QB PATRICK MAHOMES
Q: You just got a nice contract restructure. How does it feel that the Chiefs owner wants to make sure you feel supported?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, I mean I’m in a great spot. I have a lot of great people around me, very thankful to the Hunt Family and the Chiefs organization and glad that now I can just go out there and play football. You get that security, and I already had it but to just to get a little bump and then be able to go back out there and just play football, I’m excited for it.”
Q: Did you want to ensure that you reworked your contract or was it more of your agent?
MAHOMES: “I think it’s just constant communication between me, my people, the front office, (Chiefs Owner) Clark Hunt, (Head) Coach (Andy) Reid, to find the right spot to where I can get paid and keep the quarterback market going at the same time keep a lot of great dudes around me and keep cap space for other guys to get signed as well. That’ll be something that I do throughout my entire career to try to obviously make money for myself and my family but keep a lot of great players around me as well.”
Q: How do you find the balance between making money and leaving money for other great players?
MAHOMES: “I mean, it’s hard. You get to watch and see what’s going on around the league and find that right spot, and I thought we found a good one in this negotiation that we did that we’ll be able to still keep cap space for other guys to get signed but obviously, I got a little bit more money upfront and then we’ll kind of redo it and re-negotiate it whenever we get to that mark that we talked about. It’s a special place and a special relationship that I have with the team to be able to trust them to be able to – even when I signed the last contract know that this was going to happen and then probably going to happen again at some point.”
Q: When negotiating your contract, do you keep the other players and the salary cap in mind?
MAHOMES: “Yeah, 100% I mean you have a lot of great players that I want to be here so we can win a lot of Super Bowls. I want to make a lot of money, but I also want to win. I think when you look back on teams and players, you look back at how they won and the perception of how they did things, and so that’s what I try to manage and find the right median of getting the money but also winning football games.”
Q: Justin Fields is struggling right now. What would you say to him?
MAHOMES: “Trust your talent. Trust your instincts. He’s here for a reason. He’s made a lot of big plays happen in the NFL and college, wherever he’s been. Just trusting in your instincts and then go out there be the player you’ve always been, just not against us hopefully (laughter).”
Q: How does the conversation come about when talking about your contract?
MAHOMES: “It’s not a ton of communication, I think it’s just kind of a know that you’ve got to keep the bar going, you’ve got to keep it moving. I don’t want people to be negotiated against me and so that’s a
reason that you do something like I did this last week, just trying to keep the market moving in the right direction, trending in the right direction so not only me but other quarterbacks and other positions can get paid the money that they deserve.”
Q: With all of this contract talk, does this make you study business more?
MAHOMES: “I’ve always kind of liked it. If I didn’t become an NFL player, I wanted to be either a sports agent or work in sports marketing. I’ve always wanted to help players so I’ve always been interested in it and I know I’m doing it in a different way than other people but I feel like it’s the right way for me because the trust I have in the front office that I’m still going to make a lot of money, be set for life and for my kids and everything like that but hopefully give us a chance to go out there and win football games as well.”
Q: Does a contract like this add more pressure?
MAHOMES: “I always feel like I’m under pressure to go out there and succeed. I feel like that’s a standard that I have on myself, and I want to go out there and maximize this opportunity that I have. I always talk about not having any regrets and I mean money is the money; it’s awesome, it’s amazing, I know I can do a lot of great things not only for myself but for the people who have given me so much. But at the end of the day, I’m going to look back on how I played the game and I hope that that’s intensity and leaving everything out there and hopefully that means winning a lot of football games.”
Q: Do you feel like you are getting the best out of Marquez Valdez-Scantling?
MAHOMES: “We haven’t been great offensively just in general, so I think as the offense gets going and we start find our rhythm, you’re going to start seeing those shots to Marquez (Valdez-Scantling) down the field. You’re going to start seeing him more involved in the offense. When you can’t stay in rhythm, that’s me included, as an offense, it’s hard to get the guys targets that they deserve and that they should get and so we have to find that rhythm and find the way to spread the ball around and then get the guys the catches so that we can go out there and have a better offensive day.”
Q: Do you sense any frustration coming from the wide receivers?
MAHOMES: “No, I haven’t. From that whole receiving room, I haven’t sensed any frustration. I think the frustration is probably more of me about myself and how the offense has been doing. Everybody has had that mentality that we just have to keep working, keep getting better, me included. Obviously, we want to play better because the defense is playing so well, we want to take some of that pressure off of them.”
Q: Over your career how have defenses evolved to force you to be more patient?
