The Kansas City Chiefs conducted their penultimate practice session in St. Joseph on Wednesday ahead of their preseason Week 2 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals this weekend. Workouts at training camp have provided the Chiefs’ coaches and front office personnel with valuable insight about every prospect on Kansas City’s 90-man roster.
Instead of having their players talk to the media after Wednesday’s practice session, the Chiefs turned the microphone over to these often-overlooked members of their staff to inform the media about what they’ve learned after weeks of preparation for the 2023 season.
Check out their top quotes below:
Assistant General Manager Mike Borgonzi's opening statement
“It was good to get a preseason game underway last week to evaluate these guys in game like conditions. I think the competition has been great so far at camp. It’s a credit to our entire personnel department for the work that they’ve done to bring in this talent and competition here to camp. As the roster sits right now, we have 37 new players on the roster that weren’t with us either on the active (roster), practice squad (or) reserve last year. So, with that, that’s new competition at position groups, it’s new relationships and trust that need to be developed. That’s why I think being up here at training camp is so important. (Head) Coach (Andy Reid) always talks about laying that foundation, it’s important for these new guys here, you know free agents that we brought in just to get acclimated to our culture, the way we practice, pick up on our system. And now that these preseason games have kind of ramped up here, our pro (scouting) department is going to be working hard here to evaluate these other 31 teams and assess their team needs, surpluses at certain positions. I think our mindset here is we’re going to stay aggressive; we’re going to evaluate these next weeks with our roster. We’re going to evaluate the entire league, and we’re going to add value to where we feel we need to. We’re trying to get the best 53-man (roster) and 16-man practice squad heading into the first game here. Excited to get this second preseason game underway, another chance to evaluate these guys in game conditions.”
Borgonzi on evaluating the NFL's other 31 teams
“Yeah, so our pro (scouting) department, headed up by (Director of Player Personnel/Pro Scouting) Tim Terry, do a great job. Every scout is assigned a team, we evaluate our roster and see where we might need to upgrade on the 53 (man roster) or practice squad. Those guys will go through a process of identifying those players and then bringing them to (General Manager Brett) Veach, myself, (Senior Director of Player Personnel) Mike Bradway and then we go through the process the next couple of weeks of evaluating. It’s almost like a draft board – these guys get spit out onto an electronic board, and it’s a ranking, we start to rank them – you know guys that we might want to claim, trade for, practice squad transactions headed into the season. We’ve had this formula here for the last 10 years, it’s worked out.”
Borgonzi on the depth of Kansas City's receiving corps
“Yeah it’s a deep group. I think the competition’s been great with all those guys. There are some young guys trying to figure out their way, trying to figure out the system. There’s a ton of volume that gets thrown at these guys throughout training camp. The goal is to get down the playbook and then play fast. So, guys like Skyy (Moore) in his second year, I think you see him out here playing a lot faster. Guys like Rashee (Rice) – he’s working through it, and he made a couple plays during the preseason game. That’s what we try to do, we want to stack these days with these young guys to build some confidence in the group.”
Borgonzi on the front office's approach to potential trades before the regular season
“As soon as we start to identify players – we’ll have our pro (scouting) department and we reach out to teams that we have relationships with to try to figure out what they might need, what they have a surplus (of). Some of those conversations are starting now.”
Special teams coordinator Dave Toub on new kickoff rules, implication for regular season
“I think there’s going to be more fair catches on those high kicks for sure. I think you have to play the analytic game if you want to help your team, get them out to the 25 automatically. You still have to make the fair catch and you still have to block everybody up and they’re going to be coming down the field and coming hard. If we bobble it, I mean that’s – you’re taking a chance there. Yeah, I think there will be more fair catches for sure. I think there will be more squib kicks, too, at the same time. You saw the Saints working on that against us, and we didn’t handle it great. You know 82 (Ihmir Smith-Marsette) back there didn’t pick it up cleanly. You’ll see more squibs; you’ll see more fair catches I think for sure no question.”
