KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs' Mark Donovan, Andy Reid, and Eric Fisher, fielded questions during a training camp presser Wednesday. Following are their comments.
Chiefs President Mark Donovan Quotes
Q: What is it about Arrowhead, the Chiefs, or Kansas City that the Chiefs felt comfortable selling tickets to the game while so many other pro sports teams haven’t felt comfortable? At 22 percent capacity, how many tickets is that exactly?
DONOVAN: “Let me take that backwards then forwards. Roughly 16,000 tickets out of 75,000 or so that we typically would have. I think what makes us comfortable is our plan. I’m late and I apologize for being late. I was on a league call and we were talking about that. I was asked to present to the league on our plan, our success this past Saturday, our plan for Saturday and our plan for Thursday for opening kickoff. We are very confident in our plan. We’ve said this numerous times and we’ll say it again, we will reiterate it – our plan is only as good as compliance. The following of directions, the following of protocol for our staff, our players, our coaches, and our fans, it’s critical that everyone follows the protocols. If they do, we feel pretty confident that we can do this. We’re not alone. We are definitely in the minority when you look across the league. I think there are five or six teams that are going to go with tickets and fans in the stands for the first week. I know six to 10 are contemplating after Week 2 or 3 and then beyond. We take the responsibility very seriously. We understand and I said this on the call that I was on earlier. We understand that we’ve got to get this right and we've got to be very diligent in our processes, in our protocols in order to be successful – in order to have another game with fans. We know that other teams and other leagues are looking at us. I would also say we're not alone in sports, right? Last night, Sporting KC here in Kansas City hosted fans successfully, as far as I've heard. Other teams in other markets are hosting fans, so we're hopeful, we're confident in the plan. We appreciate all the support we've gotten from medical experts who helped us put that plan together.”
Q: What kind of system is in place to ensure that the people who are charged to ensure that the safety policies are being followed are actively identifying and correcting violations, such as not wearing a mask when you're inside the stadium?
DONOVAN: “Yeah, for those of you who were at the stadium, I hope you'll agree with this statement, in talking with Dr. [Rex] Archer about what he has heard about our event last Saturday, protocols were followed. I was very impressed with our fans and their ability and their compliance with putting on their mask as soon as they were approaching someone. I was very impressed that parking and in the tailgate area, they were wearing masks for the most part. This is not an excuse and I want to be crystal clear on this – we have to do a lot more to your question, to continue to communicate, to make people aware that it’s really important, even in your seats, to wear your mask. For all of us in Kansas City, I used this example with Dr. [Allen] Sills from the NFL the other day, and he actually fed it back to me that it’s the exact same situation in Nashville. If you think about our experience over the last few months where we're going out to restaurants, we're actually interacting in public, we're going to schools. You know my experience this past weekend in the Plaza, going to a restaurant with my wife, is very consistent with our experience across any sort of public interaction. As soon as we got out of the car, we put our mask on, traversing to the restaurant, we have our mask on. When we see the hostess to get our seat, we have our mask on. We walk to our table; we have our mask on. We sit down at a table; we take that mask off and we don't put it back on in between eating and drinking right? Our normal process is that and I think that's one of the things that they came across on Saturday. I talked to a few of our Season Ticket Members. I said just, ‘I need to enforce this. I need to reinforce the importance of wearing the mask in the stands.’ The dad looked at me and said, ‘Mark, I wore the mask everywhere you told me to. I'm sitting in a seat. There's no one within 10 feet of me and I'm with my family who I sleep with, eat with and spend all my time with without a mask on. I appreciate it but it's 95 degrees and hot. I took my mask off for a minute.’ And I said, ‘Look, I hear you. I hear you loud and clear. But as we get more people in, as we're closer together, we have more interactions, more cross traffic, we all have to be disciplined. And that's really where we are.’ To your question on enforcement, we’ll have more people, we’ll have more staff, we’ll have more messaging. You'll see some stuff this Saturday, which is very in-your-face signage. We're going to walk up and down aisles with a little sign that says, ‘Wear your mask, even if you're sitting.’ We’ve got a lot to learn, we’ve got a lot to work through, and we need a lot of cooperation from our fans to make this successful.”
