Chiefs just finished up mandatory minicamp. Here are 3 of the top takeaways

The Kansas City Chiefs completed this week’s three-day mandatory minicamp with a required run test at the team facility Thursday morning.

So what did we learn about the team at these practices ahead of next month’s training camp?

Here are three takeaways from the last few days.

Offensive line optimism

This week only continued the most significant development over the past month: Rookie left tackle Josh Simmons has far exceeded what the Chiefs had hoped to get out of him at this point in the offseason.

Simmons, coming off knee surgery in October, participated in full team reps during the entirety of this week’s mandatory minicamp. And though free-agent signing Jaylon Moore remains squarely in the mix — he missed team reps because of an undisclosed injury — it seems likely that Simmons will get the first left tackle rep for the start of training camp in July.

Chiefs coach Andy Reid continued his praise for Simmons during Thursday’s press conference when he was asked if he could foresee Simmons “starting or being a contributor this year.”

“Potentially yes,” Reid said. “Listen, you can see his athletic ability. You can see his want-to. He’s got a great attitude. He’s approached everything the right way, plus a little bit extra.”

Reid specifically lauded Simmons for his recovery work. Chiefs trainer Rick Burkholder, during an interview broadcast to fans at Tuesday’s minicamp practice, said that Simmons was one of the first players in the building and one of the last ones out while trying to get his knee to full strength.

“If you just want to look at his rehab, you could see he had a mindset that, ‘I’m going to get in there. It’s not going to be training camp. It’s going to be now,’ and he worked his tail off to get there,” Reid said. “So you respect that part of it.”

Speaking of potential new starters ... second-year player Kingsley Suamataia had a good past week while continuing his transition to left guard.

The Chiefs’ 2024 second-round pick — following a failed stint at left tackle last season — appears to be regaining confidence while gaining comfort from the fact that he has teammates around him in his new position, as opposed to being left on an island at tackle.

Though there still will be competition at the left guard spot — Mike Caliendo and Hunter Nourzad are candidates — Suamataia should be considered the favorite, especially if he’s able to free his mind so his excellent athleticism can play up.

Chiefs’ risers at receiver

The Chiefs’ top-5 receiver spots for 2025 seem mostly set: Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, Hollywood Brown, Jalen Royals and JuJu Smith-Schuster.

That leaves one — and perhaps if we’re stretching it, two — wideout spots still available on the roster.

A few under-the-radar players have had strong weeks, potentially putting themselves in the mix.

That starts with Tyquan Thornton, a former Patriots second-round pick who joined the Chiefs practice squad last season. The speedy Thornton fits the Chiefs’ “type” when it comes to speed on the outside. He’s caught multiple downfield passes in practice from quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and also seems to be taking some of those field-spacing deep routes previously held by former players Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Justin Watson.

Reid spoke Thursday about what he’d seen recently from Thornton.

“I like Tyquan. I like the way he’s approached things,” Reid said. “He’s got the quarterback’s trust, which that’s a positive thing. He got valuable reps in here. The other guys could see that he’s a talented guy. So, so far so good. I’d like to see him in a game situation, how he handles that.”

Another dark horse to watch would be former Jets receiver Jason Brownlee, who made a few standout catches in camp while grabbing the attention of some in the facility.

Chiefs 2022 second-round pick Skyy Moore has been productive in practices but also needs to regain trust after previous inconsistent play. Nikko Remigio’s best shot to earn a spot will be as a returner, while Justyn Ross has a specialty if the Chiefs want to go with a jump-ball, red-zone-type weapon.

Rookies showing progress

Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton said he did some early review of rookie defensive linemen Omarr Norman-Lott and Ashton Gillotte while studying their rookie minicamp practice film on his iPad.

So what did he see?

“I was super-surprised about how smart those guys were,” Bolton said Thursday, “how focused they were, how self-driven they were.”

This continues a theme from recent weeks, with Chiefs players and coaches speaking highly of the 2025 rookie class.

Reid even broke with tradition this week, with the Chiefs announcing they would not be bringing their rookies to training camp a few days early. Reid saw no need for that this year, with those guys getting in extra work over the last month.

Mahomes also went out of his way to compliment the team’s new crop of players.

“It’s kind of cool to see. I don’t know if it’s like an NIL thing, or guys staying in college longer, but it’s a very mature group,” Mahomes said Wednesday. “It’s guys that come in, and they know how to work. They know how to get after it, but they’re learning quickly.”

And though many rookies will have a chance to make an impact, perhaps none will be more important than Simmons, who has the potential to earn a starting spot right away.

“We’ll just see. We’ll see,” Reid said. “We know what training camp does. It’s different when things are flying fast up there and you’re going full contact and pads on. We’ll see how he does.”

This story was originally published June 19, 2025 at 1:17 PM.

Jesse Newell

The Kansas City Star

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Jesse Newell covered the Chiefs for The Star until August 2025. He won an EPPY for best sports blog and previously was named top beat writer in his circulation by AP’s Sports Editors. His interest in sports analytics comes from his math teacher father, who handed out rulers to Trick-or-Treaters each year.