can coach there and you make it through, you’re doing ok.’ But he was, he lived there, that was kind of his home base even though he was still working here and finishing up with the Rams. He did the same thing when I came here, exact same thing. He talked to me about the atmosphere here and said what bad guys you are (laughter), no. He coached me up on it. That’s priceless, right? That’s priceless. He checks in all the time. I mean if it’s not once a week, it’s pretty close to once a week, and (he) just makes sure everything is going alright. He loves the game and that whole deal. I appreciate all that.”
Q: How have you seen Chris Jones evolve into the player he is today?
REID: “I mean Chris (Jones) has grown up right before us. I think we’ve seen that he’s going wild out here every day, maximum effort, he’s in great shape. Over the last few years, he’s really dedicated himself to being in tip-top shape and pushing himself. He’s a fun-loving guy, but he’s learned to kind of funnel that in to when he’s on the field, it’s all business. And that’s how he’s gone about it. (Defensive Line Coach) Joe (Cullen) has been good with him and working hard. He’s on pace for a good year.”
Q: Would you agree that Creed Humphrey is one of the best centers in the NFL?
REID: “I’ll tell you Creed’s (Humphrey) challenge is this year, that he was a newcomer last year now all these coaches have had a chance to study him for an offseason. And they’ll try to throw him some different pitches in there. So how he handles that will be important. He played well last year and was one of the best, but these coaches get creative and they’re going to challenge you. The work that he’s put in and he’s putting in now is so important.”
Q: Can you talk about having Michael Vick at practice yesterday and your relationship with him?
REID: “I’m a big Michael Vick fan I’ve watched him go through his trials and tribulations and come out on the better end. He’s a great father and husband, he loves the game most of all. He’s doing what you guys (the media) do, to get a little football fix he was excited about that. And what a great player too, I mean he was phenomenal player and a big heart he’s got a great heart to him.”
Q: With new wide receiver how do you get down the deep passes?
REID: “It’s important we practice those. You call them in practice when you’re going against a defense, but you might not always get to the deep one, it might be covered. So these practices here these 10-10-10’s where you have opportunities to take shots down field you take them and you get yourself on the same page as the receivers. We’ll continue to do that as we go.”
Q: Being in Canton talking to coach Dick Vermeil do you ever think about putting on that gold jacket yourself?
REID: “That’s not where my mind was obviously, I was there for him. Those kinds of things I don’t think about, I’m trying to get this team ready to go play. But it was great to see him. I’ll tell you a unique story; there were five guys that stood on the stage there, the stage is broken up so it’s like a platform like this. There are two lines on either side and there are all the yellow jackets that are already in the hall of fame and each guy came down before coach Vermeil, he was last in line. They come down one side, one on the other side, they shake hands, high-five, hug and all that. The time that it took those four together to come down to coach Vermeil to come down and get on that stage I mean to the point where the fellow that was MCing just goes ‘Hey this is Dick Vermeil, he’s coached for 50 plus years, he knows everybody’ and that says it all. That’s why he’s there phenomenal, phenomenal human being.”
Chiefs Players Quotes
August 8, 2022
DT CHRIS JONES
Q: Is it the “dog days” of camp yet? Are you still having fun at camp or are you ready for it to be over already?
JONES: “A little bit of both. You want to enjoy the time and enjoy the chemistry that you’re able to build, especially with your teammates. Being able to separate from everything else that’s going on and being isolated here, you kind of enjoy that but you also miss home. So, it’s a little bit in-between.”
Q: On flipping the switch between practice and when he is off the field.
JONES: “I have a mission here. Especially when stepping on this practice field, our mission is to get better, one percent better every day. It’s a balance. You can come out here and have fun but make sure that you’re doing it to your highest capability on this field. Making sure you’re leading guys as an example. I take that personal, especially when I’m stepping on the field.”
Q: You’re obviously the leader of this defensive line. You’ve done the whole “sack nation” thing. What’s the identity of this year’s defensive line?
JONES: “Just being gritty man, being gritty. I think we left a lot of opportunities last year, our last game of the season, on the field. We were able to make a few changes in the defensive line room, bring my brother (Frank Clark) back and a lot of familiar faces back. I think this year, it’s about being gritty. Stopping the run, stopping the pass and doing whatever we can to help this defense out.”
C CREED HUMPHREY
Q: Chris (Jones) says that you should have been an All-Pro and a Pro-Bowler last year, how much do you even think about that kind of stuff and what kind of motivation does that give you?
HUMPHREY: “Yeah, I appreciate that from Chris (Jones), getting that praise from guys as good as him is pretty cool. To be honest, I don’t really try to think about those things during the season, I try to just focus on what I can do for the team and how I can improve my game.”
Q:(Head) Coach (Andy) Reid said coming back for the second year is even harder because the defenses are coming at you in different ways, what sort of things can you try to prepare for that? Who are you leaning on to understand what might be different this time around?
HUMPHREY: “It’s nice having guys like Joe (Thuney), Orlando (Brown), Andrew (Wylie) on the line that has been in that position, that have come in that second year, have done that second year, so it’s been nice to talk them about it and everything. For me it’s really just I’m continuing to focus on my game and try to get my weaknesses better and my strengths better so really that’s what I’m focused on right now in camp is improving how I play game.”
Q: Now that you guys have had a couple of fully padded practices with the complete line, what have you noticed that gives you optimism that you guys can get better in certain aspects in year two together?
HUMPHREY: “Yeah, definitely. It’s been very competitive these past couple of weeks, we’ve had some hot days, really humid hot days, everybody’s been pretty moist out there just getting after it though and competing every play, so it’s been really good. You kind of see the mental toughness of what we have in the group and what the defensive line has in the group, so it’s been really fun to see. We have some very talented guys who are also in love with the game, they want to continue to be great and become better, so it’s always a good thing when you have that in the room.”
Q: How much do you enjoy 1 on 1’s and how do you approach them?
HUMPHREY: “It’s definitely competition first, but it’s also a good time where you can settle down, work on different techniques that you want to use to get better at, things like that. The way I approach it is obviously you want to win the red, but you want to be able to work on different moves going against different guys who have different moves, who may rush different than the other guy you went against. Really for me it’s about settling down, making sure you’re working on those moves the right way and then just competing after that.”
WR JOSH GORDON
Q: How much more comfortable do you feel now compared to when you first got to Kansas City?
GORDON: “Very comfortable. Very comfortable. The playbook it’s similar now. I think we changed it a little bit, but (it’s) more or less the same. So, it’s been easy for me to adapt to it (and) kind of carry-over from last year.”
Q: What is it like to be in that receiver room this year?
GORDON: “It’s a great group of guys. It’s a lot of talent. We’re very deep, extremely fast. It’s highly competitive. I think it’s a perfect nature to groom young men for excellence, especially on the football field, and off as well just as far as being disciplined, knowing how we got to edge out the competition – not only each other for the sake of our livelihood – but the other team, most importantly.”
Q: What has it been like being with Corey Coleman again?
GORDON: “Corey (Coleman), that’s my guy. (I) love Corey to death. (I’m) glad to see him back out here doing his thing, staying hungry, diligent, hard-working, definitely more mature from when I (knew) him before. (He was) a young cat, so it’s good to see him at this point developing his career and still hungry, still at it. The world is up for grabs for him.”
Q: What is it like with the competitiveness of camp with guys fighting for spots?
GORDON: “He (Corey Coleman) knows there’s no love lost there. If he edges me out, I’ll love it. That means I gave it my all and he gave it his all. And that’s all I could want for him. At the end of the day, it’s bigger than the game of football. So, I just want the best for him, and I just want to see myself do the best I can do.”