This morning the KC Star's Sam Mellinger wrote a story looking at Tamba Hali's media silence and of course a few hours later Hali breaks his media silence.
A number of media outlets have quotes from Hali (I wasn't there today) including this video from the KC Star, parts of which I transcribed below.
Hello guys, how are ya'll doing? First I'd like to thank the Hunt family for giving me the opportunity to come back to the Kansas City Chiefs and be a member of the Kansas City Chiefs football team. With that being said, it's open to you guys.
On the hold-up to his long-term contract:
There wasn't a hold-up. The lockout really had a lot to do with it. Scott (Pioli) already talked to me and he wanted me here, coach Haley wanted me here, coach Romeo wanted me here so it was just a matter of time for it to happen.
On whether he wanted to come back:
Oh yeah, I wanted to be here, of course I wanted to be here. I miss my teammates.
On the importance of getting a long-term deal:
Any player would probably want to be here longer than a year just with the fact that our game is so risky with injuries. You want to take care of the business part and come and play football and not worry about getting hurt and have fun on the field.
On whether he expected to be in camp on time ready for practice:
Speaking to my agents, and talking to coach, those guys wanted me here. I wanted to be here. I put a little pressure on Brian and Jim (his agents) asking them to get the deal done so I can be here.
On how his shoulder is:
Shoulder's doing well. Worked hard this offseason. Our body's our are our machine so you have to maintenance it.
On how he worked on his shoulder:
Working with Jeremy Scott at Penn State. He's a master trainer and has been training me for 10 years. Basically, all the maintenance work I needed -- I don't want to go through it all -- what I needed to do to make sure my shoulder was strengthened and I'll continue doing that throughout the season.
On taking another big step and his goals:
I personally, I can have my goals but it's more about team. A lot of credit goes to our team, our coaches, for putting me into position to make plays. It's a collective group. We have Andy (Studebaker). We have Brandon Flowers. We have Derrick Johnson. We have a bunch of good players on our team that allow other players to make good plays. Derrick being the best linebacker we have on our team, you watch him, he's all over the field. That allows us to make plays. Credit to the defensive linemen, and our safeties back there. Eric Berry coming in with all the young safeties really, really helped us. I could set my goals but football is not like basketball -- we have to work as a collective team, a group. That helps with sacks.
On whether not talking to the media helps him:
I don't want to come here and tell you guys, this is what I'm going to do, and this is what didn't happen, and give a bunch of excuses because it starts with me first. I have to make sure to take care of the business that I'm here to do. I don't want to be in front of the media every day explaining what's going on. You understand?
On whether he'll be ready on Friday:
I'm ready to go.