Q: For FC Dallas’ first game, the team decided to make a gesture during the national anthem. They received booing from fans. I'm just wondering if that sort of situation has an impact on the Chiefs if players want to make a similar gesture before, during or after the national anthem? Going to the work you’ve done with indigenous people and trying to understand how to better position the organization in the correct manner, what did you learn yourself from those communications? And then what would you try to express to the fans who may also not follow that rule if they come to games?
DONOVAN: “Two very different angles of questions. For the first one, I would say we learned a lot from the FC Dallas situation. I think everyone across sports learned a lot from that situation. We take all that learning into what we're talking about here. To your second question about the American Indian topics and what I've learned. I think I've been a bit redundant on this, so I apologize, but we've been doing this for 6 ½ years, this isn't a new issue for us, and I shared some personal stories of the first few meetings. Johnny Learned reached out to me and asked to have coffee. He explained sort of ‘here's how this is viewed, and here are some of the issues that we should be discussing.’ We set up a larger meeting with people and got into the depth of that. I walked away from that first meeting a little bit embarrassed about my lack of knowledge and a little bit inspired about if you have the knowledge, it becomes pretty clear. Now everybody's going to have opinions on all these issues, and I respect that. For me personally, I didn't understand what a headdress or war bonnet was. I didn't understand what it represented. To have an American Indian explain the sacredness of that and how every single feather is earned and what it means in their community. It's a pretty easy answer; let’s educate people. Let's share that story. Let's create awareness around that. The great thing about our working group is that there is good discussion about it. Well, how do we do that? And how do we set a realistic goal? The realistic goal we had was if we can just explain this to a fan who we see in the parking lot who is wearing a headdress, we feel confident we convert them. You can paint your face, you can wear crazy hat, you can wear a wig, you can wear a headband, you can wear jewelry, you can create your own character. Do all that. Be a fan. But understand, just throwing the headdress on because you bought it at a five-and-dime store and think it's cool, it's not.”
Q: Just following up on that, when you announced the news on headdresses and the face painting, you also said you were looking at the Arrowhead Chop as well. I'm just wondering what goes into those discussions?
DONOVAN: “Yeah, along the same lines of the discussion we had around headdresses and war bonnets and face paint is just education. Again, redundant on the story, but you know the drum came back to Arrowhead as part of trying to bring the traditions and honoring the traditions that were started in Municipal (Stadium). You know, many of us have seen that black and white footage of cheerleaders banging the drum as the players came down the walkway through the stands in Municipal and we were trying to figure out ways that we could bring that back. Again, a little bit embarrassed and inspired that we didn't realize the sacred position of the drum in the American Indian culture. When that was explained to us, we went to them and said, ‘OK, how do we make this work? What are our options? What are the things that we can do?’ And that's where they came up with the idea and shared with us the idea of blessing the four directions, blessing the drum itself, acknowledging what it is, and creating again awareness and education. So, the drum has become a very big part of the Arrowhead experience, has become a very big part of the opening of our games. We’ve started to work and started some discussions about trying again to educate and make people aware of the sacred position of the drum in the American Indian culture, but also that it's seen as sort of the heartbeat of that culture. And when you hear things like that, it's easy to latch onto that, say, ‘OK, it's kind of the heartbeat of the stadium too.’ And we can debate that, right? People can argue otherwise, but it is a way to unify our fans. It is a way of bringing people together at that moment in other moments throughout the game. So how do we do that? How we do it in a respectful way? And that's what we're working on right now. I think one of the best things that is come out of this for us as an organization, and the groups that we're working with, is understanding that it's going to take some time. This isn’t overnight. These aren't things that we're going to be able to successfully change one way or the other overnight, and we're going to continue to work on that. And that's the communication we had around the drum.”