MAHOMES: “You see it, we get a lot more zone coverages, a lot more deeper coverages. You look at the interception I threw to (Justin) Watson this last week, in previous years that safety on the back side is not that deep and is not able to get back there. I looked over to the right and saw him open his hip to the right, so I thought there was a chance I could throw it over the top and I got it over the top of that other guy that was covering J-Wat (Justin Watson) but the safety made a play. It just shows that defenses are going to continue to play back and make me be patient. I have to be able to do that, take what’s there and not have negative plays happen. With our defense playing like it is, we’ll continue to score and then defenses will have to become aggressive at some point.”
Q: On more black quarterbacks being in the league.
MAHOMES: “I think as the game gets more diversified and the way that it’s played, you’ll see more black quarterbacks in the league and having opportunities. I think the next step is having the backup quarterbacks and stuff like that. That’s something we will continue to push in the right direction. It just
shows you can play the quarterback position in a lot of different ways I think that’s the coolest thing. Offensive coordinators are giving these quarterbacks, no matter where you come from, the best chance to go out there and succeed. I think you see that this should have been happening for years because of how high the level of quarterback play has been throughout the league.”
Q: How do you as quarterbacks push each other?
MAHOMES: “There’s not a group text message or anything like that. It’s always good to see those guys in the offseason, in the Pro Bowl or wherever it is. Just say, ‘Hey man I was watching, hell of a year.’ It’s cool to see the position in general, how it’s changed over the last few years, even since I’ve been in the NFL. We’re hoping to keep pushing that forward, so when we leave, it’s even in a better spot than when we got here.”
Q: There have been a couple snap issues. Is that just a blip on the radar or something you need to work on?
MAHOMES: “I think last week was a little bit greedy by me, I tried to go verbal on some of those cadences, and we had a bit of a miscommunication where I wasn’t loud enough for those guys to hear. When we’re in away games just try to go back to that silent count, just work on that instead of trying to be greedy and trying to do the verbal stuff. As far as the snaps, whenever we’re going back and forth that can get a little messed up here and there, but we’ve done it for two years, and it’s worked well so we’ll be alright.”
CB TRENT MCDUFFIE
Q: Are you happy with the way the defense has performed thus far?
MCDUFFIE: “Yeah, I mean you just look at the points we’ve let up, and just the overall of how we've been competing every day. This is a defense that’s young and hungry and I know (Defensive Coordinator Steve) Spags (Spagnuolo) has been calling some great plays for us and the defense is happy with where we’re at, but we definitely have some things that we need to clean up and definitely looking to trend in an upwards direction for sure.”
Q: What’s the mentality of the defense?
MCDUFFIE: “Like I said, we’re hungry. I know off of last year, just based off of stats and everything that went on, yeah, we won the Super Bowl but I know this defense definitely felt like we could’ve done more and produced more. Coming into this year, this is something that we definitely have been looking at and want to continue to succeed with and show that just because last week and the week before we held them to nine and 14 points, this is a defense that’s going to continue to do that and be consistent with it.”
Q: You’re in year two now, how much has the game slowed down?
MCDUFFIE: “A lot actually. I feel like last year was my first time on the inside playing nickel and stuff so things that I didn’t see before as far as football in general, playing on the inside were so different. It was such a learning process that this year being able to slow it down during OTA’s and kind of break it down, and what my position is and just my job and my responsibilities. The game slowed down a ton, and so it’s been very beneficial with that.”
Q: The defense had some huge stops in the red zone against the Jaguars, what does this say about your defense?
MCDUFFIE: “Man, the resilience, honestly. This is a defense where – I always say football is not perfect, we’re going to have mistakes, they’re going to make plays, we’re going to make plays, and over the course of the game, you can kind of get lost in everything that’s happening play-by-play. But to stop a team that’s on the one-yard line who is a really high-powered offense, and you just keep driving them back even – it’s not like they finished at the one-yard line they keep going backwards, I think it just brings a confidence to the defense. It shows that you know what, things that we’ve been doing since training camp, all the time, all the practice, all those reps are finally paying off and I think we’re just going to continue to improve and stack up on that.”
DE GEORGE KARLAFTIS
Q: With all the publicity the offense gets, do you ever feel like that leaves the defense in the shadows?
KARLAFTIS: “We’re not really focused on who gets the publicity as long as we get the win to be quite honest.”
Q: Do you feel like the work you’ve put in this offseason has been paying off?
KARLAFTIS: “Oh, yeah, absolutely. All the work I did in the offseason I feel like really helped. Having that experience from the first year, knowing what to work on, having a plan and executing it in the offseason. Whether it was with Tamba (Hali) who helped me tremendously, in OTAs with coaches, when I was training at Louisville with my college strength coach and all of them. Just having a plan and executing, that was the biggest thing.”
