Allen Wright is the leader of the packing for the Chiefs’ trip to London

Allen Wright cares about the details, and not just because he’s paid to, either.

Wright, the Chiefs’ head equipment man for the last several years, is so meticulous that he personally packs every player’s travel bag prior to each road trip. Counting coaches, that is easily more than 50 bags that he goes over with a fine-toothed comb, for hours.

It is safe to say Wright is a details man, which is an exceptional trait to have, especially as the Chiefs, 2-5, prepare for their trip to London to play host to the Detroit Lions, 1-6, Sunday at Wembley Stadium.

Despite Chiefs coach Andy Reid’s desire to keep the week as normal as possible — the reason the team isn’t leaving until Thursday evening, the latest possible time — there’s a clear difference between packing up a professional football team and playing a game domestically and playing one internationally.

The biggest difference, Wright said, is the customs process. While the Chiefs will not be taking that much more stuff than normal — a Friday practice means a slight increase in equipment and gear needed — Wright and his staff have spent six months preparing for what will come when they land in England and will be greeted by security.

The hope, Wright said, is that the customs process takes an hour or two. But the key to doing that is making sure their carnet, which will provide a detailed description and account of all the things included in the 25 trunks and 16,000 pounds of traveling equipment they will be taking to London, is spot on.

“They need details of what’s in every trunk and player travel, down to every screw, every helmet clip, every face mask,” Wright said.

That is a daunting task, to be sure, which is why Wright and his staff started preparing their carnet in May.

“You do a bag at a time and count each individual item,” said Wright, who credits his former boss with the Chiefs, Mike Davidson, for teaching him the process.

Wright says customs agents will select and inspect random trunks and check the carnet for accuracy. For instance, they might check the serial number on a camera and make sure it’s correct, since every piece of digital equipment the Chiefs bring must be accounted for and identified.

“That’s why it’s so important to do your work ahead of time,” Wright said. “If you go through it and do it right, you’ll be right out of there in an hour or two tops, and we can go set up the locker room.”

Wright said the Chiefs hired a company, Rocket Cargo, to assist them with this task.

“The process is very similar to what rock-and-roll bands that travel overseas go through,” Wright said. “This whole process happens on a regular basis; there’s companies that assist you through it.”

Aside from that, Wright says the trip, surprisingly, isn’t that much different than a regular road game for the Chiefs’ equipment men.

“We’re not taking more than a normal road game,” Wright said.

And while the Chiefs will be practicing Friday overseas, Wright said the plan is to launder the stuff they use during that practice to have it ready for game day.

“It really isn’t any different,” Wright said. “We’ll take a few practice footballs and things like that, but they had a lot of things already over there as far as pads and sleds and things like that.”

But even status quo isn’t easy, as Wright goes to great lengths to make sure every player is cared for properly.

Though he has a staff, Wright personally packs each player’s travel bag, so there’s no confusion about where the buck stops if a mistake gets made.

“If there’s an issue, the blame is right here,” Wright said.

Wright made it clear that he is not infallible, and he’s made his share of mistakes. But he likes being accountable, although it’s quite time consuming.

For a typical Sunday road game, he starts packing players’ bags on Friday afternoon before the team flies out Saturday, which obviously makes for a long night, but one that Wright deems worth it, at least for his own sanity.

“If I don’t do all that, I can’t sleep the night before a game,” Wright said. “There’s a lot riding on these games, and I don’t want to let anyone down. I know it sounds corny, but it’s true.”

To that end, Wright is mystified when he hears stories about certain NFL teams that rely on their players to pack their own bags. He’s grateful his bosses with the Chiefs have allowed him to operate in a different manner for many years.

“Guys come from other programs … I know they appreciate what we do and how they do it,” Wright said. “We’re able to do things in a first-class manner.”

Players are grateful for that much.

“Allen Wright and all those guys do the packing,” punter Dustin Colquitt said. “I’ve been here for a little while and they know kind of where my stuff is, so they just throw it in my bag and don’t even ask me anymore.”

But with great responsibility comes great pressure, and for equipment men, it’s hard to imagine a greater spotlight than taking an entire football team overseas, getting through customs and making sure everyone has what they need.

The good news for Wright is that he’s done this before — he was on the staff when the Chiefs went to Japan and Germany — and he was also part of a Chiefs contingent that traveled to London in June to get the lay of the land. Needless to say, he’s well aware of the task before him.

That’s why, with the team set to fly out for London after a practice on Thursday evening — leaving a small window to round everything up and take flight — Wright began the packing process earlier this week in hopes the preparation pays off.

Sometimes, he knows, things don’t go as planned — and he’s heard stories from other equipment men around the league — but he has faith in his process.

“Over the 25 years or so we’ve been doing these American Bowl-type games where we go overseas, obviously you hear different stories, and you don’t know what’s myth or true,” he said. “But we go to great lengths to be one of the teams that glide through.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 7:09 PM with the headline "Allen Wright is the leader of the packing for the Chiefs’ trip to London."