HEAD COACH ANDY REID
OPENING STATEMENT: “I wanted to get with you guys today, we’re in this long offseason that’s not normal for us and we’ve got the Combine coming up and all these good things happening as we go forward here. It gives us a chance to talk and communicate with you on some of the new hirings that we’ve had and then getting ourselves digging in on this offseason. In the coaching ranks, (Running Backs Coach) DeMarco Murray was hired as the running back coach, (Wide Receivers Coach) Chad O’Shea at the wide receiver position, then (Defensive Backs/Safeties Coach) Andre Curtis will work with (Defensive Backs Coach) Dave (Merritt) in the secondary with the safeties, so good additions there. We’ve had a couple of new quality control coaches come in likewise that work into the mix and help out. Sometimes change can be good as we know and I think this is good for both sides – people have moved on and have had opportunities to hook onto other places, and they’ll be very successful doing that and likewise the people that we’ve brought in we feel like will do the same for us. So, all in all (it’s) positive there. The personnel side, (General Manager) Brett (Veach) already has his guys digging in on things (and) they’re sorting everything out. As you know there are a million different options of things you have to look at – doing it. It’s positive from the standpoint of where we’re picking in the draft. You give Brett those opportunities with his staff and they come up with good stuff. We look forward to adding those new additions to the team and then whatever happens in free agency. Again, sorting all of that out right now (and) the coaches are looking at tape on that. The personnel department has sorted some things out for them to look at and we roll from there. A lot of moving parts (are) going on but all good stuff to give us an opportunity to be better. As coaches we’ve been in our scheme evaluations and knocking that out in the early part of the day and then in the afternoon we do the personnel side of it. Nothing is set in gold for you or in granite there, it’s all moving along there as we go. So, with that, time’s yours.”
Q: What did you see in Wide Receivers Coach Chad O’Shea, Running Backs Coach DeMarco Murray and Defensive Backs/Safeties Coach Andre Curtis?
REID: “(Wide Receivers Coach) Chad’s (O’Shea) got a ton of experience (and) he had actually been a Chief at one point in a backup type coaching position – quality control position with special teams with (Former Head) Coach (Dick) Vermeil’s staff. But he’s been around (and) he’s worked at a championship caliber level with New England, and he’s had a lot of good receivers and done well with them. That was Chad’s part of it. I really like what he brings to the table (and) he’s been in a coordinator position where he has a good feel for the whole – the way things are put together from a whole standpoint. Then (Running Backs Coach) DeMarco Murray is – we know he is a football player (and) a great football player that he was. DeMarco has been at the University of Oklahoma and done a nice job there for six years and had some good running backs. I just thought him coming in(to) that position, there’d be a strength to that and not only from an experience standpoint, but also the way he goes about teaching things – I think he is a nice addition there. Then (Defensive Backs/Safeties Coach) Andre Curtis - I’ve tried to hire Andre before when (Defensive Coordinator) Steve Spagnuolo came in. They’ve been together at three different places, and he’s actually worked with every member of our defensive staff and I thought it was an easy one to kind of plug in and go. It’s great for (Former Chiefs Outside Linebackers Coach) Rod (Wilson) to have an opportunity to move on and do his own thing there at Arizona. That’s a plus for him.”
Q: Have you received any information on Travis Kelce’s decision for this upcoming season?
REID: “There is communication though and that’s the main thing Sam (McDowell). I’ve said this before to you, as long as there is communication, I’m good. That means people want to move forward and I think that’s where Trav (Kelce) – I’m not trying to put words in his mouth at all, and I try to give him some space here (because) he’s been doing this a long time and he can sort all of that out as he goes forward. We’re proceeding with that and there is communication going on.”
Q: How does having a top 10 draft pick intensify things for the personnel staff?
REID: “You try to find some positives in sitting where you’re at and why you’re there. Then the positives are you get yourself geared down and get better. So, if this has a chance to help you get better and that’s how (General Manager) Brett (Veach) feels and that’s the way he’s going about it. Nobody wants to be picking at ninth but we are (and) that’s the reality of it, so you dig in and you put a plan together and go for it the best you can. He’s had his guys in here (and) they’ve done a couple of lockdowns already where he’s had them in for a couple of weeks (and) they live in that room and go through all of these different players. Good things normally come out of those meetings, and I look forward to how the draft goes.”
Q: Does the Rashee Rice situation change anything on how you view the wide receiver position in the draft and free agency?
REID: “I would tell you no. I can’t comment on Rashee’s (Rice) situation, it’s in law enforcement’s hands so there’s no comment there. But I would tell you no, not right now.”
Q: On salary cap space decisions.
REID: “It’s all pieces to a puzzle here so you go through and you evaluate that and see where you can spend (and) what’s out there. Free agency is a little bit different animal and how you handle it. We’ll see how things go. We’re sorting through all of that as we go. As you know, the Combine ends up being an area where people talk and you’ve got agents, coaches (and) GMs, everybody together. People have a tendency to – you hear things and people talk and you keep your ears open and your mouth shut and listen and see what’s going on. Until the new league year starts, nobody can really dig in on it and go. People like to talk in this league, that’s why you’re making a living at it right (chuckles), that’s how it goes.”
