OTA Quotes: Kansas City Chiefs Assistant Coaches Take Center Stage

Oct 20, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs running backs coach Eric Bieniemy during the game against the Houston Texans at Arrowhead Stadium. The Chiefs defeated the Texans 17-16. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

TE COACH TOM MELVIN

Q: Luther Broughton recently told me that when he was playing with you in Philadelphia that the playbook was really big and it was a lot to grasp. Almost 10 or 15 years later, how much scaled down is that now?

MELVIN: “It’s never that. What you talk about is the fundamentals. Really what you’ll see in training camp is the foundation of the offense. We’ll do things in training camp that you may not see until Week 15 of the season. But the fundamental plays learned from that, then when you get into the season, you start to do your personnel groups, your formations, your motions. Now you toy with it, but it’s the same route. You build off ‘I know what the route concept is, now where do I fit into it?’”

RB COACH ERIC BIENIEMY

Q: Jamaal Charles had a fantastic year last year, but a lot of fans were encouraged by the emergence of Knile Davis late in the season and in the postseason filling in for Jamaal when he went down. What have you seen from him so far in the offseason?

BIENIEMY: “First and foremost, Knile has taken a tremendous jump mentally. The beauty of it is last year was his first time going through it. Now he’s been through it. Now we’re just rehearsing everything and we’re going over the things we made mistakes on. He has a better awareness of what’s going on with the game. Obviously he comes out here every day and he works his tail off. The beauty of it is he’s learning how to become a professional. He’s gaining a better understanding of awareness, of what it takes to be a professional, what it takes to see a blitz coming, how to apply the proper technique when pressure is coming. So he’s doing a great job so far.”

Q: De’Anthony Thomas is a very interesting player, can be used not only in special teams and as a running back, but can also be split out wide as a receiver. When you see him come in here, you see his talent and speed, what have you seen from him so far in rookie camp when he was able to be here?

BIENIEMY: “You know what, in rookie minicamp I thought he did a great job. Obviously when those kids come to camp, you never know what to expect. I’ll tell you one thing, he blew our socks off. He was in great shape, he did an outstanding job of catching the ball, he did an outstanding job of running the ball. It was fun watching him work. I’ve seen him since high school, I know what he can do. It was just exciting having the opportunity to see him do it live and up close in person.”

Q: How much does it mean that he has Jamaal Charles as a guy to look up to and learn from as he starts his journey in the NFL?

BIENIEMY: “You know what, I speak to Jamaal about that each and every day. You are the lead dog in this group. Your job is to be a professional and show these younger players what it takes to get to your status. First of all, Jamaal takes a tremendous amount of pride coming out here and working his tail off. Second of all, he takes a tremendous amount of pride of what he does in that weight room. More importantly, he takes a tremendous amount of pride in that classroom. All those things, combining the type of citizen he is, are going to show not just De’Anthony, but is still teaching Knile and Cyrus and all the other young players how to become a true professional in this industry.”

ASSISTANT HEAD COACH/WIDE RECEIVERS COACH DAVID CULLEY

Q: Albert Wilson looks pretty good early on in the slot. What have you seen from him so far?

CULLEY: “The thing that’s intriguing about Albert is when we got Albert as a free agent, we were surprised that he wasn’t drafted because the kid can run, he did very well at the combine, I remember him specifically at the combine – him running well. I know when he came from Georgia State it was a new program there and he did a great job down there against the competition that he had and had a bunch of big plays. And he’s come in here and he’s kind of caught our eye.”

Q: How is Dwayne Bowe doing physically?

CULLEY: “He’s very good. He’s better at this point this year than he was last year. Basically he changed his routine. At this point in his career he decided that ‘Hey, I want to play a long time.’ In order to play a long time in this league you’ve got to have yourself right physically. And he’s done that.”

Q: Does he seem a little lighter to you?

CULLEY: “He is, he is a little bit lighter. He’s gotten back up a little bit now. But he came in, he was down. And that weight is going to fluctuate a little bit, but if we can keep him down to that, and he can stay down to that weight, I think he’s going to be very, very productive for us.”

Q: Does Junior Hemingway deserve the first crack at the slot position or are him and Weston Dressler battling that out right now?

CULLEY: “Well they’re all battling right now, they’re all battling right now. Obviously what Junior did for us last year in the limited role that he had, obviously we know he can get the job done. So we’ll just have to see what happens. There’s good competition right there and competition makes you better.”