After a lighter Sunday practice, the Kansas City Chiefs returned to the practice field on Monday to turn in the final installs for their young players. Friday brings in the first pre-season game, and while it may be meaningless in the long run, for the young players, this will be the game of their life. Now well into training camp, these are the moments that will make or break men’s dreams to make an NFL roster. As time is closing in on the end of training camp, the Chiefs will be looking to separate what is real, and what is not. For the long-term prospects of the Chiefs, training camp, the good of the interior line defense, and concerns for passing are now clear.
Kansas City Chiefs Training Camp – New Week, New Clarity as Defense Continues Domination
New Week, New Defenders Competing
Monday brought a fresh perspective on the week; a chance to reset and get back to work. This was especially true for injured players during the grind of training camp. Linebacker Derrick Johsnon and cornerback Steven Neslon both returned to camp. However, defensive tackle Bennie Logan, safety Eric Berry, and tight end Travis Kelce did not – raising the level of concern for issues head coach Andy Reid said were “fine”.
Due to injuries, Roy Miller, signed only a week ago, saw first team reps at the defensive tackle slot. Thus far, the Chiefs defensive game plan has put an emphasis on not only replacing Dontari Poe, but finding a rotation of players that can pick up where he left off. Miller is going to get tested throughout the remainder of August, making him one of the most important players to watch over camp.
Speaking of the defense, under the tutelage of the interior line, they continued to maintain the low-pressure and own the line of scrimmage. Allen Bailey led the pressure on Chiefs running backs and quarterbacks, allowing the secondary to work their pass-defense magic.
Due to the overt defensive line domination, the pre-season will be important to show how realistic the interior pass rush is, or whether the Chiefs offensive line is a bigger area of concern.
The main story of the day was a mix of bad and good news. During goal line drills, coaches opted to call more passing than run plays, something that has not been done until Monday. With a mix of excellent play from cornerbacks Terrance Mitchell, D.J. White, and De’Vante Bausby, and egregious mistakes by the offense, both units gave coaches plenty of film to break down.
Bausby was the standout corner during the 1-on-1 red zone passes. In this example, he maintains a focus on the target instead of turning to commit defensive pass interference. Hence, he trusts his corner instincts that the end zone is quickly closing on wide receiver Tyreek Hill, and Hill will need to slow down to stay inbounds.
Using timing and reaction instincts, Bausby turns and knocks the pass away from Hill, who had initially torn away from him. However, the other note here is the poor pass from quarterback Tyler Bray. Instead of tossing a pass that Hill could run under, Bray waited until the move was made then tossed it. Hence, Bray shows poor timing and anticipating of his receivers.
Unfortunately, the day would soon be over for Bausby as he was carted up toward the locker room with an ankle injury.
The struggles continued for rookie quarterback Patrick Mahomes, including two awful interceptions. Akin to Bray’s poor decision making, Mahomes simply is lacking field vision. The more rookie aspects of his play are starting to show as he relies on the ‘hot read’ being open, instead of scanning to his second or third read.
Fortunately, Mahomes is mentally turning negatives into opportunity.
“I feel like it is awesome having those smart offensive minded guys tell you exactly what you need to do on the plays you did good and on the plays you did bad,” Mahomes explained. “Really just critiquing all of the time. It helps you better. It helps you learn and make a better decision the next time around.”
Mahomes also showed much of what was expected from the Texas Tech gunslinger. On a roll-out pass, he turned a broken play into a gorgeous strike to Gehrig Dieter. In that rare moment, Mahomes showed why he was picked number ten overall: Mahomes doing Mahomes stuff.
Alex Smith had the best days of the quarterbacks, enlightening since he is the de facto starter. However, he also struggled inside of the red zone as corners continued to deflect passes and the pass rush put pressure on him throughout the day, including a sack by Daniel Sorensen.
Smith, who has improved, gave insight into what he has seen as the biggest advantage for the offense.
“We have been communicating really well. I would love to see that keep going. Don’t let just because we are in the game jerseys and we are at Arrowhead and under the lights, don’t let that affect you…” Smith explained as he took a leadership role, “Just go out and how ever those opportunities present themselves, you don’t know how or when or who is going to get them, but let’s just go and play fast. I think if we let our fundamentals take over like they have on the practice field, good things will happen.”
The best moment of the day: Eric Berry displaying gratitude to the fans of Chiefs Kingdom. During practice, Berry walked over to a group and began to take pictures and sign autographs with fans. And it never stopped. In fact, even after security told him he could leave, he rejected.
Clarity and Concerns for Tuesday
The body count continued Tuesday; both Kelce and Berry were sitting out of festivities again. Even worse, kicker Cairo Santos (groin), rookie edge-rusher Tanoh Kpassagnon (shin-splints), and Bausby (ankle) were added to the injury list. Coach Reid noted they all would be “fine”. What “fine” ultimately indicates is up to the interpreter.
During morning passing drills, Hill stood out (which is a common theme) by beating multiple corners down the edge of the field. Smith found him on a nine route down the sideline, while Bray hit him breaking on a post. Mahomes joined in the long ball fun by hitting Marcus Kemp.
To interject in the fun of the long ball, however, was Marcus Peters. Yes, Peters is even starting to even be evaded during camp, and his interceptions bring up another concern. During the tenure of the Chiefs training camp, they have lived and died on long passes over linebackers and safeties.
As noted during Monday’s goal line drills, the quarterbacks struggled once they were thrown inside the 20-yard line. During the tenure of Smith’s career, a lack of the long-ball has been the most recurring complaint. While Hill may solve that issue, no other receiver has stepped up to be the interior receiver.
As the roster currently stands, Kelce and Hill will be the leading receivers. However, after that, the onus will be on the running backs once the team is in tighter packages. Without a clear ‘clean-up’ receiver, Smith is going to revert to consistent dump passes that do not create momentum. And without momentum, the offense will fail to be vastly improved.
Coach Reid gave the following comment when questioned about Bray’s deep ball development.
“So I would tell you he throws a good deep ball, but there are other things he does well,” Reid noted. “He is good with the short, intermediate game. He is not fast, but he is athletic enough where he can move and run our movement game outside of the pocket. You really want him to focus on their whole game and then exploit their talents when you get to that point where they are playing.”
However, running back CJ Spiller and tight end Ross Travis stood out at camp again, connecting with Smith, Mahomes, and Bray on multiple occasions. Thus, maybe the game plan executed at training camp will be create a dynamic offense.
After practice, Coach Reid indicated that during the first pre-season game, each quarterback will get a quarter of play, “…I give them each a quarter like we have done in the past and go from there. Alex (Smith) has the first quarter. Tyler (Bray) the second and Patrick (Mahomes) the third and Joel (Stave) the fourth…”
Wednesday is a day off for the Chiefs. Thursday’s practice will be a simulation, and Friday opens the pre-season at Arrowhead Stadium against the San Francisco 49ers at 8PM Central Time.
