Dec 15, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs coach
Andy Reidreacts at the end of the game against the Oakland Raiders at O.co Coliseum. The Chiefs defeated the Raiders 56-31. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Today was the final day of practices for this week, and Andy Reid came out to talk to the media afterwords. The Chiefs will pick up practices again next week on Tuesday.
Q: What are your thoughts on Brandon Flowers and Justin Houston not being here?
REID: “I’ve been around this a long time. I understand the business side. These are voluntary. I got it. That’s not a distraction. We just focus on the guys and coach the guys that are here, and these guys are working their tails off.”
Q: Are both of them not here by choice or were either of them told to not come?
REID: “No, they weren’t told not to come.”
Q: Is there a timetable as to when Travis Kelce will be back out at practice?
REID: “We just have to see, we’ll just see how it goes as we hit June. We’ll see how he’s feeling.”
Q: What about Fisher?
REID: “Fisher will probably be training camp where he can actually jam and hit somebody. That’s what you can’t do right now. They don’t want him to do that. He’s doing everything else working his feet.”
Q: Why did you bring Joe McKnight here after being out of football in 2013?
REID: “Really, Eric Bieniemy knew about him from his college days when Eric was coaching at that level at that time. Really we felt strong about bringing him here. John (Dorsey) was all onboard with it. He’s got good pass-receiving ability and is a good runner. Whatever happened, happened. He’s sure doing a nice job here right now, so we’re excited about it.”
Q: So you don’t have any concerns about any issues from last offseason?
REID: “We did our homework on it. We felt good bringing him here.”
Q: What attracted you to DeMarcus Van Dyke?
REID: “He’s got tremendous speed is what he has, was a good player in college. He’s had some ups and downs in the National Football League, but we’re bringing him in for competition. Give him an opportunity to see how it works in this scheme where we do a little bit more bump and run than maybe what he’s used to, maybe. We believe that’s one of his strengths, though. We’ll give him a chance here.”
Q: How about his cousin, David Van Dyke? What do you like about him?
REID: “It seems like he’s a tough kid. He had been a safety, we moved him to corner. He’s made that transition, what it looks like, pretty well. He needs as many reps as he possibly can get just to make that transition. He’s getting the feel of it.”
Q: It’s pretty rare to have two family members competing for maybe the same spot?
REID: “Yeah, we’ll see. It’s good competition.”
Q: Where do you stand with the Alex Smith contact talk?
REID: “I said what I said before. Alex has said it. Dorse (John Dorsey) said it. As long as their working at it, then that’s all good. I think there’s enough said on it. I don’t think he’s concerned and we’re not. I’m sure it will get worked out down the road.”
Q: But there is no real deadline, right, because there is still a year left and you can put a franchise tag on him next year?
REID: “Yeah, all of those things are true. As long as they’re communicating and working through it, that’s all we want to make sure is going on.”
Q: Do you anticipate Justin Houston and Brandon Flowers coming to mandatory camp?
REID: “Listen, I don’t even get into that. Everybody has the dates. They know. Everybody knows the rules. Honestly, that’s not where I put my focus. I’ve got a lot of guys that are here trying to make this football team and that’s where you have to put your . When you’re coaching that part, that’s how I go. That’s how we roll.”
Q: Have you ever kept four quarterbacks in the regular season?
REID: “You know, I don’t remember that. You’d have to go back and look at it. I want to say three, but there might have been a time where we kept four.”
Q: Philosophically, do you have any thoughts on that?
REID: “If they’re one of the best ones, then we’re going for it.”
Q: Are each of them going to have enough snaps at camp to make a decision?
REID: “Yeah, we’ll be alright.”