Q: When tickets went on sale to Season Ticket Members this week, prices are significantly higher than what many fans were expecting. What is the justification for that increase? Second, I know you are partners with Hy-Vee. Has there been any discussion with them about why they don't have stores in the third and fifth districts of Kanas City? Both Patrick Mahomes and Tyrann Mathieu have credited you with being involved in discussions around voter registration efforts. What are you working on locally as part of those efforts? There are 70 days until Election Day. What can we expect from the organization and the team on Election Day that will help African American voters in Kansas City?
DONOVAN: “Let me start with voter registration, and I probably disagree with you that it's not necessary in other in other communities. Voter registration and voter engagement, I personally believe is very important and people exercising the right to vote, I personally believe is very important. To your question of what we're doing and how we're doing it. So, I think Patrick, Tyrann, others, I’m really proud personally, and I know as an organization, we’re really proud to be associated with those guys and their efforts. I appreciate they’ve mentioned that we've had those discussions and I've been in those discussions. We have some plans to do things in and around this election that are going to be focused on, number one, awareness of the importance of voting. Number two, creating awareness of the ways people can register to vote, the ways people can engage, and doing that through the experts in that space. RISE to Vote is somebody the league is working with; somebody we are actively working with. They’ve met with us as an organization, they met with our players, they are going to meet with our staff as well as our stadium staff to make sure that everybody is aware of the opportunities they have to register to vote and to vote. To your question on third and fifth districts, I think one of the most compelling things that we can do to address that directly is we've got a plan right now – which is not final, but I'll share it with you all that we're committed to doing it, but have some challenges – we want to make Arrowhead a polling location. We want to create an opportunity for people to come to Arrowhead and vote. And in addition to that, with the awareness, you're going to see a lot of things around the highest points of awareness for us as an organization that are going to be focused on voting and the awareness of voting and ways to vote. One of the reasons that I personally, and that I think this organization believes is that’s a platform that we need to get behind, is the beauty of the vote. You can have different opinions. You can vote for different people. But vote. And that's really what we're trying to engage in. To your question about Hy-Vee, we've had a lot of discussions about Hy-Vee and their expansion plans. I honestly don't have a specific answer for you on whether they've looked at those districts. We've been working for many years, since I've gotten here, with leaders in the city on the food desert issue and how do we create more opportunities to create healthy options within those communities. And your first question was about, as you put it, price gouging. So, let me just say this on that issue, because I've seen some reports on it. What we did in putting together our plan for ‘how do we take a stadium from 76,000, 75,000 seats down to 16,000 seats and equally and fairly distribute those tickets to our Season Ticket Members?’ – as you can imagine, when you do the math, it's pretty quick, you can't. So, what we did was we said all Season Ticket Members who had the opportunity to move their tickets to (20)21. There'll be benefits and incentives to do that. We've locked in their pricing – flat pricing – for next year. They have the opportunity to win free tickets to games. There are a lot of different benefits that our ticket sales staff has done a great job on. And then we sat down and said, how do we make this fair and equitable in terms of the tickets we do have? On the pricing issue, in May, when our schedule was released, we announced our single-game ticket pricing. In May, when we announced those prices, we were assuming we were going to have 76,000 people in the stadium and those prices were based on a lot of very complicated algorithms and data that we use to understand the market and understand what the value of those tickets are in this market. Before we reduced to 16,000 seats, before we went through any of these changes, we set those prices. We haven't changed those prices. They're exactly what they were. Those are single-game prices and they’re based on the value of those tickets in the marketplace. I know there's been a lot (of feedback) and we completely understand and expected the response because it is a significant jump. Number one, that’s the value of having a season-ticket plan, you have the benefit of those ticket prices being much below market value, but you're committed to the full season. A single-game option gives you the option to pay a little more, in some cases a lot more, because you're buying one game. So, you're not obligated to buy the full season. You're buying one game and you're paying what the market rate is. Now to defend the market rate, and I think most of you who are interested in this issue would probably have already done the research. We’re pretty good from a data standpoint and algorithm standpoint in our team of understanding what the tickets are really worth and being below that number. So even though, again, acknowledging that there's significant jumps, the person that buys a ticket to our Houston Texans game today at the price that we're selling at, can put that on the secondary market that minute and make more money. Hundreds of dollars more, based on location. In some cases, a $400 ticket is going for a thousand dollars on the secondary marketplace. So, what we're trying to do is be fair, but represent the market.”
