OPENING STATEMENT: “Alright. As far as injuries go, the guys that didn’t practice today were (Kristian) Fulton, (Jawaan) Taylor, and (Tre) Watson. So, everybody else practiced. The same guys I mentioned yesterday that are on PUP, they didn’t practice today. Other than that, it was great to get the guys back out here, great for our fans to show up and the numbers that they did, always makes things pick up even a little faster than normal, so it’s good to have that energy out here. Other than that, I don’t have much from yesterday – it was the first day. It was good to see everybody moving around. Time’s yours”
Q: What message or theme are you trying to get across to the team?
REID: “Yeah, main thing is urgency. You know, the urgency – just keep that up. Everybody’s expectations are high, amongst the team, amongst everybody around. So, but it comes down to the work that you take care of here, and the foundation that you build here.”
Q: How was Josh Simmons’ first day at camp?
REID: “Yeah, you know, he (Josh Simmons) did some good things. He worked in there with the ones and did a nice job, I thought. He’s got things he’s gotta work on, but keep doing that.”
Q: How did Simmons get through the conditioning and testing?
REID: “You know, the whole team did really well, so that was a good thing. You know, the league’s broken it up now, so the O-line and D-line have one thing, and then the rest of the guys have another thing, so. But they all did well.”
Q: On Jared Wiley’s progress.
REID: “Yeah, he’s (Jared Wiley) worked hard, and it was good to get him back out there and get his timing back. So, I thought he did a good job. He had the one drop down here, but other than that he did a pretty good job out there.”
Q: On the development of the team’s practice plan.
REID: “Yeah, so it’s a ramp-up – these are ramp-up days. Which I think are good, you know, for probably everybody – coaches and players. And so it’s a gradual ramp-up, not only length of practice, but then also starting with our shells on and then working from there. So, we’ve gotta – that’s what we’re going through now. This is day one.”
Q: What has Travis Kelce meant to both you and the organization?
REID: “Oh yeah, he’s (Travis Kelce) phenomenal. I mean, you know, he’s been great for this organization. You know, anytime you’re with a guy for 13 years you end up being close to that player, and so I’ve watched him grow as a player, as a man. And we haven’t talked about last years in that. So, you know, you hope he plays forever, but that’s probably not going to happen to any of us. So, whenever he decides to hang it up – he’s built a great legacy here and if he decides this is it, it’s it. If not, more power to him.”
Chiefs Player Quotes
July 22, 2025
QB PATRICK MAHOMES
Q: What did you see from Josh Simmons on this first day?
MAHOMES: “I think he’s (Josh Simmons) done a great job, you know? You see the talent obviously; you see the physical ability, but I think more than that, the way he has worked, you know, I’ve just got to see him working through the rest of his rehab process and then working on the field. He’s done a great job with that; and then learning, I mean he is getting tested every single day with Spags (Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) and being able to pick up blitzes and do a lot of different type(s) of stuff as well as go against some great pass rushers. So, I am excited for the future that he has.”
Q: What kind of communication do you have to have while speaking to the rookies and veterans?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, a lot, that is why we sit in the film room, and we talk through these things. I mean, I’m talking to the whole O-line, and we all have to be on the same page, and I think it is going to help him ( Josh Simmons) a lot, that Creed’s (Humphrey) there, and Trey (Smith) and some of these veteran guys that kind of know how I talk, and what I mean when I say stuff as well as just us meeting together and having that communication and, I got to say every training camp, I mean the best test you’re going to get is going up against Spags (Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo). So going up against him, seeing those blitzes, communicating, that’s going to help us a lot as we get to the season.”
Q: How excited are you to see Trey Smith and George Karlaftis sign long-term deals?
MAHOMES: “Extremely excited. More than the player, the people that they are. I mean, y’all know Trey (Smith), y’all know George (Karlaftis), just come to work every single day, attack the day, great teammates, great people in the community and that’s what you want on your team. And so, we’ve built a great culture here, and to have guys like that get rewarded for how they play, but also the people that they are, it’s a great feeling and it keeps guys wanting to come out there and be the best every single day.”