Q: When you see Felix Anudike-Uzomah do you see him going through some of the same things you did last year?
KARLAFTIS: “Absolutely. With a rookie, a defensive lineman, a pass rusher, not just him, but all the rookie guys we have KC (Keondre Coburn), BJ (Thompson) and even Truman (Jones) all those guys are going through figuring it all out because I know for me, I’m still figuring stuff out right now. As a pass rusher it takes some time. Our coaches are pretty graceful, they understand that it takes time and we’re grateful that they do. Definitely see some stuff with Felix (Anudike-Uzomah) that I went through, and I can empathize with it like, ‘I’ve been in your shoes, I know what it’s like.’ Just try to help him out a little bit. As a rookie, you have guys telling you one thing or another and your head kind of explodes sometimes. Just got to take a deep breath and listen to your coaches and everything will be good.”
Q: How did it feel to get your first sack of the year and are you still working on the celebration?
KARLAFTIS: “(Laughter) I didn’t really think about the celebration to be honest. It felt good just to be out there, help the team, make a positive play for the team and all that stuff. It’s great.”
Head Coach Andy Reid
OPENING STATEMENT: “As far as injuries go Richie James knee, he has an MCL (injury), he won’t practice today. (Isiah) Pacheco has a hamstring contusion, he won’t practice – it’s not a tear. (Kadarius) Toney has the sprained toe then (Nick) Bolton and Willie (Gay) have a sprained ankle and a quad contusion, so they’re working through those. The latter two (Nick Bolton and Willie Gay) did the walkthrough but no practice. Look forward to the challenge of playing the Bears, (they’re a) good football team, well coached by (Bears Head Coach) Matt (Eberflus) and his staff. They’ve got good players, so we’ve got to make sure we have a good week of preparations. With that time’s yours.”
Q: On not calling a lot of running plays in the first half.
REID: “Just trying to do what we needed to do to move the ball. We’ll keep mixing it.”
Q: What are the keys to playing against zone defense?
REID: “Feel is the first thing. Players being able to sit in holes and do those things. They (the Chicago Bears) have been playing zone, but they’ve also been playing man on third down, so they’ve got that package in. Last year they mixed it between man and single safety middle man, zone (and) all the shell coverages. They’ve got a big package of stuff they can roll at you. But to answer your question – zone – you’ve got to have a feel for it.”
Q: How much of getting that feel is just getting more experience in the system?
REID: “We’ve got to do a better job there. It’s everybody, and then don’t put ourselves in long yardage situations where you potentially can’t run the ball.”
Q: With less contact in training camp, is the first month of the season more of a guessing game on what your players and other players will be able to do?
REID: “I’ll tell you that’s every year. The first few games everybody is bringing out their new stuff and working with that, new players, working with them. Everything settles down after about a month or so.”
Q: Do any of the injuries you mentioned appear to be long term?
REID: “Most of them are just day-to-day. Richie James might be a little bit longer possibly. The other ones are day-to-day.”
Q: You tied PFHOF Coach Tom Landry in combine regular season and post season wins. What perspective do you have on Coach Tom Landry?
REID: “I know who both of them are (laughter). Tom Landry, I’d tell you when I was a kid I’d go out to their (Dallas Cowboys) training camps at Cal Lutheran, California there, (I was) very impressed by how they operated. A phenomenal coach, phenomenal teams. Loved watching.”
Q: What moved you to go out there to training camp? You would have been pretty young.
REID: “I was in junior high school and high school yeah. We had the opportunity to go out and watch practice and it was great for a kid, you know great deal.”
Q: Did you have any thoughts of being in the NFL at that point?
REID: “No, I was just watching the guys. They had a lot of great players (former Cowboy) Lee Roy Jordan, (former Cowboy Bob) Lilly, he was still going. I mean you could go on and on they had a bunch of them.”
Q: What are your thoughts on PFHOF Coach George Halas?
REID: “(He was a) great innovator. He helped get this league started, you know that, and I know his daughter (Bears Owner Virginia Halas McCaskey) so I know that part of it and his grandkids but I didn’t know him but he left a great legacy.”
Q: Jamaal Charles is up in this Hall of Fame class. What do you remember about him?
REID: “Hall of Fame player. He was tremendous, could do everything. I mean literally everything; he could have played wide receiver, did play running back. You give him the ball, you’re guaranteed – whatever his average is but it’s one of the highest if not the highest in league history. He’s a great player, wish I would have had him when he was even younger than what I got him at.”