Q: Just kind of following up on the pricing model. How have sales been going for you guys with these prices being above normal? Wherever sales are at right now, does that speak to the passion of your fans?
DONOVAN: “Well, to answer your first part of the question, sales have gone exactly as we expected. I get the opportunity to sit up here and say things like that, but it's really our sales team, (Vice President of Ticketing) Tyler Kirby, (Executive Vice President of Business Operations) Tyler Epp, the people who are in that department for us, they really know their business. When you look at what the projections were going to be, and as you can imagine, you and I have had enough discussions to know kind of how I'm wired on these things, so there's a pretty high expectation, pretty high bar and exactly where we're going to be and how we're going to be in our projections have to be right. We’re exactly where we thought we were going to be. The demand, it’s an interesting way of doing it because we're doing it by tenure, going back to the point of fairness. We had to figure out a way to give every single one of our Season Ticket Members an opportunity. But we've had longer-tenured and shorter-tenured Season Ticket Members, so we’ve gone in waves and allowed the longest-tenured Season Ticket Members the opportunity to buy first, then the next, and then the next and we’re probably only 30 percent through our Season Ticket Members. The interesting part, for me at least in looking at the data, is you've got a lot of people, you know longer-tenured Season Ticket Members, again, it’s a mix, but if you look at demographically you could have some people who may be medically challenged, may have conditions, may be in our older demographic and may be less likely to want to come to a game where they've got to go through all these protocols and do all these things. We believe, our projections show that as we get closer and to the newer-tenured Season Ticket Members, the percentage of people who buy within those pods are going to be much higher. But our model set out a goal – which is going to be tough to achieve, but we think we're going get there – that every single Season Ticket Member, whether you’re 50-year-plus Season Ticket Member or whether you signed on with us last year for the first year, will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to games this year. When you talk about 16,000 tickets, it's tough math to figure out, but we feel like we're trending towards that.”
Q: With the pricing, I know your focus is on the health part of it and getting the protocols in place and all that, but there has to be a financial part of this too. Is there a sort of a standard that you guys had to hit in order to make this worth it, for lack of a better term?
DONOVAN: “Yeah, I know that question has been out there nationally as well as locally. The numbers don't pencil out. You can't really make the numbers work when you talk about that amount of tickets. So, this isn't about that. This is about creating an experience and continuing the experience at Arrowhead, giving our fans the opportunity to be there for some really special moments. To some it may sound a little bit contrived, but honestly, we’re raising a banner on September 10 and we want our fans to be a part of that. We're really struggling with fact that only 16,000 are going to be able to be part of that live and in-person, but that's a lifelong memory. And it's going to be different, it's not going to be exactly what we wanted, but it is something that was really important to us as a franchise. And I will speak for the Hunt family on that, that was a big driver, figure out a way to get our fans in safely, they need to be part of this. That's been a big driver for us as a business.”
Q: You mentioned that it's going to take compliance from the fans to make this work. What is sort of the process of enforceability for those that aren't being compliant in the stadium?
DONOVAN: “So, we're going to continue to learn and continue to try to understand how we can better enforce that. Again, I'll say that you'll see some new things this weekend with signage and with more staffing focused on that issue, specifically walking up and down the aisles, making sure they’re just reminding people to put their masks on. We don't want to be in a situation where we're ejecting someone or arresting someone or anything like that, but we think that we have enough systems, enough communication in place where we can enforce that. It's to protect all of us. And we can get into some science conversations about distance and volume, and one of the biggest things we have to our advantage is we’re an outdoor stadium. But we also have to listen to the experts and the experts are telling us that yeah, you're an outdoor stadium, but you're not just sitting and eating dinner. You're standing and cheering and yelling and screaming and those are all things that factor into the risks associated, and those risks are significantly decreased if you wear a mask. So, those are the kind of things we’re going to be focused on.”