Q: You guys said you want to throw the ball downfield; how good did it feel to see Xavier Worthy on the very first play downfield?
MAHOMES: “Yeah for sure, I mean that’s what we got to do. We got to keep doing it, though and we got great corners, so that’s going to be a lot of challenges for us, but even on some of those that we throw incomplete, that we’re throwing down the field, we can talk through those routes and talk through that stuff, and so that’s the mindset is getting back to throwing the ball down the field, and if we can do that, it’ll open up the rest of the offense.”
Q: Is there anything that you want to get out of your connection with Rashee Rice, due to the time he missed?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I mean you saw it at the beginning of last year with him (Rashee Rice) being in the full training camp and another year of us and our communication, it was going off to a very hot start, but he attacked the rehab process now and has came back ready to go. And so had a good first day today, we’ll continue to work, continue to get better and better, and he’ll evolve his game to be ever better than he was at the beginning of last year.”
Q: With coming back to camp, what is the message for the team to all get on the right track?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I think it’s just every year resets, when we talk about that after we win, we talk about that after we lose. And so, it started from day one. ‘How can you attack this day to be better than you were the day before,’ and that’s not only on the practice field that’s in the meeting rooms, and that’s how you recover and get yourself ready to go. And so, we know we have one of the hardest training camps out there, but it’s for a reason; and so how can you attack it every day and not have those down days? We’ll have a lot of just building and building and that will prepare us for the next day, and it’ll prepare us for the end of the season.”
Q: What does Hollywood Brown mean for your offense?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I mean, you could see at the beginning in training camp last year and in the first, even in the first play of the preseason. He’s (Hollywood Brown) going to be someone that makes plays for us; and so, we’ll just continue to evolve, and even though he wasn’t playing, he was in those meeting rooms last year, so he has an understanding for kind of how we do things. And then at the end of last year, kind of getting thrown in, he made some plays and did some stuff in a very hard situation, and so I’m excited for him, I’m excited for that whole room man. It’s a lot of talented guys, but they all, you can tell truly who cares about each other and want each other to succeed and so they want to go out there and prove themselves as much as I want to go out there and prove myself and the rest of this team, and so I’m excited for that whole group getting to showcase who they can really be.”
Q: Thoughts on Rashee Rice’s suspension moving forward?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I think we just come out here and practice hard every day. You can’t worry about stuff that’s going to happen down the line. You worry about how can you get better this day and how can you get better the next day? And that’s how we go about our mindset, regardless. All that stuff will handle itself, and I’m sure the coaches can speak more to it. But, at the end of the day, we’re going to go out there and attack the practice and attack the day, so that we are prepared to play the next day.”
Q: How did the Super Bowl affect your offseason motivation?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I mean obviously we didn’t play the way we wanted to play. On a nation stage – a worldwide stage. You want to go out there and be better and so that kind of helps you out on some of those extra workouts that you don’t want to do or some of the different stuff in order to get better for the next season. It kind of keeps that in your mind. But now we’re here. We’re here. You start over. ‘How can I get better for teammates? How can I get better for the guy beside me?’ And going out there and attacking so that we can find a way to win that last game and not lose it.”
Q: Did you have any messages to your teammates after the Super Bowl?
MAHOMES: “I think enough was really spoken after that game. I think when you got back to OTAs and minicamp and stuff like that I think the guys had that mindset. You could tell with the pep in their step and just in the little talks the guys had throughout the team. I don’t think anything really needs to be said when you get beat like that. Everybody knows that we got to be better and so, we’re going to try and attack that and be even better this year.”
