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Andy Reid made sure everybody heard his compliments to Brett Veach

A small moment worth revisiting from the Chris Jones extension press conference.

Kansas City Chiefs introduce Frank Clark Jill Toyoshiba/Kansas City Star/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach has received much praise in Kansas City throughout the last couple of weeks, and after accomplishing what no one thought he and his cap wizards, Brandt Tillis and Chris Shea, could pull off, that notoriety is well deserved.

Entering the offseason, Kansas City had very little cap room to work with (at one point, $177 to be exact!?), yet the only significant loss the team will face in 2020 is that of cornerback Kendall Fuller, who returned to the Washington football team. But some might argue Fuller is a better safety, anyway, and the Chiefs have a promising 24-year-old coming back at that position.

We digress.

Before we turn the page on Veach and focus in on training camp — which should be a full go any day now — there was a moment during the Chris Jones contract extension press conference worth bringing to light.

Zoom press conferences are far from normal. Unlike the typical, in-the-flesh setting we are used to, reporters can’t ask questions whenever they want. They may only be unmuted once, so if they have two questions, it might be worth firing both of them off.

During Jones’ press conference on Monday, friend-of-the-site Matt Derrick of Chiefs Digest had two questions, and one of them pertained to Chiefs head coach Andy Reid’s thoughts on the job Veach has done this offseason. After Matt’s first question was answered, Reid made him ask the Veach question again, so that “everybody could hear it one more time.”

It is a very small moment, but one that holds weight — and another example of why the league’s figures love Reid as much as they do. Matt repeated the question so Reid could properly shine the light on one of his own — the man he suggested get into personnel in the first place more than 10 years ago.

“I think Brett’s done a phenomenal job with it,” Reid said, finally. “I think you guys have got to know him now, and that relentless personality. Nothing’s impossible. It’s positive. Let’s see. Let’s explore. Let’s not be afraid to go there. Let’s not say that it can’t be done. Let’s find a way that it can be done. All of those things are how he operates, and that, again, ends up being something that’s contagious for people that are around him, so everybody feeds off of that — that energy. And that’s what’s made this whole thing really possible. I think if you looked around the league, people are going to say, ‘How in the world did they get this done?’

“Well, relationships, relentless work, planning, planning in advance — not waiting until the moment to do it. He’s been on top of this for a while and then he got thrown this curveball with the pandemic, which — it’s not a right now. It is right now, but it’s also something that affects the future, so he’s been relentless on finding a way to get it done where it’s not going to kill you down the road with deals, and so there have been a lot of man hours that he’s put into this, so my hat goes off to him.”

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