Q: You touched a little bit on the subject of the Dallas soccer team and the reaction. I spoke with one reporter the other day who said that he had spoken with the players’ association and said that players are definitely planning demonstrations. Assuming that's the case, are you going to be working with them to be a part of that demonstration? Are the Chiefs coaching staff, the organization, Clark Hunt working actively to be a part of the demonstration, or is it simply going to be a case where you stand back and let the guys do what they want to do, do it?
DONOVAN: “I’d go back to some of the things we said when all of this started to become as big an issue as it's become, and it’s definitely something that needs to be addressed and it's definitely something that needs our attention. If you go back to the end of May, beginning of June, we as organization, we sat and talked about this as an organization – players, coaches, football operations staff, our own executive staff – and we made a decision to shut our website down and just say ‘right now, the important thing is to – really one of our principles – unite our community.’ Unity is more important now than ever, and we need to continue to do that. And that's been our theme. When the players’ video came out early on in this process, I was really proud to be part of the team that said, ‘we've got to support this, we’ve got to go out with a statement.’ I believe we were the first team in the National Football League to respond to that video, and I’m most proud of the message we sent that night. It was late at night and it was Clark, myself and a few others on the phone call just saying, ‘The message we want people to hear and the message we want our players to hear is that we love and support them.’ We’re part of a family. Just like any family, there are passions on all sides. And what we’ve said in discussions that I've been in with our players, with Clark, and with Coach (Reid), and with Brett (Veach) and with others is, ‘Let's love each other, let’s support each other and let's respect each other.’ And that's really what we're going to continue to do. We’re going to meet and have more discussions about this, and you'll be hearing more from us as we go, but that's really the approach that we take to issues like this.”
Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid
OPENING STATEMENT: “As far as the injuries go, it’s kind of the same guys I mentioned the other day. Tyreek (Hill) did get some work today, so he’s headed in the right direction as he did the other day. Other than that, it’s the same guys. Everybody is making progress and it was good to have the guys out there that were working. I’m just going to put my ten cents in on the Jacob (Blake) situation, I think you guys know I’m into team, I’m into peace and people getting along. So, right or wrong, we all need to join hands here and make this world a place where we can go to each other’s neighborhoods and be comfortable. And that we appreciate life and how important it is, how hard it is to create life, something that really none of us are capable of doing in a test tube. So, it’s a precious thing. It’s complicated and it’s precious. At this time, everyone needs to come together and join hands, like I said, and love each other for what we are. And the privilege that we have in this short period of time that we’re on Earth, as opposed to walking in fear, to walk with strength and pride and make this country the greatest place ever, along with the world. We do that and we’ll be a great example to the world. But my heart goes out to Jacob and his family in that situation. I don’t know the whole story, but I just hate seeing the way things are going right now. We’re better than that, absolutely better than that. Like I said, we respect each other and we’re going to be in a great place. With that, time’s yours.”
Q: How do you feel about what you’ve been able to accomplish to this point in camp?
REID: “I’m proud of the guys and the way they’re pushing through. They’re doing it with a great attitude. So, we’re getting better and we have to keep going with this and finish up the camp because we have a great challenge in our first game with the Texans. We understand that and we know how tough they are, but we’re preparing for the season still, we’re not preparing necessarily for a team right this minute. As far as plays go, we’re still doing our training camp plays and working through those.”
Q: In light of what you just mentioned about Jacob Blake, the Lions canceled practice yesterday and held team meetings about it. How much thought went into doing that on your end, and did you have a team meeting with the players to discuss their feelings on that situation?
