'Why wait, right?' Chiefs HC Andy Reid discusses timetable for WR DeAndre Hopkins' Kansas City debut
New Kansas City Chiefs WR DeAndre Hopkinsis officially in the building after being acquired in a trade with the Tennessee Titans. Andy Reid was hush about the acquisition on Wednesday, playing coy as the deal was finalized."I know nothing," he said. On Thursday, he knew plenty about Hopkins and the deal to acquire him. When asked […]
New Kansas City Chiefs WR DeAndre Hopkinsis officially in the building after being acquired in a trade with the Tennessee Titans.
Andy Reid was hush about the acquisition on Wednesday, playing coy as the deal was finalized.
"I know nothing," he said.
On Thursday, he knew plenty about Hopkins and the deal to acquire him. When asked whether Hopkins could make his debut for Kansas City as early as this weekend, Reid was cautiously optimistic about his chances of suiting up.
"Well, it could be this weekend," Reid said. "Yeah, we'll just, we'll see how he picks up. I've got to get him on the practice field. But right now, I mean, why wait, right? If he can handle it without putting him in a bad position."
Part of the responsibility in getting him prepared to play for Week 8 against the Las Vegas Raiders will be on the coaching staff. The rest of it will fall on Hopkins.
"Everybody always talks about, 'It's a different language.' It is. That's that's common, but these guys that go to different teams, they understand that," Chiefs OC Matt Nagy said. "They know that the professional side of it is making sure that you put in the time outside of practice and outside of meetings to get there as fast as you can. So to your point, this morning, all day, the rest of today, tomorrow, Friday, and then all day Saturday. It's non-stop as much as you can. And that's where coach Connor (Embree) will do a great job. And we want to get him up to speed."
The Chiefs have a lot of plays in for Week 8 according to Coach Reid, which could make things challenging. For the time being, they're simply just trying to get Hopkins acclimated to things like team meetings and practice, seeing how the rest of it goes as they go. That said, the coaching staff in Kansas City have confidence in Hopkins, knowing that he'll be able to pick things up quickly given his focus, intelligence and veteran makeup.
"You start kind of from the bottom of just the snap count part of it, and work your way up through," Reid said. "But he's seen enough, he's been around it long enough to where it's more a dialect than a language that he has to learn."
‘He has a master’s degree in playing football’ — Justin Reid gushes about new Chiefs WR DeAndre Hopkins
DeAndre Hopkins reunites with former Houston Texans teammate Justin Reid in Kansas City.
