The Chiefs second-to-last day of training camp concluded Wednesday morning. The practice was highlighted by Chiefs wide receivers Junior Hemingway and Kyle Williams.
ASSISTANT HEAD COACH/WIDE RECEIVERS COACH DAVID CULLEY
Q: Thirty is the age where receivers tend to lose their skills, what have you seen from Dwayne Bowe?
CULLEY: “He’s in the best shape he’s been in from here. I know from last year this is completely different. When he came back from the offseason he was in great shape. At 30, that’s a mindset kind of thing. There are old 30s and there are young 30s – which 30 do you want to be? Right now, when he came back, he came back as a young 30. That’s what you have to do if you want to play in this league for a long time.”
Q: Junior Hemingway looked like he had a nice day today.
CULLEY: “He did. I’ll tell you what, he’s been out for a while with that (hamstring), he needed this work real bad. Junior fits us inside with what we want to do with that third guy. He’s strong, he’s tough, he has a good feel for what we want in there. Even last year, when he came in and played for us not a lot on the inside, but when he did, he was very productive. Last year, Dexter (McCluster) was in there most of the time, now (Hemingway) is in there doing all of that work that he did. He’s getting more comfortable with it. We can do some more things in there because of his size and his strength than we did last year.”
Q: Can you elaborate; are you talking about the run game?
CULLEY: “Run game and the throwing game. Run game and the throwing game, both of those.”
Q: Last year, you said you went to McCluster when you went to the three receiver set, do you see it being a little bit of Hemingway and others?
CULLEY: “It could be. Basically, what we try to do, we have to find that Junior may be a little better at this than Kyle (Williams). Kyle may be a little better at this than Junior and vice versa – Frankie Hammond, those kind of guys. They all have their own little deal. Basically in this offense, you kind of fit them and put them in the situation where you use their skills the best.”
RUNNING BACKS COACH ERIC BIENIEMY
Q: Jamaal had a historic season last year is there anything he can do to be better this year?
BIENIEMY: “Obviously, he had an outstanding year. Me and Jamaal, we always talk and the hardest part about being a professional is being a consistent professional. Everybody knows Jamaal is a great player and it’s going to be a huge challenge for him. The thing I love about Jamaal is he doesn’t take anything for granted. He comes out here every day and he works his tail off. Coach Doug Pederson is doing a heck of a job putting him in situations where he can make great plays. It has been fun to watch.”
Q: Anthony Sherman seems to be getting more respect after a great year last year. But there are always areas for improvement, what are the areas for improvement for Sherman?
BIENIEMY: “First of all, Anthony Sherman is a great professional football player. The thing that makes him special is his work ethic. The thing that is going to make him even more special is to continue his work ethic. He takes a tremendous amount of notes and does a great job studying in the film room. And like I said, the thing about Sherman is he probably has the most important job on our team. Obviously he’s a great lead blocker for Jamaal, but he’s the least recognized player. He’s one of the most consistent players we have. I enjoy working with him and the guys enjoy working with him. And the thing I love about working with him is he’s the ring leader. When things aren’t going well and the rhythm is down, Anthony Sherman finds a way to pick it up.”
Q: How did you go about introducing De’Anthony Thomas to the pro game?
BIENIEMY: “I will say this first and foremost – De’Anthony is a great football player. He’s done a tremendous amount this camp. The best thing about De’Anthony is he is getting a lot of coaching from a lot of different people. It’s been a great team effort. Coach (David) Culley has does his part, Coach Brad Childress has done his part and Doug Pederson is finding ways to put him in positions where he can be successful. And at the end of the day the head man is putting it all together, and I’m going to keep saying it, laying that foundation. At the end of the day, he (De’Anthony) is making the most of the opportunities presented to him.”
Q: How is De’Anthony as a blocker at his size?
BIENIEMY: “One thing about De’Anthony, if you know anything about him, he’s very tough. Obviously, we haven’t put him in many situations as far as blocking. But you ought to see him on that one man sled, he’ll bite you now, he will bite you.”
Q: Can you talk about the process of ending up on Coach Reid’s staff?
BIENIEMY: “Obviously, it’s a very long relationship. Me and Coach Reid, our paths have crossed for years. He’s a Southern California guy, with me growing up a portion of my life in southern Cal we’ve known each other. His claim to fame and what he’ll always bring up is the fifth down incident (1990 game between Colorado and Missouri). He was on that coaching staff, and I like to say ‘we (Colorado) only had four downs, we spiked it on the fourth down’. I played for Coach Reid in Philly – me, Doug Pederson, Al Harris. This is why our chemistry is so good; Coach Childress was the quarterbacks coach that first year, Coach Culley was our receivers coach, Coach (Tommy) Brasher was the defensive line coach. This is a familiar area, this is a family atmosphere. When the opportunity came about, Coach Reid reached out to me. He knew my predicament, and he gave me an opportunity. Who wouldn’t cherish that opportunity to work for the Big Red.”