REID: “One of the great advantages I’ve got here is I have a great locker room that communicates. So, I’m able to talk to the guys and get a feel with the guys. There’s obviously concern, but not to where we felt like we needed to do that. We were able to go forward on this. But we also understand where things need to go, and we all need to work forward on this. Again, I think with that—we’ve got great people in this country and we need to bring that part out in us as opposed to the negative and get ourselves right.”
Q: To follow on that question, when guys come to you about a certain situation that has occurred this summer, whether it’s with Jacob or previously, how do those conversations go with those players, and how valuable is it from your perspective to hear what players say they feel when a certain incident occurs in our country?
REID: “That’s what I do. I try to do the same thing with my kids and people that I come in contact with. It’s no different, you can learn from everybody. Then, there are concerns right now, so they’re being addressed. Change is always a little uncomfortable for people. In our business, we have a lot of change and it’s constantly happening, but you have to listen, you have to sit and make sure that you keep open communication with it. Like I said, I’m lucky to have a locker room that does that and players that talk about it and guys that listen to each other. If we can just put color aside and enjoy each other’s culture—we all come from different places, we’re all wired a little different—and we can just bring it together and enjoy each other is what we’re all about as opposed to taking the negative, and let’s throw that out the window and get this thing right.”
Q: Is the way you direct Patrick Mahomes in practice to let it fly and see what he can get away with any different from how you’ve directed quarterbacks you’ve had in the past?
REID: “No, I did the same thing with Alex (Smith). I just said, ‘Hey, try it now.’ We’re going to ask a few different things of you—there are some things that even in Alex’s long career that he had before he got here—there might be some things you haven’t tried before, so let’s see what you can get away with. And Alex was great with it. I mentioned it I believe during training camp up at St. Joe that when I first got here I was asked about interceptions—there are ones where guys are working on it and then there are ones where guys scramble around and they just throw it up, sloppy interceptions. The other ones you can judge and see that they’re trying to work and see what they can get away with in the play. I think that’s so important. And Mike Holmgren, if I got it from somebody, that’s where I got it from.”
Q: With what took place with Bashaud Breeland in the offseason and the police as we continue to see shooting unarmed black men, have you and your coaches set time aside to have conversations with your players, both black and white, in regards to interactions with the police?
REID: “You ask at a time that we’ve been having meetings throughout training camp on it, and the league and the union have done a nice job collectively of bringing this issue, and issues, together. I think they’ve done a great job of teaching. So, that’s where we’re at right now. It’s a matter of doing and getting this done where people really respect each other. I see it every day, I wish everybody could see this, I see it every day—guys coming in and they respect each other, they respect each other’s background, they’re willing to listen when we’ve had these joint meetings about this, about situations on racism. Everybody contributes whether they’re black or white, it doesn’t matter. There’s nothing holding back the communication. I think as long as we do that, we’re in no better hands than what we are with the young people in America right now because they understand change and they’re going to demand it. So, we keep working at it. We’re going to get this right, and that’s where we’re at.”
Q: It’s been announced that Mike Pennel has been suspended for the first two games. What is the process with how you find out about suspensions, and how much does that set you back not having two pretty important pieces on that defense missing with Breeland and Pennel suspended for the first two games?
REID: “Listen, they’re good football players. But you know how we operate, so everybody has a chance to get in and compete and we expect backups to be able to step in and play. One thing Brett (Veach) has done is he’s brought all this competition here for that reason, so if something goes wrong then you can fill it in with a good football player. So, that’s where we’re at and we’ll keep working on it. As far as the suspensions go, when they let us know, I listen. It’s not that easy of a process. They might let you know that something is going to potentially happen and then they let us know when it does happen.”
Q: What makes Patrick Mahomes equipped to handle being the face of the franchise and even the new face of the NFL?
