AFC Notes: Gardner Minshew, Samaje Perine, Broncos, Chiefs, Raiders

Broncos

Broncos HC Sean Payton reacted to RB Samaje Perine joining the Chiefs after Denver was unable to find a trade partner for the veteran back and decided to release him from their 53-man roster.

“Listen, it all stings when they go on,” Payton said, via BroncosWire.com. “And yet when I say this, and I mean this: having coached a number of players that have gone on, I can think of so many — Alex Anzalone, Trey Hendrickson, Marcus Williams, Reggie Bush to the Dolphins, Samaje — you root for them. I want them to do well. I really do. Now not against us, but you want to see them have success because you’ve invested in them. Then there’s an attachment with that time you’ve coached them.”

Chiefs

Chiefs HC Andy Reid had high praise for new RB Samaje Perine and has been asked if there is a chance that he would play in the team’s first game against the Ravens, which he confirmed is a possibility.

“We all know what he did to us when he was at Cincinnati with that screenplay, but Samaje’s done this over his career, where he’s been a phenomenal third-down back, but he’s also a good runner,” Reid told reporters, via NFL.com. “I think that you know that he’s really a good person. I mean, that word has traveled around the National Football League on what kind of guy he is, a locker room guy, and so on. We welcome that, but the opportunity to have a guy in here that can do the run game and the passing game, I just think he’s a good, well-rounded football player that’s extremely intelligent, that is a great addition that (general manager) Brett (Veach) added to it to the team.”

Reid added that the team is looking forward to taking on Baltimore in Week 1.

“We look forward to this challenge of playing the Ravens — they’re a heck of a football team,” Reid added. “John (Harbaugh) does a great job, along with his coaches, of preparing their guys, and we know it will be a battle royal. It’s one of those games we’ve played over the years and it’s always been a knock-down, drag-out.”

• Perine discussed how much he feels he could play in Week 1 on Thursday: “I’m only two days in, but getting more comfortable as we meet and practice more. So once Thursday rolls around, we’ll see.” (Adam Teicher)

Raiders

The Raiders signed QB Gardner Minshew in free agency and named him the starter recently over QB Aidan O’Connell. Las Vegas HC Antonio Pierce loves his ability to work without getting much publicity and hype. 

“Yeah, he’s a football junkie,” Pierce said, via Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. “We always talk about Maxx [Crosby] and Christian [Wilkins] about being the first guys in the building, but he’s not too far behind. And he stays late, and he’s done a lot of things without a lot of hype and things that we talk about throughout the building that’s starting to show up a little bit. And I think our team is really taking notice of that.”