Chiefs’ Andy Reid Talks Alex Smith
Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
Kansas City QB Alex Smith has a career-resurgence in San Francisco in 2011 and the Chiefs are hoping their new signal caller can continue to improve during his stay in the City of Fountains.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid is often credited for getting the most out of his QBs. If Reid can get more out of Smith than Jim Harbaugh did in San Francisco, the Chiefs could find themselves challenging for a playoff spot in 2013.
Reid, said he is happy with Smith’s progress thus far in the offseason workouts and practices.
“Well I think Alex is doing a good job,” said Reid after yesterday’s minicamp. “He’s working, he shows nice control of the offense, guys respect him, good command in the huddle, he gets peoples’ attention. He’s demanding – he’s demanding on himself but he’s also demanding on the guys around him and they seem to respond to that.”
Smith, who was often criticized in San Francisco for not taking enough shots downfield, is being pushed by Ried to take more chances, at least early in the process.
“It’s a new offense, so I would tell any quarterback that comes into one, that’s what you need to do,” said Reid. “I’ve told them all that. Go ahead and take your shots, see what you can get away with, within reason. If it’s a close throw, there are going to be a few of those in the National Football League on game day, so you need to know what you can get away with on each route and how you work it. That’s kind of what I told all of them.”
The Chiefs only have two more minicamp practices left before the break until training camp. Reid is hoping his team can come back and practice with the same intensity for the rest of the week.
“It went back-and-forth,” Reid said of Wednesday’s practice. I saw some good things. We had a couple down-the-field throws with the offense, more so than we did yesterday. The guys were working hard. That’s a challenge – to come back that second day, are you willing to work as hard as you did the day before. They’re willing to do that.”
The offseason practices are all about laying the ground work for training camp. Once the Chiefs reconvene in in late July, the real work begins.