Toub on his strategy for kickoffs ahead of the 2023 regular season
“We’re working on (Harrison) Butker’s high kick down to the goal line. We know guys want to return. I’m trying to evaluate our kickoff team right now, and we know teams aren’t going to fair catch it now. The best thing we can do is kick a high kick down to the goal line, so it creates hang time to let your guys get down the field and cover, that’s why we did it. We’ll do that during the season as well rather than just – Butker can bang a touchback pretty much any time he wants. Now you want to try and make them make a play at least if they want to get the ball to the 25, and we’ll kick it high and make them make a fair catch. They’re still going to be going to get it at the 25 just like if we were kicking a touchback. You know it’s something we’re looking at for sure.”
Offensive line coach Andy Heck on Jawaan Taylor, Donovan Smith
“Really pleased to have both Donovan (Smith) and Jawaan (Taylor) here. They are talented tackles; they are experienced and in terms of how they have fit in and adaptive I think very well. I mean they integrated right into our room; we got a great room. The guys communicate well. They like each other; they like being around each other. In their own way, they inserted themselves as leaders. Donovan (Smith) is a vocal guy, physical guy. We can draw a lot from his experience there. He’s been a very rugged player over his career. Jawaan (Taylor) is very talented, does a nice job with pass protection, so I’m super pleased with those guys.”
Heck on where Joe Thuney can improve in 2023
“You know I would say similarly about Joe (Thuney) as a top-notch player, perhaps one of the best pass protectors in this league. He’s that much more familiar with what it is that we’re trying to do. So much that of what we do when you talk about the run game or mixing our offense formationally is little details, and so there’s a thousand of them that you can’t get in one install. It just takes rep after rep to pick up all these little details and nuances. Super sharp guy he’s going to – he’s not going to make many mistakes, and if he does, he’s not going to make them twice. Joe (Thuney) as I would say a smaller guard in this league to be more effective in the run game, playing with proper pad level and be a more explosive. Those are the things he’s working on.”
Heck on the Chiefs' open swing tackle position
“I’ve been trying to get them equal amount of work right and left. If you are going to be at that swing tackle, you got be comfortable on both sides. It’s been very good competition; I like the way all three men have worked. They’ve got different things they are working on. We’ll continue to evaluate that as we go through camp with a similar rotation.”
Heck on what Jawaan Taylor can improve on before the regular season kickoff
“I would say all of us, not just Jawaan (Taylor), all of us are still working on coordinating all of our efforts. Our angles have to be so precise and in tune with what the back’s doing, what the guy next to you is doing, the front side versus the back side and there’s a lot to it. Similar to when we brought a new group together several years ago, that’s a work in progress.”
Wide receivers coach Connor Embree on Rashee Rice's development
“He’s been good, he’s been working hard. He came in (during) rookie camp and got to learn how we do stuff. Over the summer I thought he did a good job of getting in better shape. He came back in good shape, and he’s just been working hard all of training camp and (is) very coachable, so I like where he’s at.”
Embree on who the leader of the Chiefs' receiving corps is
“That’s one thing, I think we have a good group, I think we have a good vet group of dudes that have done it before in other places so it’s kind of by committee. All of them chime in and try to help each other out. I think that’s something special with the group we have.”
Embree on Richie James' development
“I actually have known Richie (James) for a while. He was out at San Fran (The 49ers) and I got to work with him for a little out there. He’s a true vet. He knows what to do, ever since day one he’s been in here, he picked up the playbook real fast, and then if you tell him something once, he’s not going to make the same mistake. I like it.”
Defensive backs coach Dave Merritt on Chiefs' secondary
“You know, when you go into a new season and you’re looking at the group that you had last year, that group has changed. I really haven’t used the “Fab Five” name as much this year of course because all of these guys are going into their sophomore year. (The) new guys that we have, Chamarri (Conner), he has done a great job. We’re using him in a couple of different spots, whether it’s nickel, whether its dime, whether it’s safety. So, he’s done a great job, and then of course Nic Jones who came in. He’s a quick twitch athlete, has done a good job for us as well playing in the slot. This new group is stepping up. Ekow (Boye-Doe), young guy that’s outside out of K-State (Kansas State). Kahlef (Hailassie), another young guy that’s outside, he’s doing a great job. Fresh blood is in the room and so it’s been good.”
