OPENING STATEMENT:"Alright, welcome back. Good to see everybody. Now, we've started phase one as of today. It's a voluntary minicamp, so players can kind of be here or not be here. That's kind of the way that we handle it. The guys that are here are working and working hard – 90 percent of it is strength and conditioning, and then, they have a little bit of football. None of it on the field – it's all in the classroom. So, it's a time to get stronger, better physically and kind of review the year before. Some of the guys that are coming back off of injury are: Allen Bailey – doing very well. He's almost ready to go. He's getting there, but he's got time. Parker Ehinger had knee surgery. He won't be involved in any of these camps before training camp. Jaye Howard had hip surgery. He's actually been rehabbing in Orlando with the surgeon that did his work there, and he's doing well. Derrick Johnson has been here. He had the Achilles surgery – might be able to do some things once we get to the mandatory minicamp. Dadi Nicolas had knee surgery. Again, probably won't do very much until camp. Travis [Kelce], likewise. Travis had a shoulder surgery. He might be able to do some lighter stuff once we hit the minicamp, but for the most part, he'll be rehabbing. Then, Darrin Reaves had sports hernia surgery. He just had that a little bit ago, so he'll be back and ready to go. That should cover the main guys here. It's just good to have everybody back – good attitude about them. We met real quick this morning, and then, they headed into the weight room and into the classroom. So, that's where we'll go from here."
Q:How's Justin Houston doing?
REID:"I think he's doing pretty good. I haven't seen him do anything. This is kind of a moot point when you talk about this other than injury. He's good injury wise. Right now, as coaches, we can't do anything with them on the field. Other than that, he's good."
Q:Is there anybody notable that is not here?
REID:"Because it's not mandatory, I'm not going to get into all of that. That puts their name out there, and I wouldn't do that. I'd tell you that the majority of the guys are here. We didn't take role, but a majority of the guys are here."
Q:Do you expect any of the injuries to drag on into the regular season at this point?
REID:"I don't think so. It's probably too early to tell on some of them. I wouldn't think so – no."
Q:What's your confidence level on Derrick Johnson coming back from another Achilles injury this late in his career?
REID:"Yeah, well I wouldn't hold anything against him. He's a pretty unique guy in that way. He's been through it once before, so he knows how to rehab and the pace you should go. If it's your first time, sometimes you think you're going to re-break the thing or reinjure it. In his case, he knows he can push it, and push it pretty hard and that's how he's kind of going about business. So, I wouldn't bet against him - no."
Q:What's the motivation and the theme coming off last year as you come into this season?
REID:"So, I think it was a step ahead just from the standpoint that you won the AFC West. I think we're all coming back saying that we want more. We're not going to slight the fact that we did okay. We won 12 games last year. We're not going to slight that, but we have to do better. That's where everybody is at. Our expectations are high – we want that. I wouldn't expect anything less. That's the kind of locker room that we have, coaches and so on. That's why we're excited to get back together. We're ready to go here."
Q:Are you at all surprised that Jamaal Charles doesn't have a job yet?
REID:"I think it's just a matter of him getting back, and getting the leg strong and all that. I think somewhere down the line – he will – I'd imagine."
Q:There's a lot of work that's going to be done up to the NFL Draft and when you don't have full rooms, what does that open up? Does that open up some younger guys getting more work?
REID:"So, the draft picks actually come in phase two, and then, that's kind of where you can get on the field and kind of do drills. As coaches, you can't go offense versus defense until phase three. I mean yeah, whoever's not here, obviously it gives those other guys more coaching because they're here. I would tell you that once you get to phase two is when it kind of all starts up, and that's when they get here. So, I can't tell you who's going to be here or not here for that. Again, it's voluntary."
Q:There has been a lot of talk with quarterback here, so from that point of view – what has been your message to Alex Smith?
REID:"Well, we've drafted quarterbacks just about every year that we've been here, so I don't think quarterbacks coming through the door is a big deal to him. He's long enough into his career to know how this whole thing works. I think he has a lot of confidence in his ability as we do. So, that's not where his mind is. His mind is getting back in and doing all of his film work from this past season. We have all the cutups ready for him to dissect and look at. Then, continue to workout. He's been on a six week workout program over in Hawaii. He's in phenomenal shape right now, so he looks great."
Q:What's the next step for Alex Smith in terms of progression?
REID:"That's always the case. There's always small things you can work on. There are things we challenge him with. It's not what I would tell you a second or third-year player is working on. These are a little bit smaller things. Whether it's that position or any other position, you can always get better. It's like a couple of columns I've read from you guys, you can always get better."