Q: Do you feel like Jamaal Charles should be a first ballot Hall of Famer?
REID: “Oh, absolutely. There are a lot of running backs who have played the game, and he’s right there statistically at the top and all the things he could do to help you win a football game. Not a lot of guys can do that. He did it easily.”
Q: You mentioned the issues Jawaan Taylor had against the Jaguars can be fixed. Can you elaborate on how you can do that?
REID: “He works hard on getting off the snap on time, he does that. He’s just going to have to tame that down just a little bit where he doesn’t get called on it. That’s just working through it.”
Q: On the positives from Jawaan Taylor and Donovan Smith.
REID: “Yeah you take the penalties away from – I’ve said before he had a really good game. So it’s a shame it happened. He’s got to work on that. Donovan (Smith), likewise. I mean you’re right Donovan (Smith) has done a nice job.”
Q: Bears quarterback Justin Fields has mentioned trying to play without thinking too much. How do you balance letting a quarterback like that play their game and still coaching them up?
REID: “He’s (Bears QB Justin Fields) a good football player, and he can do so many things. I don’t know – I mean I’m not there. I think they’ll work it out. That’s what they’re doing right now. I don’t know exactly what he said, but if he’s saying that, then he’s working through it and it’s important that we get ourselves right to play a guy that can do so many different things. He’ll be one of the faster guys on the field. He can do all that, (he’s) smart, he’s got a good arm.”
Q: How do you feel Ryan Poles is doing as the Bears General Manager?
REID: “I’m a big Ryan Poles fan, I think he’s good. He needs time. That’s what it takes to do what he’s being asked to do. He’s gotten in there and grinded like crazy and made changes that look like they’re pretty good players.”
Q: Does Travis Kelce have a different intensity this year?
REID: “No, not necessarily. He’s always been feisty and competitive as all get out. My point was that he went into that game – he was banged up a little bit, didn’t have an opportunity to knock the rust off in the first game, so he put himself in a certain mindset and the great ones can do that. He was there, and he was battling through it, and I thought he did a heck of a job with it. He never complains, never says anything, just goes. He’s not the youngest one out there, but I thought he did a good job. That’s what he did, he went out and he had a certain attitude that knew he was going to have to have to get through that game and he put it on. Anybody that was going to mess with him was going to get messed back (laughter).”
Q: What do you say to Patrick Mahomes after he gets a contract restructure like he did? Do you congratulate him?
REID: “Yeah, I congratulate him, that was nice. He’s (Patrick Mahomes) not big on all of that. He just kind of moves through it like he does most things and wants to keep getting better at what he’s doing. That’s what makes him unique. When people sit there and go, ‘Oh he’s going to have a letdown.’ No, you never think of that he just – congrats and keep moving. That’s how he rolls; I’m happy for him. The fact that (Chiefs Chairman & CEO) Clark Hunt did that just shows you what kind of owner he is. (General Manager) Brett (Veach) and his crew there, (Vice President of Football Operations) Brandt (Tilis) and (Vice President of Football Operations/Team Counsel) Chris (Shea) just working through that with his agent Chris (Cabott). You know those aren’t easy; they’re complicated. They worked through it and came up with good formula I think for both parties. It was good.”
Q: Do you make him pay now when you go out to eat?
REID: “I might think of that (laughter).”
Q: You have had a lot of success in nickel and dime defense. What do you think has led to that success?
REID: “I think having (L'Jarius) Sneed back helps. We didn’t have him in the preseason healthy. Getting him back in the mix here and going. It’s also the young DB’s who have learned from last year. Every week is going to be a challenge. Whatever they did last week was great. They have to do it again, and they’ve got to build on that. But they’ve worked very hard. (Defensive Coordinator Steve) Spags (Spagnuolo) does a great job of putting them in positions and moving them around and brining different people in different looks. And (Chiefs Defensive Backs Coach) Dave Merritt and (Chiefs Safeties Coach) Donald D’Alesio do a great job coaching the back end. There is good communication, and they work on their fundamentals all the time and technique. It’s fun to watch them grow, but there is still plenty of room to go. (There’s) a lot of season here.”
Q: Do you expect the Bears to be more aggressive in play calling and going for it on fourth downs?
REID: “Yeah (Bears Head Coach Matt (Eberflus) is a tough guy. That’s the way he coaches that football team, and they play hard. There are small margins between winning a losing in this league. We know that, and so we have to have a great week of preparation. That’s the way we’re going to – that’s one thing we
can control is going out there and working our tail off. You put on the tape, and you see how hard they play and you better be ready. That’s part of this.