Q: How do you evaluate a reunion with a player like WR Tyreek Hill?
REID: “We go through everything and everybody. That’s how (General Manager) Brett (Veach) does (it). I don’t even know if Tyreek (Hill) is healthy right now to do anything. I’m sure he’s (Tyreek Hill) working hard on that part of it (and) trying to get all that straightened out. We talk about everything so there’s nothing happening there, but we know what you know and he’s out there cranking away trying to get himself back to where he can play, period.”
Q: Is there any reason why you aren’t traveling to the NFL combine?
REID: “I couldn’t take you guys any more than this this right here Herbie (Teope) (laughs). I’ll tell you Herbie, I had a little knee procedure done. I’m on IR for about a second here. Not long though Herbie, that’s right.”
Q: What are your top wants and top needs with position groups?
REID: “Well, I can’t tell you – you’re around the team enough to know. There are a lot of moving parts that take place in the offseason. You have to stay flexible. With that, you have to evaluate what you have here and how you’re going to handle what you have here and what you want to bring in and the whole (salary) cap part of it comes into play then you try to blend that with the free agency. (There are) a lot of moving parts that go on. We’re in the process of doing that. To give you an actual position, that probably wouldn’t be very smart to do that, but I think you guys have your own opinions on it and you go from there.”
Q: What characteristics does a player need to fit into the team?
REID: “You have to come in with the right attitude, for sure. Again, that’s a big part of this thing and there is a fit, literally there’s a certain expectation that we’ve got, and we didn’t reach that this past year. It’s important that we take care of business from a coaching standpoint, from an organizational standpoint, whether it’s personnel or front office and make sure we keep the expectations high and aggressive and then make sure we bring in the right people to be able to do that and handle that. That’s the whole fit you’re talking about, that’s what we’re working through.”
Q: What do you want the offensive coaching staff to improve on while watching tape?
REID: “We look at everything and everybody, that’s how this league is. Try not to miss anything there. Right now, execution becomes the important thing to me and how you go about that, the discipline of it and how you go about it, the trust within one another, all the things that make up a good offense. You narrow things down to what you think your guys do the best and then you coach it with discipline and with expectation that this is where we’re going, right here. It’s your responsibility as a player to make sure that you’re focused in on that (and) at the same time, the coach has got to give the player direction to get there.”
Q: Do you anticipate changes to happen on offense and defense due to staff changes?
REID: “Well there’s always change. Every year there’s change that takes place. Is it a wholesale change, no. But we’ll figure out the guys that we have and what they do the best and we’ll put them in a position there to exploit their strengths and then to work on their weaknesses to get them better. That’s the base premise there and then execution becomes an important thing and how you go about doing that at a high level. That’s coaching and playing mixed together to make that happen and you want to make sure though that you get these guys in the right position to where they at least have an opportunity to do that and then they have a responsibility to make sure they up their game to do it – the right things at the right time.”
Q: What was the ultimate factor in deciding to hire Running Backs Coach DeMarco Murray? How did you convince him to leave Oklahoma?
REID: “Yeah, he (Running Backs Coach DeMarco Murray) did do that (turn down other jobs) and was doing well there ( at Oklahoma University). He could’ve stayed there – he’s a legend there so he could’ve stayed there forever probably but he wanted to get in the National Football League. He wanted to be here and learn. Hiring (Offensive Coordinator) Eric Bieniemy I think is a big thing because if Eric’s not coaching the running backs, he’s the best running backs coach in the national football league. He (Eric Bieniemy) had an opportunity to go back and do that again last year, so we hired him here as the offensive coordinator. If I’m a running back coach, what a great opportunity to learn. There’s nobody better to learn from than Eric for that particular spot. I think that intrigued him. Eric recruited him out of high school, so they’ve known each other for a number of years and that was another piece of it. I always look to see who works well together and what I anticipate will work well together there. I wanted to bring a young guy in who was a guy that was ambitious to learn, and I thought DeMarco did a heck of a job. We talked to a lot of running back coaches and I just thought that this was a pretty good fit.”
Q: What degree are you invigorated by all the change happening?
REID: “Listen, I love challenges (and) every year is a challenge. This one presents a little different because of what we’re coming off of after this last year. Nobody wants that, fans don’t want that, organization doesn’t want that, coaches (and) players don’t want that so you dig in and you work to fix the problems that you think were in place and take care of business there so that’s what we’re doing and there’s always change in this league so that always presents different challenges there but that’s part of the NFL, whether it’s coaches or it’s players. They’re moving parts and so when you’re building it back up here then you’re looking at what fits and putting the pieces of the puzzle back together whether it’s coaches (or) whether its players. A lot of variables with free agency, the draft, post draft (and) the things that go on there (with) potentially picking up people so it’s going to continue for a while and eventually you get this group together and you have an opportunity to train them through the offseason and then up through training camp (and) it’s great to see how that grows.”
Q: On Patrick Mahomes’ rehab.