Q:Where is Tyler Bray in his progress?
REID:"I would tell you Tyler has greatly improved since we first got him here. He now has an opportunity, obviously, sitting in that second position to show that. We have confidence that he'll be able to do that."
Q:Do you expect to have four quarterbacks on the roster when it's all said and done?
REID:"That's normally what you have. We have three on the roster now and we'll see how the fourth one goes or where he comes from. You can ask [John] Dorsey all of that stuff on Friday -- he can hit you with that."
Q:Can we get some general thoughts on what you think of the quarterback class as a whole this year?
REID:"I think they've all got their pluses. I can't tell you that I've dug full steam ahead on it. I've looked at enough of it to tell you they've got their strengths and they've got things they need to work on. College football has kind of changed here just a little bit when you look at that position and the offenses compared to what you do in the National Football League. I think they've all got things they'll need to address when they get to this level: such as play calling -- we'll spit it out here. Also getting under center and some things as simple as that. Not many of them have done that. They've all been trying to catch up in that area in the offseason."
Q:With the quarterbacks coming into the league now, is it more on NFL coaches to change what they do, or for them to dig in and find players that can adapt to the harder stuff that NFL coaches do?
REID:"It's probably a little bit of each. I think the positive that you take out of it is that the kids are throwing the football now. I think that's a real plus. It used to be we would use that as an excuse like, 'hey these guys these days aren't throwing the ball. We're risking the chance on taking this guy.' To me, you get a guy in here and you coach. That's what you do. If you have a quarterback, you coach him up. If you have a defensive lineman, you coach him up. If you have a wide receiver, etc. it doesn't matter, that's what you do. They're not coming in made exactly for your offense or your defense necessarily. "
Q:Do you see any quarterbacks that are maybe ready to come in and be capable of playing right away or maybe competing for a job right away?
REID:"If you asked me that last year, I probably wouldn't have mentioned Dak [Prescott] and he went out and did a great job. I think if some of these guys get put in the right situation, they'll have all the chances to do good things. I don't think there is that 'one guy' that you've seen in certain years that everybody is going, 'this is the guy and he'll come in and have the role'. I don't think that's what people are saying out there."
Q:Has the college game changed for offensive lineman too -- like it has for the quarterback?
REID:"I think that's probably the most neglected position coming in. When you restrict hours from the most abnormal 'position' position, then you have a problem. It's one of the only positions you're asking a guy to go against an athlete that's probably a little bit better than him and he'll probably move backwards half of the time and get into a physical confrontation with a guy. You're not born that way in a weird stance. You need hours to progress at that position. You need hours in the National Football League to progress at that position. I don't think colleges or the NFL give that position enough time."
Q:Where are you at in your part of John Dorsey's draft preparation process?
REID:"I'm done with looking at it until we meet together. [John] Dorsey will still meet with our staff individually, by position and with his group. Then we'll sit down and go through it there again. It will be the coaches' reports that they listen to. I'm sure Dorsey and I will meet somewhere. We normally meet somewhere in there after that too. I've done all of my evaluations and all of that."
Q:Returning as many starters as you do, is there room on this roster for all 10 picks?
REID:"I'll tell you the same thing I told the team this morning. One of the neat things we have going on here is that we bring in good competition at all spots, so there are no positions that are absolutely guaranteed. Everything is open. I'll tell the rookies that when they get in here. Then you cut it loose and see what happens. That covers a couple areas. You always hear about people saying if a kid gets hurt, they're going to get pressured by the coach, doctors or trainer to go play. We don't ever have to put ourselves in that position. We're in a position where guys come in, there's competition and when one guy goes down, the next one steps in and goes. You want to maintain that. To maintain it, you have to keep that competition. You honestly have to keep the best guys that you feel can better your competition."
Q:Is the timing right to take a quarterback higher in the draft based on the number of picks this team has?
REID:"It would depend how much you liked a guy. That would have to be what you'd evaluate on it. I'm not doing that. That's not where I'm at right now. That's a good one to ask John [Dorsey]. When you get into the draft, anything is possible. I can't tell you that's our number one thing."
Q:Have you and your staff spent any more, any less or about the same amount of time looking at a quarterback process as opposed to other years? REID:"No. It's the same. You go through and you hammer all the guys out. As a coach, that's what you do. You try not to slight any of the positions. I looked at the guys John [Dorsey] gave me, I looked through them as thorough as I could possibly watch them and I gave it back."