REID: “I’ll go back to Reggie White who is a phenomenal Hall of Famer, and really Brett Favre—these guys, when I was young in the league, I just noticed that the great ones want you to give them one more thing to even be greater than they already are. And they’re very humble that way, and they always continue to learn. That’s the process in which Pat goes. He wants you to coach him, I guess is maybe the best thing I could say. Any little thing that you can give him where his game can be better, he’s willing to listen. Then, on top of that, like I mentioned the other day for the young kids out there that are coming up as quarterbacks, you look at him and you go, ‘Well, he’s natural.’ Well, no, he does have some natural ability, but he works at it. He’s not just complacent with where he’s at. He’s always working on his game. The hours he spends going over the plays when he’s away from the building, it’s a tribute to the kid. He’s completely dedicated to it. I just think for young kids coming up—college kids, high school, the youth leagues—that this guy goes about it the right way, and it’s fun to watch.”
T ERIC FISHER
Q: How did you spend your offseason and get into shape after getting a chance to celebrate the Super Bowl and going into the virtual program? I know you got to go hunting and fishing during your down time. How important is it to enjoy time like that?
FISHER: “Won the Super Bowl and celebrated that. I’m from Michigan, so I go back up to Michigan where I live and it’s kind of the middle of the woods and secluded. I just spent my time up there. I have a full gym in my garage. When the whole COVID thing happened, I just spent a lot of time up there, working out and staying in shape. I was doing my best to process everything, be responsible and do my part in society with everything that was going on and protect my family at the same time. Did some hunting and fishing. I was on the lake a bunch doing some fishing. Just spent time to myself and with my family, enjoying what society was presented.”
Q: What’s it like having Mike Remmers and Kelechi Osemele with you? What have you learned about those two guys and how are you trying to help them for the season?
FISHER: “Yeah, it’s cool. This is the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve had a super veteran line. We have a bunch of eight, nine, 10-year guys. It’s kind of awesome to just see the knowledge that they’ve gained from other places. Coach Heck does a great job of getting us all on the same page. Obviously, Brett Veach is doing a great job bringing guys in here to get the job done. Getting to know these guys, it’s been a fun process. Obviously, different scenarios this year with everything going on and adjusting to camp life. For me for seven years, camp was the same thing. I think we’ve been doing a great job with the time allotted, getting the work in and getting prepared for week one.”
Q: How did the concussion happen? Have you had any concussion issues in the past?
FISHER: “Over the years, I’ve been playing football awhile now, probably had a couple in the past but it’s not a normal thing for me. It was just a routine rep and sometimes you just get hit in the right spot at the right time, and it happens. You go through the protocol, do what you’re told and make sure you’re honest with your symptoms. I did that. I was able to ease back into it for a few days and back swinging now.”
Q: Do you take reps anywhere else along the line besides left tackle? Can you break down the challenges of a guy coming in somewhere on the line mid game?
FISHER: “I guess to your first question; I haven’t taken a rep anywhere but left tackle for six years so getting that down pretty pat. When you look at my situation last year, mid-week injury that needed surgery, I go down for eight games, you know, plug Cam (Cameron Erving) in there. That’s just the life on the offensive line, its – we don’t want it to happen but it’s definitely a possibility and I mean, what we do in the trenches isn’t easy, isn’t easy on the body. Sometimes stuff happens and got to keep moving forward. That’s just kind of way of life, you can’t dwell on things. You got to figure out the situation, make the best of the situation and keep on moving forward.”
Q: What goals can you set for yourself to make sure you’re challenging yourself going into year eight?
FISHER: “With all this time in the offseason I’ve had the chance to reflect on the growth I’ve had in my career going from the first overall pick and then working my way to a Pro Bowl, Super Bowl, obviously the All Pro that gets out there. I think obviously the number one goal is get to the Super Bowl and win the Super Bowl, but as an individual if I could find a way to another Pro Bowl or to have my first All Pro year, that would be something special, something I‘m working for. Just to keep building and being consistent, staying on top of stuff, not getting complacent, not saying, ‘ok, I’ve reached my potential,’ just keep building on what I’ve been building on for eight years.”
--CHIEFS--