Opening Statement:"Alright, I really don't have any injuries to talk about. Rick (Burkholder), we'll have him come up here on Wednesday and give you a quick update on things. Look forward to getting things rolling here and the opportunity to play the Chargers. They've done a nice job in the offseason with their football team and it'll be a great challenge for us. Our guys are looking forward to it, getting busy here for the regular season. With that, time is yours."
Q:What's reasonable to expect from Ron Parker, at least early in the season?
REID:"I thought Ron (Parker) really had a good camp. He had that high ankle sprain last year with us and I thought it slowed him down a little bit. He powered through it because that's Ron. I thought that you could see that he wasn't as limited during the preseason as he labored through that thing last year. He knows the system and the scheme. He can come in and he's a good communicator, we got a lot of trust in him. We like Ron."
Q:Is it possible Kendall Fuller will move to play the outside more with Steven Nelson, based on where the roster is?
REID:"(Orlando) Scandrick's played in there too, Orlando has, so all three of them have got experience inside and we feel comfortable with all three of them. Listen, you're going to see 70-plus percent of the time that we are going to have at least three corners on the field. Orlando is a nice addition and gives us some flexibility to do some things."
Q: What made you comfortable going with two quarterbacks?
REID:"We had some good young players that we wanted to keep and so we made decisions there. Brett (Veach) and I talked about it. It is the first time. First time for everything. We looked at the percentages and there were 17 or 18 teams somewhere in there, you can double check me on that, but there is something like that in there that are doing it and have done it. We thought we would do that and see how it worked. But it was in order to keep some of the young guys."
Q: With Ben Niemann, what is it like when you get to tell an undrafted rookie that he has made it?
REID:"He is one of those guys that kind of jumped out at you this preseason. It is a neat deal. He was very excited. He doesn't show a whole lot of emotion, but he was very excited. Now they have to go do it. Everybody has to go play. You know that. One of the bottom lines in this thing, if you don't coach well, you are gone. If you don't play well, you are gone. That's just how it works. We are all rated on performance."
Q: Do you feel like you took more developmental guys on the 53 this year than you normally would?
REID:"We thought we had some good young guys that you wanted to keep. I think as you build a team, you have to keep that in mind. As long as you have players you feel comfortable that you can perform at a high level and win, those are the decisions you make. I can't tell you by number if it is more than we have had in the past, but we have some good young players we feel we can develop. (Kahlil) McKenzie would be one of those. You just saw him get better every week. Is he ready to go right now? Not right this minute. He will be throughout this season, he will continue to get better."
Q: What do you think of the new offensive lineman from Buffalo, Ike Boettger?
REID:"I like him. I know he is big. He is a big guy. When you have a chance to meet him, you will see what I am saying. He has huge hands on him and a big body. He was a two-time team captain. He's got good leadership. I know Juan Castillo well and I know he has been coached well. His college coach (Kirk Ferentz) was an ex-offensive line coach, the head coach there. He has put out a couple sons that are good players. He knows the position and thinks very highly of this kid."
Q:Along the same lines as Ben Niemann, the other undrafted guy Darrel Williams, just for that spot with catching the ball, running the ball and pass protection, what were the things he had to show you to earn one of those spots on the roster?
REID:"He is one of those guys that came through and showed us that he can play at this level and be a good running back. He has room to grow. He is a tough runner. He is like Spencer (Ware) where he's strong in the core, has good hands and is smart. Those are things you think you know until you get him here and see. We tell them to make our decision as tough as they can possibly make it and he did that. When Brett (Veach) was sorting everything out, that wasn't an easy decision. It was something he had to think about because normally we don't keep that many backs. He deserves to be here and that's how he went about making that decision."
