That’s a wrap. Chiefs conclude training camp, shift focus to approaching season opener
The Chiefs finished 14 days of training camp practices with a light session early Saturday in front of approximately 5,000 season-ticket members at Arrowhead Stadium.
Nothing to worry about in that workload, though, as coach Andy Reid often ends training camp with a 10-10-10 session. Those are designed to go fast, which was just fine in the morning rain.
“I thought it went smooth,” Reid said afterward. “We were able to get the stuff that we needed on both sides of the ball and special teams, so I felt like we came out of it pretty good. We’re relatively healthy and we’ll be ready to go.”
Reid’s attention now shifts to the start of the 2020 regular season, less than two weeks away. The Chiefs host the Houston Texans on Sept. 10 at Arrowhead Stadium.
Just getting to this point is close to miraculous given the state of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There were numerous obstacles to overcome over the summer months, but an ongoing behind-the-scenes effort both within the organization and across the NFL seems to have ensured that football may well be able to return safely.
“There was some responsibility that took place with the players taking care of themselves and the coaches taking care of themselves just physically with the virus surrounding the different areas,” Reid said. “So, we were able to work our way through it and I think we got things accomplished, and then the guys stay focused on the job at hand.
“I was proud of it and proud of the guys, the way all of us handled it. The organization — I mean, the plan that they had: Rick Burkholder, Mark Donovan, Mitch Reynolds, Kirsten (Krug) was involved. These people gave up their summers to make sure that we could pull this off.”
The scene in the stands Saturday contrasted somewhat starkly with the last fan-related event at Arrowhead Stadium, a smaller members-only event when some fans were captured on social-media video forgoing the mandated wearing of masks.
Team president Donovan, Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes spent the days leading up to this weekend’s fan event stressing the importance of following the Chiefs’ health and safety guidelines.
This time, fans were observed wearing their masks pretty much at all times except when, as allowed, eating or drinking. Ushers walked up and down the aisles holding signs reminding spectators of the rules.
While Saturday served as a pretty good dress rehearsal for those fans, in terms of how they’ll need to behave when they’re admitted to games at reduced-capacity Arrowhead — as well as the players, in their final preparations for the regular season — Reid stressed that no one should get complacent in the current environment.
“It’s important that we don’t pull the pedal off the gas,” he said, “that we continue on in all the directions that have been presented (during) this camp. And we continue to focus on things we need to do not only to play the Texans, but also going forward, obviously, with the racial situations.”
The Chiefs are in a good place, with numerous starters returning on both sides of the ball. With training camp now over, they’ll shift to a regular-season schedule for practices starting next week.
The team also emerged from camp in good health, for the most part.
On Saturday, the only players not practicing were defensive end Alex Okafor (calf), tight end Deon Yelder (groin), defensive end Demone Harris (undisclosed), offensive lineman Yasir Durant (head) and offensive lineman Martinas Rankin, who remains on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list while recovering from last season’s knee injury. Recently signed center Daniel Kilgore hasn’t appeared at practice the past two days.
Among the group noted above, only Okafor projects as a starter, and Reid sounded optimistic about his team’s general health.
“We got a couple of guys nicked up, but not much,” Reid said. “You want to get everyone healthy and ready to go, and maintain that through less than a couple of weeks before we get ready. But at the same time, (you want to) stay in good football shape, which they’ve work hard to put themselves in.”
The Chiefs wrapped up the practice session with a ceremony revealing a new Super Bowl LIV championship banner. The team plans to repeat the celebration during the Sept. 10 season opener.
The next time the flag is presented, more than 16,000 fans will be on hand, and it will air live on prime-time television to a national audience. But that didn’t make Saturday’s version of the ceremony any less significant.
“It’s a neat deal,” Reid said. “It’s phenomenal. The thing we’ve done, though, we try to focus as best we can on just going forward. But this was a great kind of cap on it.”
Mahomes agreed.
“I think I’m just looking forward to being back at Arrowhead playing football for the Kansas City Chiefs,” he said. “The championship banner is going to be special; it’s going to be something that you’ll remember for the rest of your life, and I’m glad we got a lot of the same guys on the team that were with me for that journey.
“We’re going to enjoy that together, then get right back to playing and try to find a way to go get another one.”
This story was originally published August 29, 2020 at 2:43 PM.
