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CO-OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BRAD CHILDRESS **
Q:What are some of the challenges with getting a guy like Tyreek Hill with his size and skill set in the offense?
CHILDRESS: "More than I think size or skillset, I think getting him acclimated to the different spots he's playing on the field. We got him playing like - Where's Waldo? We have him bouncing in a lot of different positions, so that's a lot to gather as we start down these installs. He's got great aptitude. He appears to be able to have the ability to do that, and when he gets in those spots, he's going to have a lot of freedom that he doesn't know he has right now – to convert a route, to be able to strike a route back outside. So, just getting familiar. We say, 'We don't like line runners,' and all the young guys are line runners right now. There are so many things that they can do along those lines in the playbook that they aren't even aware of right now. So, I think that's one of the biggest challenges."
Q:What did you think of the two-minute drill today?
CHILDRESS: "I thought it was a good start. We had two timeouts, defense had two timeouts. The new spot – 25 yard-line after a touchback. Thought we did some good things. I'm not infallible as a referee. You know, there might have been a sack or two that I missed. I'm sure defense felt that way – at least I hear it that way. I thought it was pretty good tempo and pretty good execution from a couple of those groups."
Q:What is the possibility that the Chiefs will carry four tight ends this year?
CHILDRESS: "I don't know. That's a better question for Coach [Andy] Reid."
Q:How have you seen Demetrius Harris develop?
CHILDRESS: "Yeah, you can't say enough about him. Particularly through last year when he had that foot injury and he missed all of OTAs, he came in to training camp at a big number –weight wise, and worked it back to a number that he could handle. He's a guy that has just got better, better and better every year in Coach [Barry] Rubin's program in terms of preparing himself physically as a professional football player – not a basketball player. He has a very good understanding of what he's doing in our system. He does know what he can do along those lines."
Q:Do you have any other expectations for the tight ends this season?
CHILDRESS: "I don't. Typically, in this offense, we count on tight ends. We play with a good bit – two tight ends – sometimes three tight ends. Travis [Kelce] will continue to up his game and hopefully the guys behind him will up their game, but we'll continue to use the tight ends as much as we can in this offense."
Q:What does Rod Streater bring to this offense?
CHILDRESS: "Again, [Rod] Streater is one of those guys that I thought at the end of OTAs started to learn some of the flexibility that he had. He really has a good feel for the game – not only straight line speeds, but being able to set up routes quickly and being able to release the line of scrimmage. He's a proven entity. He's played this game at a high level at Oakland."
DT DONTARI POE
Q:How do you feel the two-man drill went?
POE: "It didn't go the defensive way. But at the same time it's the first day. We have a lot of time to get stuff right. We'll watch the film and learn from it."
Q: What do you like about the new guys? What do you guys like about this defense this year, any big changes or anything of significance?
POE: "Not too many changes, we've got a couple new faces. So we just have to plug them in to wherever they fit in and find what they do well, and they just have to be a part of the team."
Q: What advice do you have for Chris Jones?
POE: "Just work. He's got to put on his blinders and just work. You've got to have tunnel vision and do whatever you need to do to get better in camp, and hopefully it'll pay off in the season."
Q: Marcus Peters has an unbelievable ability to read where the ball is going to go in the air and stick with wide receivers, how much easier does he make your job?
POE: "A lot. He's smart, we saw last year what he can do. So for me, he just makes me more comfortable being on the front end and just letting me go play football, not worrying about big passes or big plays because we're right there able to knock it down."
TE TRAVIS KELCE
Q:How did you feel the two-minute drill went today?
KELCE:"It felt good. It was fun just getting back out there, and I thought we moved the ball well. It's just the beginning of camp and there's only a certain amount of things installed in the offense right now after the first day. It's always a work in progress, and we'll keep working from here."
Q:After taking over the lead role among the tight ends last season, what kind of identity are you looking to fill coming into year two in that position?
KELCE:"I want to play hard-nosed football. I want to be a reliable guy that teammates can count on. I'd love to see all of us on the field at once. I truly believe we're that athletic of a group. That's wishful thinking of course, but it's our job to make it hard on the coaches to make cuts at the end of training camp. They're the first ones to tell us that they want it to be a difficult decision. It's been fun since I've 'taken over' to an extent, but it's still a group effort."
Q:Do you enjoy that mentoring role?
KELCE:"Without a doubt. The best part about it is that these guys want to learn. They want to listen and get better. We'll even go up to Coach Reid as he was a former tight ends coach and Coach [Tom] Melvin. The coaches harp to us every single day about the details and the little things. It's fun seeing how much we've developed since we've gotten this group together."
Q:Have you become hungrier now with a playoff win under your belt?
KELCE:"Just to be in that atmosphere makes you want to settle for nothing less. We have a goal here to win a Super Bowl and that's the eye on the prize that everyone in the league is shooting for. With that being said, the way things ended last season, it leaves a taste in your mouth and makes you want to get back out there and get things going right away."
Q:What do you look to see with the first day of pads tomorrow?
KELCE:"It's football. We're all out here to hit each other, and we put a helmet on to make sure we play a physical style. Coach Reid runs a physical camp. He wants us to be able to stay low and gain a great technique. It will be good for us to get back out here and start hitting a little bit and getting our technique where it needs to be."
