HEAD COACH ANDY REID
OPENING STATEMENT: “We’re fired up to get the guys back in the building. We had a nice turnout today. Reminder, this is Phase One, it’s not a mandatory camp at all. It’s a time when the players can meet with their coaches and then they lift weights. No coaches on the field, but they can go out and throw – receivers and quarterbacks and they can do punt returns and all of that stuff. Again, it’s not mandatory and the turnout was great, so I appreciate that from our guys that they’re all in that way. With that, time’s yours.”
Q: What do you expect Patrick Mahomes to be doing during Phase One?
REID: “He (Patrick Mahomes) goes to meetings, he can lift, do all of that (and) rehab. That’s the phase he is in right now, so we will just see – play it by ear and see where he is at Pete (Sweeney). He’s doing great but, we just have to be smart with this thing.”
Q: How much aggression are you guys coming out with during round one in the 2026 NFL Draft?
REID: “We’re here. We have no choice, so we’ve embraced that. You don’t want to be here, but we’ve gotten past that phase and we’re in it. So, let’s come out with a good football player wherever it might be. (General Manager) Brett (Veach) has just exhausted every means here and will continue to do that up through draft day and through the whole draft, but that’s how he roles. He and his guys have scoured the country, and they have some great names up there and the thought that we get a couple of these guys is exciting. To have an opportunity to do it with a (No.) 9 pick and that’s a great thing too and have a (No.) 29 pick and a second-round pick and third-round pick. So, there’s a good number of picks we’ve got here.”
Q: On the thought process behind the OTA scheduling.
REID: “That took place last year actually. They kind of extended the OTA’s by a week by just pushing the clock back there – the dates back or forward, however you want to look at it. It takes away the period between training camp and the end of your OTA’s. Teams were cutting that out a week, our point here is that we’ve got a couple of soccer matches going on here and it’s going to be a bit chaotic here with the number of people that are going to be involved with it. Which is great, it’s a great thing for the city but not so great coming out of our parking lot though. So, I figured we’d just cut the chaos there a little bit in half and get our guys out of the mix.”
Q: On the plan for the offense this upcoming season.
REID: “We have a pretty good idea of the guys that are here and then any new addition we can always add to or take out. We have a pretty good idea of who the main guys are that are here. We’ve had this extended offseason and we’ve been able to dive in there and really work with the plan for this coming season. We think we’ve got a good direction of which we’re going, and we will see how it all formulates by the time that we get out of these OTA’s and into camp and then out of camp into the season.”
Q: What does it mean to make that call to a player and make their dreams come true?
REID: “These kids have put so much into it (and) their families have put so much into it. To persevere through little league up through junior high ball and high school football, and college ball and here they sit one-of-one percent of having a chance to do this thing. It’s exciting, it’ll give them an opportunity to make a living at it on a good football team and great organization. I think it’s awesome – it’s an awesome experience.”
Q: What has it been like being in the draft room and are there any memories that stick out to you?
REID: “It’s exciting. There are things that happen like – that you can’t necessarily predict. Anytime you’re in those types of situations like a game you’re on spot and you don’t ever let yourself relax a minute there. You’re on edge to make sure that you stay in tune with what’s going on in the draft at the league, (and) you’ve already done a ton of homework on the what-ifs, what you think might happen, or who might take what. Listen, (General Manager) Brett (Veach) heads all of that up, I’m a spectator there so I get to watch his mind churn and go through all of these scenarios and he’ll think out loud. It’s all people in there that he has full trust in and it’s awesome. All the phone calls that go on and maneuvering and it’s really a great experience. It’s one you wish you could share with everybody (and) you can’t do that. But you wish you could share it with everybody.”
Q: Would you agree that you need to be more powerful and physical in the run game?
REID: “Yeah Soren (Petro) you know how this thing goes. You want to be able to throw as many things at a defense as you possibly can. Defenses are complicated in today’s world. They create crazy matchups and coverages versus all these different formations that the offenses come up with for confusion’s sake, to neutralize that you come back with the run game. And if you run effectively, it balances some things out there with these bizarre secondary looks that you’re getting. I think that’s important, it’s positive if you can do that. We feel like we have the people to do it, not only in the backfield, but also up front to do even better than what we did last year.”
Q: Do you see any receivers in this draft that look like they’d be a great fit for this team?
