KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid spoke with the media briefly Friday. Following are his comments.
OPENING STATEMENT: “I don’t have anything on cuts yet, I probably should preface it with that, and I don’t have anything on injuries. Go ahead and fire away.”
Q: How do you feel about this year’s roster? Do you feel like it’s good enough to get you guys where you want to go?
REID: “Yeah, I think so. I think we have to keep growing together. I feel pretty good with it. Now listen, (General Manager) Brett (Veach) is always going to keep his eyes open and continue to bring in players to create that competition. What you perceive it to be today might not be what it is down the road.”
Q: Carlos Hyde seems to have fallen down the depth chart. What is going on there?
REID: “He really didn’t. I tried to rotate all of the backs to give them a shot early in games. With Carlos, whether it was in the RPO game and we threw the ball, he just didn’t get the carries. I said, ‘Alright, he got short-changed on this whole plan that we had, as far as carries,’ so I threw him in and gave him a shot. I explained it all to him. I kept those guys abreast of what we were doing. I told him, I said, ‘Listen, I’m going to try to get you some carries early so we can get your numbers up on that and then get you out.’ That’s how we rolled it. I called a few RPO’s there, and they ended up being throws, too. But he got enough carries to where you got a good look at him.”
Q: Did Darwin Thompson’s emergence potentially influence Hyde’s carry distribution?
REID: “That’s a yes or a no question. That was, but that’s not why the whole thing went this way. Both Darrel (Williams) and Thompson got carries. That’s what I was really looking for, for carries. Their numbers were up and I just thought Carlos needed more. Listen, that’s a good situation we have right there. Whether you keep four or however many there, you’ve got a pretty good situation right there.”
Q: You’ve had some injury problems at that spot over the years that you’ve been here. What number of guys are you comfortable with keeping in the running back group?
REID: “You have to look at the whole picture. What do you do with tight end, fullback and halfback? All of those kind of fit in. Where do they help you in special teams and so on? The normal is three, but if you have four that you feel good about, then you keep four. But you have to measure it up with the other spots, and then special teams becomes a factor.”
Q: Do you feel that you have gotten enough material out of Tremon Smith to make a proper evaluation?
REID: “I think we did. There’s an initial value of him as a returner, and then you look at the flexibility that he can give you at the other spots. That was the idea going in. I thought we got enough of a look at it.”
Q: Do you feel like you have a better idea on the tight end position after last night and how does Deon Yelder factor into that?
REID: “I liked what (Deon) Yelder did in Pittsburgh before he got hurt, but I like what (Blake) Bell has done also – then (Nick) Keizer went out and had a nice night last night. That’s a pretty good situation right there. To answer your question, I haven’t met with Brett (Veach) yet. We’ll sit down and go through all of that stuff. He’s putting together a plan on it.”
Q: In regard to Deon Yelder, what is the duration of his injury? Is he an Injured Reserve candidate?
REID: “I don’t have an update on him today, but that’s a possibility. There’s a chance we get him back, too. I don’t have a specific answer for you there.”
Q: With special teams, where do you stand on Tyreek Hill as the primary punt returner for this year?
REID: “I’m good with that. I mean we have other guys that can do it too ,so like last year, we can mix and match however we want to go with that. We have flexibility and (Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator) Dave (Toub) has flexibility there with Tyreek.”
Q: Mark Fields, D’Montre Wade, Herb Miller, Rashard Davis – do you feel like any of them have separated themselves from the pack after finishing up the preseason?
REID: “They all have their strengths and they’re all a little different. We’ll have to sit down and go through all that here later today. You have to be really smart when you evaluate those guys because they are young, and you have to project a little bit in there.”
Q: Do you have an update on how the surgeries went for Breeland Speaks and Chad Henne?
REID: “Well (Chad) Henne had his surgery in Green Bay, so he flew back with us. That went well. (Breeland) Speaks, likewise. Everything went well there. I don’t have an update today but from what I understood the surgeries went well.”
Q: Now that Matt Moore has been in the mix for only a few days, do you think you need to keep one of the young guys on the roster just in case?
REID: “I think he is going to be okay whether we do or not, I think he’s going to be okay. He’s a sharp guy, he’s been doing this a long time and he kind of gets it. This is what you have to understand, we put in all these plays during training camp, but once you get in the game week, you cut it way back. It’s a little easier to digest than when you look at that full training camp sheet, you look at that and think my goodness, how am I going to get that figured out? This will be a little more job specific for the Jags and I think he will be fine.”
—Chiefs—