Chiefs free agent signing Joe Mays is familiar with Andy Reid, Weston Dressler

Like fellow new Chief Jeff Linkenbach, Joe Mays said the Chiefs didn't guarantee him a starting job when he signed. Mays, a 6-year NFL veteran, signed a 2-year, $6 million deal with the Chiefs on Wednesday and spoke to the KC media on Thursday.

"They haven't really said much [about my role]," Mays said on Thursday. "They told me they were going to bring me in and compete. I'll let everything else play out. I just need to go in there, do what I do and hopefully I carve out a role for myself."

Mays is a fit in Kansas City because he plays a position of need, which is inside linebacker with 2013 starter Akeem Jordan unlikely to return to Kansas City. Mays said that he played some in the nickel package late in the season with Houston so there's a possibility he has a larger role than Jordan did. (Of course, we're also in day one of his Chiefs tenure so maybe I shouldn't get ahead of myself.)

Mays said that one of the biggest reasons he came to the Chiefs was Andy Reid, who drafted him to the Eagles in 2008.

"We got a pretty good relationship," Mays said of Reid. "It was just like I haven't left when I had a chance to see him when I came out there. I was smiling, he was smiling. It was good to see him. He seems like he is in good spirits, everything is going good. It's exciting to get back working with him because I know what type of person he is."

Mays said he and Reid stayed in touch a little bit after he left Philly for three years in Denver and then last season in Houston.

"He's such a great person and coach, why wouldn't you want to be around that?" Mays said.

Reid isn't the only person on the Chiefs that the new Chiefs linebacker knows in Kansas City. Mays said he was familiar with more of the Chiefs coaches than the players, but he does know Weston Dressler, the CFL receiver signed by the Chiefs this offseason. Mays went to North Dakota State while Dressler was his college rival at North Dakota.

Another one: free agent Quintin Demps also gave him some insight on the Chiefs and their locker room.

Like Linkebach, Mays gives the Chiefs some flexibility.