Q: That had to be a great experience to go from running backs coach to coordinator back to running backs, that’s experience you’ll always have right?
BIENIEMY: “Obviously, you always want an opportunity to do things that you strive for. But like I said, at the end of the day it was a great experience. I’ve learned more football over the past year and a half from Coach Reid and Coach Pederson just sitting in meetings, absorbing information and taking notes, than I have my entire years of coaching.”
OFFENSIVE LINE COACH ANDY HECK
Q: When you had an opportunity to go back and watch the Cincinnati game with the young guys you have up front, what were your initial thoughts about that game and then what do you want to see from them against Carolina?
HECK: “I thought it was a good start for our group, for our offense and for our team. The thing I was most encouraged by was I saw guys competing across the board and playing hard. Now, there are areas we want to get better at with run and pass – we’re never satisfied – so we’re looking to see improvement from week one to week two and so on.”
Q: Are you surprised at how quickly Zach Fulton’s picked things up as a sixth round pick to come in and start at right guard right away?
HECK: “I wouldn’t say surprised, the guy came from a quality program and he’s played against first rounders week in and week out there in the SEC, and he’s had some great coaching along the way. So, he’s a guy who’s got football knowledge, football IQ, and on top of that, the thing that we like about him is that he’s a hard worker.”
Q: What about Donald Stephenson moving into a full-time role? He had a lot of snaps last year, but what do you see from him on that right side?
HECK: “Last year we really looked at Donald as if he’s a starter, he’s a guy that we counted on a lot, we knew that we needed him, and we did. I think he had seven starts last year, and now he’s working to get better.”
Q: How would you describe Eric Fisher’s development so far in his second season?
HECK: “His development’s been steady, and that’s a credit to him and the work that he puts in.”
Q: How did Eric Fisher’s time off for his injury affect his development coming into this training camp?
HECK: “I couldn’t answer that. I know that it was what it was, and he did what he needed to do to get healthy, back out here, and working and everything that he could be doing, he did it well.”
QUARTERBACKS COACH MATT NAGY
Q: What do you look for in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Quarterbacks heading into game two?
NAGY: “Right now, just to throw completions and the decision making is huge. If you make the right decisions in this offense and you don’t make a bad play worse, good things will happen. And just trusting our scheme, trusting your teammates, and then being able to play as fast as you can and produce points.”
Q: That’s got to be a big thing with Alex, he doesn’t make any mistakes.
NAGY: “That’s right. His decision making is unbelievable; last year I think we were top one or two in the league in interception percentage – for not throwing interceptions. That was a credit to Alex and the rest of the team for protecting the football; you have to respect the football. We’re a little more aggressive right now in training camp with some downfield throws as far as his decision making; we’re telling him to push the ball. You may see an interception here or there that he may not necessarily make in a game, but we’re telling him to do that; just trust it and see what happens and now when we get to the game, let’s make the right decision.”
Q: Chase Daniel’s not your typical backup quarterback, what does he provide that you probably wouldn’t typically expect from a backup in the NFL?
NAGY: “You’re right; the one thing that you take from Chase – and it’s awesome – is that he prepares day in and day out like he’s the starter. Last year, going into that San Diego game, it was old hat to him. It wasn’t new to him just because he was starting that game, it was the same deal. He’s in there on Monday in the morning just like Alex (Smith) is. He takes the game very seriously, he understands protections, and I was happy for him last year in that San Diego game.”
Q: Tyler Bray was remarked by Andy Reid as maybe the most improved player out of training camp before the Cincinnati game, where’s he at right now? Everybody sees the arm strength, but the other aspects of his game obviously have to get better too.
NAGY: “I would agree with coach, Tyler’s made big time strides mentally. He came in a little different than Aaron (Murray) when he (Tyler Bray) was at Tennessee. He (Tyler Bray) was all signals, he wasn’t calling plays in the huddle, so to be able to grow from last year to this point now, he’s made leaps and bounds. And I’m proud of him for that, he’s done a really good job at that. He’s transferring that onto the field, last year it was super-fast to him on the field, this year it’s slowing down and he’s able to make the throws.”
