Arrowhead Pride
After Kansas City’s 11th training camp practice, the head coach discussed the team’s red-zone work, the offensive line competition and hopefuls at wide receiver.
Under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, NFL teams are capped at 16 padded practices during training camp and the preseason, with no more than three consecutive padded practices permitted. This forces head coaches like the Kansas City Chiefs’ Andy Reid to get creative with scheduling.
On Sunday, Reid ran his third extended practice in as many days — but the players dressed in shorts and shells, carefully staying within the assigned restrictions.
“We were non-pads, but we had a nice long practice with it, got a lot done for a non-padded practice,” said Reid. “Part of the league rules on what you’ve got to do, what you can do and can’t do. This was one of those days that we had. So with that, progress [is] being made.”
Sunday’s workout featured several periods in which Patrick Mahomes and the offense started in the red zone. In 2024, Kansas City finished 21st in red-zone scoring percentage (55%). On defense, it ranked 11th (54%).
“Red zone, third downs — these things, you can always get better at them,” said Reid. “So even though we were one of the top third-down teams, well, you’ve got to be better at that. On both sides of the ball, we did well. Red zone, we did pretty good there.
“In certain situations — down and distance — we got a lot of second and third-down plays today, which end up being important. You don’t get a lot of work on that in the red zone, so we tried to focus on that throughout there.”
So far in training camp, left tackle Josh Simmons, center Creed Humphrey and right guard Trey Smith have taken nearly every snap at their respective positions.
After Jawaan Taylor’s activation from the physically-unable-to-perform (PUP) list, Jaylon Moore has spent three days rotating with Taylor at right tackle and one day rotating with Kingsley Suamataia at left guard.
Moore could push to win either position, but Reid wasn’t ready to make any decisions on Sunday.
“We feel like we need all of them,” said Reid of the offensive linemen. “They’re rotating and doing that, and we’ll just see. We’ll see who the two are at the end when we get done with it.”
Through 11 days, Simmons has been the story of camp, seeming to be the long-awaited answer for Kansas City at left tackle. Simmons has spent many practices battling against fellow rookie Ashton Gillotte. Both players have collected wins in these matchups.
Reid sees the healthy competition as one of the grand positives of camp thus far.
“It’s one thing you see with the rookies because they do a couple of different things before we actually get them out on the field,” explained Reid, “where they’re together at these different functions, and so there’s a...
