Andy Reid is entering his 2nd offseason with the Kansas City Chiefs. He has already changed the culture of the team, as they completely flipped their team from a 2-14 team in 2012 to a 11-5 team in 2013. Now he hopes to continue to build on that momentum as he hopes the continuity of the group coming back with some added fresh young faces can push them to not only a 2nd straight playoff year, but to this time advance to either the divisional round or championship weekend. Reid spoke with reporters on Thursday regarding the progress and expectations for the team and individual players.
Reid feels the difference this year compared to last year is just the natural progression of the team. Everything is no longer new to everyone and they can build of what they did last year with some added packages. Reid also mentioned the physicality of training camp, saying, ““That’s what we do. We prep for that all year to get ourselves ready for the season. It’s worked. I’ve kept doing that over the years.” He feels being physical is very important because it allows you to tackle and how to protect your body when you are being tackled.
Reid spoke on some of the young defensive backs on the roster like Sean Smith, Marcus Cooper, Ron Parker, and Sanders Commings. Smith is the highest profile guy now that Brandon Flowers was released a last week. Reid mentioned that with all the talent they have back there, that there will be a lot of competition. He said Cooper has done a good job in camp so far. He also mentioned how tough of a kid Parker is and he challenges on every play and how he loves how Commings has played in shorts, not it just seeing him in pads.
Reid continued to speak about his defense, mentioning Vance Walker, Dontari Poe, and Derrick Johnson. Walker is a DT that played in Oakland last year. Reid said he playing all 3 inside positions and it’s important to their versatility. Dontari Poe is a 340+ lb NT that was a big piece of the Chiefs defense last year. Most men his size need constant breaks to keep them fresh, but Reid says, “He’s a unique character. To get him off the field you have to pull him off. He’s not one to tap out.” Reid however, does want to rotate guys in once in a while to spell him. There was talk of star linebacker Derrick Johnson slowing down at the end of the year, but Reid says, “Really, when you study it, evaluate it, I don’t think you see that. At least we didn’t as coaches.”
Then Reid moved on to some of his offensive guys, speaking about three guys that had work done on them in the offseason, Travis Kelce, Kyle Williams and De’Anthony Thomas. Reid said that they were able to do some individual drills and run plays against air, but not against an actual defense yet. However, he did say, “They looked like they were strong and in good shape from what we asked them to do. The main thing was they had no swelling in the joints that they had operated on. That’s a plus.”
Reid also made special mention of Demetrius Harris, a former basketball player who switched to football last year. “You look at the improvement he has made since last year. He came in as a basketball player so he hadn’t played football since high school. He would say now that he is a football player. He’s transitioned. I’m talking everything from body language to the side of the girth he’s put on, the strength he’s put on over the off-season and how he functions out there as a player”, said Reid.
The minicamp is now over for the Chiefs, a decision made by Reid himself as he feels they have gotten enough reps. So Reid plans to relax for a little bit and go out west to a place he has. Then the team can reunite with pads on and really get to work. Reid has complete control of his camp, and you would expect that from a person that has had the success he has had everywhere he has been. As Reid said, its now just about natural progression, and the Chiefs fans hope that progression may put them all the way into Superbowl XLIX in Glendale, Arizona.
