Andy Reid Roundup: Hollywood, Samaje, JuJu and in-game interviews

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid met with the media via Zoom on Friday — six days before the Chiefs open the season against the Baltimore Ravens. Kansas City has entered "regular-season mode," meaning they are treating Friday as if it were a Monday.

In his opening statement, Reid noted that he anticipates a "battle royal" against the Ravens, describing the matchups between the two teams as "knock-down, drag-out." With that, he emphasized that Kansas City needs ball security to emerge victorious.

Then Reid took questions, which we have rounded up in four takeaways:

Reid explained why the Chiefs signed running back Samaje Perine and brought back wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.

He started with the addition of the running back.

"We all know what he did to us when he was at Cincinnati with that screen play," started Reid, referencing this play:

"Samae has done this over his career where he's been a phenomenal third-down back. But he's also a good runner. You know that he's really a good person. That word has traveled around the National Football League about what kind of guy he is — locker room guy and so on. So we welcome that — the opportunity to have a guy in here that can do the run game and the pass game. I think he's a good well-rounded football player that's extremely intelligent."

Reid also commented on Smith-Schuster, who was integral to the team's championship run in 2022.

"We welcomed JuJu back with open arms," added Reid. "He's healthy and ready. His knee, he had the knee before, but we were able to manage that. We'll continue to manage it. He looks great right now, and he jumped right back in and had some good practice for us. So it's just a matter of him getting banged around a little bit, having not been in camp. He'll get all that as the season goes, but it's good to have him back in the mix there for sure."

Reid updated media members (and fans) on the Week 1 statuses of Smith-Schuster, Perine and Hollywood Brown.

For more on that, click here.

Reid seems to think that rookie Xavier Worthy should be ready for the moment.

Given Brown's absence for Week 1 and potentially beyond, rookie Xavier Worthy will be called upon to play an important offensive role. Reid seems to think he is prepared for the moment.

"He spends a lot of time with Pat and other receivers," said Reid of Worthy. "The veteran guys just figuring out what Pat's expecting or where he needs to be or what the coaches are asking him to do. He's not afraid to ask and then he's been willing to try everything.

"Whether it's an inside route, one of those intermediate routes or long routes, he's been very willing to get in there and mix it up. I like what I've seen. Like any rookie that's coming into this thing, you want see how they do in the, the games, but you'd think he'd probably do OK."

Reid was honest in that he isn't exactly looking forward to in-game interviews.

New for the NFL season in 2024, the league has said, "When requested by the televising network, both clubs must make available the head coach or either offensive or defensive coordinator for an in-game, on-camera interview at the end of quarter breaks or at halftime."

Reid didn't exactly sound thrilled about the change.

"I'm not very good during games on interviews," said Reid. "I'm sure I'm not going to tickle anybody's fancy there with these interviews. But, listen, I've got to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm an NFL team guy, so I'm going to do it. But don't expect much."

Hello, Gregg Popovich.