P DUSTIN COLQUITT
Q:Dustin, you and D.J. [Derrick Johnson] obviously have been here the longest since 2005. This is the first time coming off a year where you won a playoff game. How is that different than any previous training camp?
COLQUITT: "It's something we talk about, kind of hitting the ground running with that, and taking advantage of a successful postseason in terms of getting that monkey off our back of winning the playoff game. What we talked about in the spring was being game ready in the spring, and then once we hit summer camp here, is just kind of starting out fast. I think we've done that, lucked out with the weather and got some stuff done this morning, and then moved it inside. I think we're ready to roll, we have a lot of core players back. [It's the] fourth year in this regime, so we're excited with who we have in the room and our new additions."
Q:This is your third year with Cairo [Santos], how has your relationship developed over the years into your third year together?
COLQUITT:"Good, I'm learning a little bit of Portuguese. Which was very tough at first because it's different from Spanish, which I took in high school. We've bonded, and James [Winchester] has been a great addition to our team as well. We just hang out a lot. The biggest thing is time, trust, and just being with each other. I'm excited about what Cairo's been doing already in the spring. He had a great, really a good spring, so I'm excited about that and carrying it over here to camp."
Q:What can you say in Portuguese?
COLQUITT:"Nothing yet. He's always like, 'that's not right,' so I'm working. I got a thing called Babbel, it's an app on your phone so I'm working through things. Three weeks, and I'll be fluent, that's what it claims so we'll see."
T MITCHELL SCHWARTZ
Q: How does it feel to not be the highest paid offensive linemen on the team anymore?
SCHWARTZ: "I don't think I ever technically was. It's really great for Fisher, it's awesome to see that. You know everyone's really excited for him. It's a really cool thing. I know from the Polaroid perception he's taken a lot of steps his first couple of years, and it's extremely hard to come in from day one and be that guy at left tackle, especially coming into this specific division. You know you probably have the four best teams in pass-rushers in the NFL. So six times a year he's going against the best of the best. You know from stuff we've seen on tape, looks like he's gotten a lot better and improved every year. I think that's all you can really do. Keep working, and it seems like he's done that and it's great to see that for him."
Q: This is his second NFL contract, you got your second NFL contract a few months ago. His situation obviously was a little different than yours from when you got drafted. What's it like getting that second contract? What's that moment like when you get your second time around if you will?
SCHWARTZ: "It's a sense of validation that you kind of did things right for your first three or four or five years. However many it takes. You know that's kind of the thing that if you're looking for a monetary goal that's kind of the thing to set yourself up and your family and to be able to kind of take some of the pressure off them. I think if you're just strictly looking monetary goals the second contract is typically the way to go. Fish's was a little different given the first overall, but it's still just kind of a validation of his hard work. I guess another thing from my perspective having gone through it, you're not really sure what the league thinks of you, so it's kind of a way to see. I mean for him it was different like I said, but free market you kind of see if the league respects you or not and how you're viewed. It's also kind of a way to see how the league views you and whether the best decision makers think that you're a good player or not."
Q: You've had the offseason workouts and only two days of training camp, how has communication with Larry [Laurent Duvernay-Tardif] been so far?
SCHWARTZ: "I think it's been good with everybody. It's a really communicative group. I think that's one thing that Coach Heck does a really good job of. He obviously had a great career himself, so he understands the communication factor especially going against this defense. They do just about everything. You really have to be on top of it, and there's a lot of little things. I think me coming in, them having been here for three years, this is the fourth year and just trying to pick everything up there past the point of basic installation and start tweaking and doing higher level stuff. You know I had to catch up from that and kind of assimilate better. Communication from across the board has been great. Mitch is the center, he's really awesome with that. It kind of all starts with him and the quarterback and trickles out from there. You know if there's something that we see on one side and maybe there's an extra big guy that he doesn't first see when he gets up there. You know we're good about telling him and everybody working together. You really do have to have all five guys on board, and the first way that starts is everyone knowing who to get and where to go and the communication is where that starts."
Q:Do you feel caught up by this point yet?
SCHWARTZ: "Yeah. I think the OTA period you have a few different sessions of installation that you go through it three or four times. You start from scratch each one of those times, so you get by now maybe the fifth time you go through the base plays from the beginning. For me this is my fifth coordinator, so I've been introduced to a lot of the schemes so far just translating what certain stuff means and learning if there is something that's done that has been taught a little different either scheme or technique wise, just getting up there spewing that. Unlearning what I used to know and re-learning."
Q: You played on a lot of good offensive lines in Cleveland; there wasn't a ton of talent offensively other than at the line. What do you think this offensive line can do?
SCHWARTZ: "I think it can be really good. I know the last few years we've been common opponents, so you've always watched them and respected the (offensive) line and thought they went about their business really well. It's been a top offense it seems like. I don't know the numbers, but just in terms of feel and how they're doing in the NFL, it always seems like this is one of the top offenses. They always seem like they're doing a good job whether it was running or pass. They've done some really good things where at the end of the day you have to line up and run the ball, and they were able to do it. I've always had a lot of respect for them. Coming in and being able to see them through OTA's and a good two days of camp, I think it could be a good group of offensive lineman. It really doesn't matter until you get on the field, so there's really not much to say you just have to do your job."
