Chiefs Coordinators & Assistant Coaches Quotes
December 18, 2025
ASSISTANT HEAD COACH / SPECIAL TEAMS COORDINATOR DAVE TOUB
Q: What do you want to get accomplished in the next three games, especially with the young guys?
TOUB: “That’s what it is, just getting better every week. We look at the young players, especially those guys they’re working hard. I’m kind of pleased with – I like our kickoff and punt return stuff is looking better and better. I think Matt Araiza’s having a really good year, probably his best year honestly. Obviously, with (Harrison) Butker things happen, but that’s where we’re at.”
Q: Is Brashard Smith going to get more reps returning this week?
TOUB: “He’s (Brashard Smith) going to get more just out of the fact that Tyquan (Thornton) is out. He’s going to get more. We’re going to try to get him more touches. Obviously, he’s another young player that we’re trying to develop, and he’s really come a long way and he’s done a real good job handling the football. It’s not too big for him. He’s done a good job. He’s just another one of those young players that we’re excited about.”
Q: What have you seen from Kevin Knowles?
TOUB: “Kevin (Knowles) is he’s really – I’m really excited about him. It seems like every week he makes a big play like he made the tackle on the kickoff. I don’t even know how he held onto the ball that was such a good hit. He continues to show up, plays fast. He’s tough as nails. He will block the biggest guy like he’s a junk yard dog. I love him. We’re excited – he has really good speed. We’re excited as a corner (for) what he’s going to do for us on defense. I think coming up next year I’m going to count on him a lot – I’m already counting on him now.”
DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR STEVE SPAGNUOLO
OPENING STATEMENT: “I don’t really have a lot. We’re onto the next game here. It’s NFL Thursday, and I thought our guys worked pretty good yesterday so with that I’ll open it up.”
Q: On Zacch Pickens.
SPAGNUOLO: “Well, we’ll see. We got him (Zacch Pickens) up to the 53. We’ll see if we get him to game day. It’s probably, to what Soren’s (Petro) talking about, this is an opportunity or could be an opportunity to see somebody that we haven’t seen yet. But again, the focus is going to be to prevent as many points by Tennessee’s offense as possible. That’s our job.”
Q: On Jeffrey Bassa.
SPAGNUOLO: “He’s (Jeffrey Bassa) been playing special teams, obviously. We haven’t seen any reason to pull the other guys out. Hopefully everybody stays healthy, and it doesn’t become an injury thing. But I have a lot of confidence in Jeff (Bassa). I was talking to him the other day. The growth process as a weakside linebacker is just in walkthroughs now. We haven’t seen him in a game, haven’t seen him since preseason, but I’m real hopeful for Jeff going forward.”
Q: What is Ashton Gillotte’s ceiling?
SPAGNUOLO: “Showed ball skills the other day, which was kind of cool. I still think we could’ve got him (Ashton Gillotte) in there (the end zone). We could’ve gotten one on the block; we could’ve scored there. I think he’s on a great trajectory as far as what you want to get out of a rookie, a young guy. He’s around some veterans (who) I think that have been a real big help for him. He’s got some versatility that maybe going forward we can do some different things with him. Right now, he’s getting as many reps as we can get him. I’d like to get him more in these next three games because I think he can do some things for us, but I’m real happy with what he’s done so far.”
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR MATT NAGY
Q: How do you evaluate the offense not being consistent in big moments?
NAGY: “You’re spot on. You’re right. You look back, and I think that’s probably the part that’s most frustrating is the lack of consistency. Every team has injuries in the league. Every team has things that go on within a game. They all handle adversity. When you go through these moments, and let’s face it, there’s been a lot of success in this organization in the last 13 years, a lot. When you stumble into some of this where you’re trying to search and find out why is it, we had a stretch there this year on offense where we were probably as confident as we’ve been in years. And then you get to these last couple games and sometimes it just feels hard to even get that first down in that game, so you search and you try and figure out why, what is it? That’s when you’re not winning, and you’re losing, it magnifies all that which is real and there’s a lot to it. I think it’s very important for us as a staff to make sure that right now, we know we have three games left, we owe it to our players, we owe it as coaches, we owe it to the city to go out for these last three games. There’s no playoffs ahead of us, we still have to work to be better, and that’s our job. There’s honest communication. We talk about accountability, we talk about honesty, we talk about commitment and consistency. And that’s all stuff that you want to do throughout the year and strive to be great in those times, and just for whatever reason, it hasn’t happened this year. And I will say too, my role as an offensive coordinator, you run into these moments and these situations and you have to start with yourself and be real with the players and real with yourself and get answers and I take that very seriously. That’s kind of where we’re at and we have three weeks left and these guys have had a loud and clear message that that’s what our job is moving forward to end the season on three wins and then we have to dig into where we can be better.”
Q: Do you look at other plays, personnel, formations, etc., when you’re eliminated from the playoffs?
NAGY: “Naturally there’s some of that with injuries that go on. You are forced to somewhat do that with some guys. Maybe, to your question, there is a little bit of that. You don’t want to be in this spot. It’s not a fun spot, but it is reminding all of us in the building how hard it is to get to what we have done and that you can’t take it for granted, it’s hard, it’s hard. So, when we get to training camp, you get to the season this is a feeling you have to remember. For some of the younger guys that are on this team that maybe haven’t played as much, maybe they get some more time and maybe there’s a silver lining for somebody somewhere, and that’s how you have to approach it.”
Q: On Jalen Royals.