Merritt on what he likes about Trent McDuffie's skillset in the nickelback role
“Yeah Trent (McDuffie) is smart, smooth athlete. (He’s) a guy who is not a repeat offender, so if Trent makes a mistake once, it’s not too often that he’s going to have that same mistake that’s going to show up. That’s just one of the things that Trent brings to the table, is the fact that he’s able to comprehend what you’re trying to teach and then go out and actually perform it. I like where he is, and he’s playing a lot outside as well. He’s progressing the way I would like to see him progress.”
Merritt on what he has seen from safety Bryan Cook in practice
“(Bryan) Cook has done a great job. He’s a vocal guy, high energy guy. One of the things that we’ve been working on is basically understanding splits and formations and understanding that as a post safety, as a strong safety, you have to understand that if you’re ever in the center of the field, you have to make sure you and the quarterback are battling one another. So just getting him to where he understands the splits and understands where help is needed. He’s gradually getting there, but he’s doing a good job.”
Defensive line coach Joe Cullen on what he has seen from Felix Anudike-Uzomah
“I tell you; he’s (Felix Anudike-Uzomah) really progressing every day. You know Felix is one of the younger guys in the draft, he’s 21, but he really – he hit 34 snaps the other night, he had some really good pressure, a couple hits on the quarterback, he’s playing the run better, he’s just going like that (upwards motion) every day.”
Cullen on his impression of Danny Shelton
“He’s (Danny Shelton) in better shape. Danny is lighter, he’s moving quicker and it showed in the game. He had a couple tackles, he had a sack, and Danny hasn’t missed a rep at all in the preseason so that’s helped him out.”
Cullen on Chiefs' pass rush in preseason Week 1 loss to Saints
“Well, there were a couple opportunities on that third and eight. I thought we added decent pressure, but we had to collapse the pocket and there was a third and three in there we had to – I’d like to get off the field with the rush, so we have to improve there.”
Tight ends coach Tom Melvin on Noah Gray's development
“Well sure, every year you’re going to get a year better and he’s got a lot of playing time. He’s done a great job because we move him around to all the different positions we have, as far as the formations are concerned and he’s able to handle all of those. (He’s a) really smart, instinctual kid and he’s gotten better at knowing what he’s doing and perfecting that, knowing what the defense is doing. Now in his third year, he’s starting to set things up and that’s the progression you look for. He’s doing a real good job in camp right now with that.”
Melvin on how he has to coach his group to perform well in Chiefs' explosive offense
“Yeah it keeps expanding for me. I have to talk to the wide receiver coaches now about being the individual receiver out there and how that differs from being in the slot, number three or number two. It’s helped me expand as far as what I’m doing and how much technique I have to work with them on, and the different coaching points and scouting reports that we have to give for those guys. So, it challenges me, but then them too, so they have to get a bigger picture of what’s going on. That’s helped us all along, everybody, just knowing more and more about what everybody’s doing, and we have to do it not just how that’s going to set me up or how I can set the route up, I might be out there too. So, it’s expanded a lot of what we have to cover each day in our room.”
Melvin on the evolution of the tight end position
“Well it’s a cyclical league, so you always see – you get trends, or the offense does – and the defense catches up. Now the defense’s traditional coverages, you rarely see anymore. They’re multiple, they have combination coverages to where they’re trying to call versus where your guys are and match up a coverage with that. The challenge is always going to be (rolling gesture with hands) – (Head) Coach (Andy Reid) says keep it fresh. We’re always doing something new because so is the defense. They’re catching up and it becomes just a matchup, and if you can’t just win on matchups now you have to come up with something different or make them have to think, challenge them on making an adjustment. That’s the cat-and-mouse game that you play all the time.”
