http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2014/2...14-nfl-combine

Transcript: Andy Reid at the 2014 NFL Combine
By Joel Thorman
on Feb 21 2014, 7:03a

OPENING STATEMENT: "Alright, it's great to be here. Another combine and you enjoy this time of year because you have an opportunity to start adding to your football team, good football players. This is one of the first steps of that process. Again, we're coming off of a year that we did some good things. We have a lot of improvement to make this offseason, which we'll do. We've started going forward as coaches and working on that part. John Dorsey, obviously, is in charge of personnel and is doing a good job there with his guys and the scouts. Again, good to be here, good to be amongst you and look forward to seeing some of these players move around this week here."

Q: Looking back to a month ago with the loss to Indianapolis, do you think you could pinpoint what it was?

REID: "Well, that's something we're going through now. We're going through all of our self-scout evaluations now and so we're obviously looking at that head on. You start with myself, and the coaches doing the same thing, and then you obviously look at where we can make improvements, whether scheme-wise and, or, put guys in better positions to make plays."

Q: What was it like watching Seattle in the Super Bowl do a lot of things you guys did throughout the year?

REID: "I thought Seattle did a great job. I thought they had a heck of a year offensively and defensively. Well deserving of being Super Bowl champs. I thought Denver did a nice job too of being there. Things didn't work out for them in that particular game, but they're a good football team, likewise. They did some good things defensively, for sure."

Q: Where have you targeted personnel wise for free agency and the draft?

REID: "Well, I can't - I'm not going to sit here and tell you that. Those are cards that you keep close in pocket there, right? But, we look at everybody right now and make sure that you cover all the positions. One of the tricks of the draft is that you take the best players available, if you can stay that disciplined to do so and make yourself a better football team."

Q: Since you are not drafting first this year, does it widen the amount of players you consider?

REID: "It does. There are a lot of variables there. Being able to predict that may be a little tougher than that first pick, for sure. Again, like I said, you try to stay as disciplined as you possibly can and take the best player available when you get to that point."

Q: When you drafted Nick Foles, did you have any idea he could play at the level he did this past year?

REID: "He was somebody that kind of jumped out at us when Howie Roseman and I were looking at the tape and Doug Pederson and Marty (Mornhinweg) and (Matt) Nagy. They all evaluated him. He was somebody that I think collectively we came to like. Then once you have him on board there and had a chance to work with him, you knew he was going to be pretty good, at least that's what we felt."

Q: What about drafting quarterbacks and the short term and long term prospects for an organization?

REID: "The way the cap is set up today, it's not quite as demanding financially as it was on an organization a few years back. Still at that same point, if there is a worthy player there at the quarterback position and you have an opportunity to get him, you want to make sure that you get the right one, for sure."

Q: Do you believe that this is the deepest draft in a bunch of years?

REID: "I'm probably not deep enough into it myself. That might be a question you ask (John) Dorsey tomorrow. It looks like there are some good football players. I've had a chance to meet with John (Dorsey) and I've had a chance to look at a couple of players. Sure looks like there's a good group of guys this year."

Q: How is it being back in Indianapolis since last time you were here it had a rough ending?

REID: "I'm glad you asked me that question. It was a little rough last time, but we're smoothing that over right now, right? We're working through it. No, that was a rough day the last time we were here. There are some things we can learn from that though, as a young football team and we will learn from it."

Q: What is the ideal workload of RB Jamaal Charles? Are you expecting to get RB Knile Davis more involved?

REID: "Well, you saw as we went on, we were able to do that with Knile (Davis). Knile was a rookie and he was learning every week and getting better every week. As the season went on, we were able to give him the ball a little bit more. I think coming into this season, we'll be able to mix it up a little bit better than what we did early in the season last year."

Q: You're doing a lot less personnel wise than in Philly. What makes you more comfortable on the coaching side?

REID: "I've got a lot of trust in John (Dorsey), number one. We have a history back from Green Bay and I think he's got a great staff. When I was able to meet with Clark Hunt, that's really the format Clark wanted was a general manager doing the personnel and the head coach being the head coach. I was all for that and that was good at that particular time in my career. Most of all, I have trust in John and he does a great job. He's aggressive and he knows good football players.

Q: Players say that they see that relationship you and John Dorsey have and that motivates them.

REID: "That's John. I mean John is upbeat and positive. He works hard. He understands the personnel side. He comes from a pretty good lineage of personnel people, starting with Ron Wolf who, arguably, is one of the finest to ever do his job. John studied Ron and worked with Ron and is very close to Ron to this day. You can see some of the things John does are from things that he learned from Ron."

Q: What's your evaluation of the wide receiver and tight end positions on the roster?

REID: "I thought they did a good job. You know Dwayne (Bowe) had his best game the last game. So what we take a lot of pride in doing is spreading the ball around to all of the different people that we have, and we don't really focus in on, necessarily, one person in the throwing game. As a result, that makes defenses have to cover everybody, right? I'm OK with both of those spots, so that's where I'm at with that."