NAGY: “You want to see more time from him (Jalen Royals), if possible. We’ve been in a position where these wide receivers that we have, we feel very fortunate with the guys that we’ve had for the middle of the season on when Rashee (Rice) came back. Some of it’s a numbers thing for him, and it’s somewhat of a redshirt year in a way. He’s practicing hard in practice, but for him, there’s a lot of good stuff there with him and I’m excited to see what he’s going to do. Whether it’s these next three games and or the future but yes, it’s going to give some kids an opportunity to maybe get some more time that they wouldn’t have gotten and it’s our job to see that and to give them those chances.”
LINEBACKERS COACH BRENDAN DALY
Q: What would you like to see from Jeffrey Bassa over the next three games?
DALY: “He’s (Jeffrey Bassa) done a really nice job for us. His role obviously has been more in the kicking game, but he has stayed very dialed into defensively what we’re doing. Does a really good job in terms of communication, has done a nice job understanding the different roles that he could get put in to. It’s been a fortunate situation in terms of our health at the linebacker position hasn’t required him to get a bunch of game action. But I’ve been really pleased with his development. He’s in here early every day, he’s working hard, he does a really good job with asking questions (and) watching the guys in front of him who do a great job.”
Q: What is your message to players who aren’t making the playoffs this year?
DALY: “Listen, we’re all – this is what we do, not who we are, but it’s something that’s really important to us and we want to put our best foot forward. Each and every time we go and step out on the field, we understand that as coaches, as players what we do out there is our walking, talking, living, breathing resume and you want that to be what you would like it to be. You would like the results to be what you want them to be. Unfortunately, that hasn’t gone entirely the way we would like it to, which that’s how it rolls sometimes. It doesn’t mean you stop working, it doesn't mean you stop pushing trying to get better (and) trying to compete. It’s part of the nature of playing this game and being part of it.”
Q: On Cooper McDonald.
DALY: “I like Cooper (McDonald) a lot, and he’s done some really interesting (and) positive things. Both in the preseason I thought he did a really nice job which again you can see what we thought of that in terms of hm being able to make our roster. He had some really good play on special teams. I don’t want to speak for (Assistant Head Coach and Special Teams Coordinator) Dave Toub and that side of things, but I think he’s done a nice job there. Again, he’s been similar to Jeff (Bassa) in a role that he hasn’t been asked to be on the field tremendously defensively, but he’s in there early every day with Jeff. He’s got different roles than Jeff but has done a really nice job in terms of mentally keeping himself up to speed in multiple different spots that he could be in. It’s been impressive. I certainly think there’s a bright future for him – both (Cooper McDonald and Jeffrey Bassa) of those guys.”
OFFENSIVE LINE COACH ANDY HECK
Q: Where do you think the offensive line is right now?
HECK: “I’ve got a lot of confidence in the guys that have been here and working. It’s been a great opportunity for some of these young guys; I like the way they have responded and gone out and competed. We come to work every day to get better and that’s where our focus is this week. That’s where we’re at.”
Q: Can you evaluate the run game and where you would like it to go in the future?
HECK: “We have a good idea about those concepts that we’re good at. We’ve been an efficient run team through the year. What we’re looking for is how can we get more explosive in the run game. That’s a constant effort whether it’s what are we doing scheme wise (and) how can we block it better. I love the grit and toughness in our running backs. We spend a lot of time working at these things and now we have a few different combinations in there (and) a few guys doing this. There’s a lot to getting on the correct angle and being in phase with your buddy, with the back. So, we’ve got a few weeks here to continue to try and improve that.”
Q: On Kingsley Suamataia’s progress.
HECK: “I never had a question about that. Kingsley (Suamataia) is big, strong, athletic, and he’s done a really good job of steadily improving this year. I look forward to him having a really strong career in there – inside. I’m happy for him because I personally like the guy – love the guy and so love to see him make steps every week here as we’ve gone through the year.”
WIDE RECEIVERS COACH CONNOR EMBREE
Q: Why have there been so many drops this season?
EMBREE: “Mostly the drops I feel like this year have been with some stuff where it’s trying to get the ball and make a move before they catch it. It’s usually with players that that’s their strength is catch the ball, get up the field – that’s first step, go, and it’s happened this year where some of those they didn’t look it all the way in before they started running.”
Q: What do you expect from Jalen Royals these last few weeks?
EMBREE: “Jalen (Royals), he’s been working his tail off at practice. Super smart kid. Stays locked in at meetings, and just like you said, we’ll see these next three games if he gets the opportunity to go out there and go make some plays.”
Q: How would you evaluate Rashee Rice this year?
EMBREE: “Same thing. Similar to Jalen (Royals), with the suspension earlier in the season, he (Rashee Rice) was having a great training camp, preseason and then he got suspended and had to get away for a couple games. And coming back, I thought he got off to a hot start and continued to get better throughout the year. I thought he got better and he was trying his all to be out there with his team. Similar to Xavier (Worthy), he’s trying to take that leadership role and lead all the young guys.”
Chiefs Player Quotes
December 18, 2025
DT CHRIS JONES
Q: What do you want to get done in these next three games personally?
JONES: “Next year is still around the corner. I want to finish strong and make sure the d-line finishes strong with momentum going into next year. Unfortunately, we didn’t make to where we wanted to this year, but that gives us room to improve next year. Success is rented every year; every year you have to go out and earn it. Sometimes life doesn’t give you what you deserve. You get what you earn, so we didn’t earn it this year. It gives us an opportunity to finish strong and bring to next year with momentum.”
Q: What’s your message to the young guys who haven’t been through a stretch like this?
JONES: “I mean of course, to preach the emphasis on how important it is to finish. You always want to finish strong, finish strong. Especially when you have training camp (and) preseason. We’re going to use that momentum to continue to prevail. I play a huge part in is how we want to approach that and the mind frame and the mindset of that.”
Q: On the Tennessee Titans.