Q: Head Coach Andy Reid said his message to the team is to keep urgency, how do you interpret that?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I think you always have to get better. I think that’s something that people lose track of when you have success. Obviously, we didn’t win that last game, but we had a lot of success last year. And I think sometimes people want to be stagnant and they want to go out there and just do it over again. But you see with the rest of the AFC West, the rest of the AFC and the NFL, is everybody is getting better. So, we have to get better. So, that’s about keeping the urgency in practice, competing, going at it. You want to be competitive, but you want to be better together. That is something that we’ve always done, but we want to try and it take it to a new level this year.”
Q: Theres a lot of doubt about the Chiefs in the news, how much does that motivate you?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I mean at the end of the day, and I said it in an interview a couple of weeks ago now. You got to play football. I mean all of that stuff gets handled on the football field. So, we didn’t end the way we wanted to end it. But we’re going to prepare ourselves so that when we get out there, we’re going to play our best football this next game. Then we will try to do it the next game after that. And then like I said, ‘you try to end the year with a win,’ and that’s our goal.”
Q: How can you get better from last year?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I think for me I have to be better at throwing the ball down the field. I mean obviously, we weren’t good enough there. We’ve had success in prior years but these last few years we haven’t done that. In order for our offense to be great, you have to be able to complete those passes, it opens up everything else. So, if teams are going to challenge us at the line of scrimmage, if teams are going to challenge us to throw the ball deep, we have to show that we can do that. If we can do that – first it starts with me and giving guys chance – and if we can do that, I think it is really going to open up the offense and make us a better team in general.”
DE GEORGE KARLAFTIS
Q: What has the process been like regarding your contract extension?
KARLAFTIS: “It was a great process; very respectful I feel like on both sides. You know, it went good. I knew this signing was probably going to be done before camp, and I’m glad it did and I’m happy to be here for another how many years.”
Q: What do you love about the team and Kansas City?
KARLAFTIS: “For me really, it starts with the team. You know, the team, (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid, the guys on the team (and) the locker room. Everything about this organization from the top down really. Just amazing. (Theres) no place I’d rather be really. Then the city, my fiancé (Kaia Harris) and I have grown to love this place, calling it home now. It’s awesome.”
Q: Can you speak on the mentorship you have with Ashton Gillotte?
KARLAFTIS: “I was extremely fortunate – most of you probably remember me – three years ago, probably around today, I had a guy called Frank Clark and he was out here with me every single day after practice. And I’ve been fortunate enough to know Ashton (Gillotte) for a couple of years now and working with him and trying to pass down the torch. Kind of like Frank (Clark) to me, Carlos (Dunlap), Chris (Jones), all those guys I had my rookie year. That’s really what it’s about, you know, figuring it out as you go (and) it makes it a lot easier when you got a guy who wants the best for you, and is genuine about your success and all that stuff. I was so fortunate to be a rookie and have some great vets, and I just hope I can do my part in developing these young guys.”
G TREY SMITH
Q: Leading up to the July 15th deadline, were you always confident you were going to sign a long-term deal?
SMITH: “Yeah, man I got a veteran offensive lineman that trained me when I was a young kid named Artis Hicks, and I have a lot of long conversations and talks with him, and he just told me: ‘Man, at the end of the day you can control the controllables’. I can control my effort, my hard work and that’s all I can control at the end of the day. So, obviously, you know, I’m a faith driven person and I just trusted in God, and I just kept going to work.”
Q: On attending mandatory minicamp when past players in a similar position have sat out.
SMITH: “I wanted to be with my team. You know, I love being with the Kansas City Chiefs. I have a tremendous sense of honor and pride playing here. I really love my job, you know what I mean? I missed Kansas City, and you know, anytime you come back and play the game I love I’m not going to hesitate to do it.”
Q: With all that you’ve been through, what does it mean for you to go back to your family and say, ‘hey, I made it’?
SMITH: “Yeah, man … (tears up) my bad. I lost my mom when I was 15 – and I made two promises to her: that I would get my degree, play in the NFL – and I promised her that I would be the highest paid (guard). I made a promise man (sniffles) – my parents sacrificed so much for me to be here, so much and to have that moment with them, it’s special. It’s special and it’s something I won’t take for granted.”