REID: “I’ll tell you, there’s a number of receivers that are good players. The key when you’re there, you hear this every year Soren (Petro) you know this. You always hear, ‘take the best player available,’ when you get to that point, so it doesn’t matter if it’s an offensive lineman, a defensive lineman (or) a wide receiver, it doesn’t matter. People can try and predict who you’re going to take, but you’re going to get to that point, (General Manager) Brett (Veach) is going to go, ‘listen, all these hours we put in, let’s get the best guy and let’s roll with it.’ Will there be a wide receiver? I don’t know that. I don’t know what’s going to be there, but whatever it is, I know he’s (General Manager Brett Veach) going to be disciplined with taking a good one.”
Q: What stands out about General Manager Brett Veach and his team around this time of year?
REID: “Sam (McDowell), I think the thing that you’d be amazed at is the hours that those guys put in. I joke about it. They lock themselves in a cave for 16-straight days and they all come out sick. They’ve been in there breathing each other’s air and inevitably, half of them come out with colds. But they’re in there to grind out the tape to look at every player (and) to maximize their knowledge of each player. It’s an amazing thing to watch each year and they love it. My hat goes off to them – and that’s just the first phase of it; they come back and redo it again for a week. It’s something and all of a sudden, they formulate this board and it’s really freaky Sam, how that board comes off the way they’ve set it up. There are a lot of variables that can take place during a draft, and they set this thing up and it’s crazy how the players fall off of that thing and to really what their likings were.”
Q: How do you impact the evaluation of draft picks with General Manager Brett Veach and his team?
REID: “(General Manager) Brett (Veach) and his guys, they put together stacks of guys. They’ll get players – like players and Brett does a great job of having the coaches look through those stacks and going, ‘We kind of like this guy better than this guy.’ Even though they’re that close, they help separate them to the liking of the offense, defense or special teams. And then, he (General Manager Brett Veach) lets me get involved with that too. He’ll give me some guys to do as another resource (and) another voice in there. Inevitably though, they’ve already got the work done and Brett has a great eye for that. We’re not off by very much ever. I normally agree with how he’s seeing it. I’ve got a lot of trust in him on that.”
Q: What are the biggest traits that you look for in an offensive tackle?
REID: “Well he did say offensive tackle, didn’t he? Is that who we’re taking, is an offensive tackle (chuckles)? Dog gone Stacey (Dales), you got some inside information (laughter)? I would tell you, I always look at the feet. I go and say, listen, give me somebody that can get out of their own way and get themselves in position where they can put themselves in the best position possible to block a guy, whether it’s in the run game or the pass game. And then I work my way up from there with the core strength, the arm length (and) all those things. The offensive line is kind of my baby, along with the defensive line. I like the big guys. You win games by making sure that group is strong.”
Q: What have you learned about Justin Fields and how much more important is the backup quarterback position while Patrick Mahomes is returning from an injury?
REID: “I appreciate Justin (Fields) and the way he has gone about everything so far, he’s been great with everything. I don’t know him as well as I will have known him once we get through a few weeks here, Todd (Leabo). I like from a far what I’ve seen. I like when I’ve met with him, what I’ve seen. I mentioned down at the owner’s meetings that we didn’t bring him in to be a gadget guy, although he can do every gadget there is but we didn’t bring him in to do that, we brought him in – he’s a legitimate quarterback, a starting quarterback in the National Football League and we’re lucky enough to have him here. And if that’s the role that he plays early in the season, we have full confidence that he can do a great job with that. So far, I would tell you, Todd, that’s how I look at it. I will get to know him better as we go forward, but I like what I’ve seen so far. I also had the heads up by (Former Offensive Coordinator) Matt (Nagy) when he had him in Chicago on how he’s wired and that was all positive.”
Q: When did you see that General Manager Brett Veach was going to work in player personnel department versus coaching while you were together in Philadelphia?
REID: “At that time, I was working more with the personnel side than I am now, and then the coaching side. So, I always gave that position an opportunity to go either direction, whatever they chose to do. (General Manager) Brett (Veach) leaned towards that side as his time went on with me. He had a real knack. I’d give him guys to look at, and he’d come back and I thought he was spot on. Now it’s my opinion with his opinion, but it seemed like he was spot on. Then he went out and became a scout, and he started bringing people in, the DeSean Jackon’s, the LeSean McCoy’s (and) the (Fletcher) Cox’s, these guys – and he stood up on the table for these guys and all of a sudden I was like, wow – and I saw it early but not like that. You come here and then it’s Pat Mahomes and the rest is kind of history. He had an eye for it early, I can see that and he had a passion to go along with it and then he was accurate, most of all with the guys that he really felt good about (and) they were really good players.”
Q: On his excitement for the 2026 NFL Season.