Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid held his weekly press conference Tuesday as the team prepares for it’s wild-card round matchup against the Tennessee Titans.
We already covered the roster movements announced here.
Other items of note
There had been early concern that running back Kareem Hunt was in danger of eventually hitting a “rookie wall.”
“We all look at it like right around game 12, you kind of see where they’re at,” Reid said. “If they have a bad play, you go ‘Up! There’s the rookie wall.’
“Sometimes that gets a little overrated. We haven’t seen that with him. He’s done well, and I think we’re probably a little hypersensitive to that.”
Hunt won the NFL’s rushing title with 1,327 rushing yards this season.
Reid commented on tight end Travis Kelce’s attitude improving as the season went on this year.
“He’s done better there,” Reid said. “The thing with Travis is he loves to play the game and he is very competitive, he knows he’s going to get there best challenge every week. He’s got to fight through some things--they try to double him and grab him, snag him. He understands that now, I think. The more he’s around it and understands who he is and his perception to other teams, I think the better he understands that he has to keep everything right.”
Kelce’s last bad penalty was taunting Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles. Later on in the press conference, NFL Network’s James Palmer asked Reid about adding things to Kelce’s plate as he offers one of the most unique skill sets in the league.
“You continue to build a package for him and it’s increased every year,” Reid said. “He can do so many things for you.”
Reid also praised Zach Fulton, who started 12 games for the Chiefs this year, including eight at center with Mitch Morse injured.
“Zach’s done a nice job in there,” Reid said. “He’s played in there before, so it’s not something new. Everybody has trust in him--we mentioned that during camp. We just looked at him as a starter all the way along, so whatever position he plays, he does well.”
With injuries happening all the time, it is always smart to have depth, and Fulton became a player the Chiefs have trust in at every inside offensive line position.
Our own Seth Keysor had some interesting points about the Fulton-Morse comparison in his film review of the Los Angeles Chargers back in mid-December.
Fulton is an unrestricted free agent after the season.