Q: What do Weston Dressler and Joe McKnight bring to the team?

REID: "Well again, they're skill players that can help us out. I want to see what they do in our system, whether it's at the wide receiver slot position, whether it's in the running back position and still being able to flex out and do some of the things that we ask our running backs to do. It's probably too early to tell right this minute until I get them out there."

Q: Did you see the film on those guys?

REID: "I did see the film, yes."

Q: What stood out to you there; did you see a positive quality in their special teams game?

REID: "Yeah, well you have return ability by both of them. One is a receiver and he's a smaller guy that's quick. He was exciting when he was a candidate; he was an exciting player. Then (Joe) McKnight is a running back, and he gives you some flexibility just by the things that he does catching the football."

Q: Do you feel like you have enough talent on the ‘JV' squad going into this next season?

REID: "There are some guys that I'm kind of looking forward to seeing. It's different playing the scout team during the year and actually getting out there and competing for a spot. I look forward to training camp and seeing what these guys can do. I think we have a pretty good group of young players to form a nice nucleus there. I look forward to adding guys too, and I'm a big believer that you build your team through the draft. Free agency can be a bit of a tease at times, and I think you have to be real careful with it."

Q: What are some of the things you like out of the OLB position? Is that a tough position to evaluate in the NFL? And how do you feel about the 3-4?

REID: "Yeah I like the thirty-four. I like some of the things that it gives you. In particular, once you drop the nose and fire yourself into a nickel situation you use those guys as rush and drop guys. It allows you to be a little creative with some of your blitz packages. So from that standpoint, as far as the evaluation part goes, a lot of teams are playing thirty-four so if you're playing the thirty-four it's not too hard to evaluate them. If you're not, you're taking a defensive end that might be a little bit undersized and you're going to convert, you just have to make sure you spend enough time with them and he has the flexibility to do that. I thought Trent Cole did a good job this year making that transition. I know a lot of people weren't sure that he could do that and it looked like he had another good year."

Q: When you have a prospect that is a little more than a college player, how close to a finished product do they have to be to be comfortable drafting them?

REID: "I think there are certain guys, depending on the round that you take them that might not be quite as finished as some of the other higher picks, but you feel pretty good taking those guys to allow them to grow. I think every one of these college players you're going to expect to grow in some form and hope that they grow in some form. We took Eric Fisher with the first pick last year, and I watched the growth that he made throughout the year and it was phenomenal and he was the number one pick. I expect that from our guys. I expect our coaches to be able to relate to the guys and coach them and teach them to be better than what they were coming out."

Q: Do you think the older players coming to the draft are at more of a disadvantage?

REID: "Like my favorite university, BYU? Is that what you're saying, where guys come out a little older, that's alright. They'll play until they're 34, right? You can't put everybody in a box like that, it depends on the person.

What we learned: Combine Thursday's 18 takeaways
By Gregg Rosenthal
Published: Feb. 20, 2014 at 07:54 p.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Twenty-seven NFL head coaches and general managers spoke at the NFL Scouting Combine. Some of them said virtually nothing of substance. Others were chock-full of nuggets. All of them spoke in code.

Teams don't normally announce franchise tags or roster cuts during the combine. But they leave a lot of breadcrumbs about what player personnel moves are coming. It's a day for football news diehards. Here's what Marc Sessler, Chris Wesseling and I learned during a frenetic Thursday:

1. The Seahawks essentially announced they wouldn't use the tag on defensive end Michael Bennett. Chris Wesseling asked Seahawks GM John Schneider if the tag was an option for Bennett.

"I don't anticipate that," Schneider said.

2. Panthers GM Dave Gettleman was more open-ended when discussing the tag for defensive end Greg Hardy.

"Every team is going to do everything in their bag to get it done. So who knows? I don't know," Gettleman said.

Gettleman kept stressing how cap-strapped the Panthers were. He didn't want to make short-term decisions. He also emphasized he wouldn't have big, long-term deals for a lot of players. And that you should spend big on big players. (Translation: Cornerback Captain Munnerlyn shouldn't expect a huge, long-term offer.)

3. The most endearing Gettleman trait: His hard New York accent when saying Stah Lotulelei. The surprising item from Gettleman. He was noncommittal about Steve Smith's future, even though cutting Smith wouldn't save salary-cap money.

"Steve's had a great career, and (long pause) the bottom line is, it's part of the evaluation process," Gettleman said. Strange.

4. Good news for Gettleman: The cap is expected to rise about $4 million more than expected.

5. The Patriots announced Michael Lombardi as an "assistant to the coaching staff," an odd, vague title for a player personnel guy. Bill Belichick's explanation for Lombardi's role was just as vague:

"Mike's got a lot of experience. He's done a lot of things in his career in the NFL ... We do what we always do -- what we think is best for our football team."

6. Only at the combine: Belichick waxed nostalgic about when the combine was held outdoors and he watched Refrigerator Perry's vertical jump in the fading light of man's mortality.

7. Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht and coach Lovie Smith were both very harsh about wide receiver Mike Williams' off-field transgressions. It makes you wonder if he's a lock to stay on the team.

8. It was quarterback smokescreen day: Smith said the team will consider a signal-caller at pick No. 7. (Translation: Trade with us!) Cleveland Browns general manager Ray Farmer said the team could throw a "curveball" at the position.

And Bills coach Doug Marrone admitted that the Bills could go in any direction at quarterback in 2014 in free agency or the draft. Not a good sign for EJ Manuel.

9. Not a smokescreen: The Bears talked about drafting a quarterback to back up Jay Cutler if Josh McCown bolts.

10. In veteran player news, the Titans were quite noncommittal on Chris Johnson's future. Atlanta Falcons coach Mike Smith, however, strongly indicated Osi Umenyiora would be back with the team. Vikings GM Rick Spielman spoke strongly about linebacker Chad Greenway's leadership. And Bears coach Marc Trestman said Julius Peppers was "very important" to the team, indicating that perhaps the team is trying to work out a reduced contract.

11. Cardinals general manager Steve Keim talked up Stepfan Taylor having a bigger role next season alongside Andre Ellington. Don't expect the team to re-sign Rashard Mendenhall.

12. Also from Keim: The Patriots never called asking about Larry Fitzgerald in a potential trade. And his description of Carson Palmer was interesting.

"With the supply and demand at quarterback, Carson at least puts us in the position where you don't have to force, and when I say force, you're sitting at 20 or wherever we are in the draft, and feel like we have to have one," Keim said.

13. Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett sees DeMarcus Ware as a "young" player. They had a long talk Wednesday. Ware is not going anywhere.

14. Garrett spent five minutes tying himself into knots explaining the new Cowboys coaching structure. I left more confused than ever.

15. Rex Ryan started his news conference in perfect Rex style.

"Main thing about tonight is to get by without getting fined," Ryan said. "I'll open it up to questions."

And then he got really wacky, saying everyone knows Ed Reed was outstanding last season and that he'd love to have Mark Sanchez back. (Rex also talked highly of cap casualty candidate Antonio Cromartie.)

16. The artificial offseason boosting of Kansas City Chiefs tackle Eric Fisher has started. Andy Reid said Fisher's growth last year was "phenomenal."

17. Miami Dolphins coach Joe Philbin was strong when speaking about taking responsibility for the team's bullying scandal. But he was vague when asked about the futures of Jonathan Martin, Richie Incognito, John Jerry and Mike Pouncey. Why the secrecy on whether Incognito is done with the team?

18. 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh indicated that linebacker NaVorro Bowman realistically might not return to the field until midseason.

Terez A. Paylor ‏@TerezPaylor 14m
Asked Pete Carroll about single-high safeties. He says there "are a lot” of guys who could do it in his system. Good news for #Chiefs.

See, my opinion is the opposite. I don't think there's a single single-high guy in this draft. (Or in free agency.) But, Carroll's the pro here. I'm just some douche.

Aron Yohannes ‏@AronYohannes 18m
TT on John Dorsey's success w/ Chiefs. "John and Andy had a great year, I'm very happy for him, he's a real scout. Those are hard to find."

TT = Ted Thompson

Information about the QBs, RBs, and WRs is incredibly slow.

All I've heard in the past hour is that Logan Thomas has 11" hands. Which... wow, lol.

Lucas Nix is hilarious on Twitter.

Paul Richardson is gonna be a beast

16. The artificial offseason boosting of Kansas City Chiefs tackle Eric Fisher has started. Andy Reid said Fisher's growth last year was "phenomenal."

Nice to see some honesty in the coverage.

QB Dustin Vaughan, West Texas A&M
6-5, 235, 8 7/8" hands

How is it possible for a guy that big to not even have 9" hands...

Good size from these guys:

QB Jeff Mathews, Cornell
6-4, 223, 10 1/8" hands

QB A.J. McCarron, Alabama
6032, 220, 10" hands

Herbie Teope ‏@HerbieTeope 1h
I asked Coastal Carolina WR Charles Hazel what type of coach are #Chiefs getting with assistant ST coach Brock Olivo. Hazel’s eyes lit up.

mmmkay

Just curious. Are you only looking at those that are currently listed as safeties, or are you also looking at some of the CB prospects that might be safeties in the NFL instead of a CB?
In the Kiper and Mayock stuff there are mention of a couple that will probably be safeties in the NFL.

What does this i dont even

hmmmmmm

Terez A. Paylor ‏@TerezPaylor 1h
Tulane receiver Ryan Grant said he met with the #Chiefs "a few times" at the Senior Bowl. Makes sense, dude was ripping it up in practice.

From my midrounders thread:

I'm just checking out the safeties.

Because I'm looking for a starter at FS in the single-high in 2014.

There may be a corner that can eventually pull that off, but I had the idea of starting a converted CB at single-high FS on Day One of the season.