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The Kansas City Chiefs were back in pads for their final training
camp practice ahead of the start of the preseason on Saturday.
The offense was executing a lot better on Thursday after having a
down practice on Tuesday, which is exactly what you want to see if you’re the
coaching staff. There are still some things the team will have to work through
during the remainder of training camp and the preseason, but they have
themselves positioned to get off to a hot start.
Here are four things that we’re taking away
from the thirteenth day of Chiefs’ training camp:
Running
backs need more work on pass protection
The team got the day started with individual
drills and 1-on-1’s per usual. The pass-blocking drills didn’t go in favor of
the running backs on Thursday, with the linebackers taking home plenty of
would-be sacks on the quarterback. Standing out on the defensive side were LBs Ben Niemann and
Darius Harris, who
dominated their competition. Falling flat for Kansas City were RBs Clyde
Edwards-Helaire and Derrick Gore, who need some work there.
Edwards-Helaire wanted to improve in the passing game this
offseason — that includes working on pass protection. Getting dusted by Niemann only to get
yelled at by Eric Bieniemy is probably not what he had in mind. Hopefully, this
will be a bit of a wake-up call for the second-year running back ahead of
Saturday’s preseason debut. It’s worth noting he’s had better 1-on-1 pass
protection drills during the course of training camp.
Some good moments on offense
There were a number of standout plays on offense at practice on
Thursday. Here are just a few that were captured and shared on social media:
- Jerick McKinnon had
a slick cutback run that would have gone for a touchdown during team
periods.
- Patrick Mahomes hit
Tyreek Hill in the back corner of the endzone during redzone drills. The
pass protection was a sight to behold on the play.
- Demarcus Robinson
made a physical contested catch over Chris Lammons during 1-on-1 drills.
Jody Fortson continues his
training camp stardom
Jody Fortson continues to make an impression at Chiefs training
camp. The third-year WR-TE convert added 20 pounds of muscle this offseason and
really has begun to look the part. His latest claim to fame comes on a broken
play across the middle of the field.
Chad Henne was looking for Maurice Ffrench, who was wide open on a
crosser heading in the opposite direction. Fortson and Ffrench end up in the
same area of the field for some reason (hence the broken play). The ball is
thrown behind Fortson because it was intended for Ffrench. Instead of
potentially letting a turnover happen, Fortson makes an acrobatic adjustment to
pop the ball up and haul it back in. Assuming this wasn’t a wrong wrote by
Fortson, it was a heads-up move to ensure the team made positive gains on the
play.
One-handed catches a theme at
practice
There were a number of great one-handed catches during 1-on-1
drills at practice today. Fifth-year veteran wideout Marcus Kemp and newcomer
Daurice Fountain both came down with one-handed grabs. But the top snag seemed
to come from Tyreek Hill, who beat L’Jarius Sneed, hauling in the pass with one
hand while falling to the ground.
I’m not sure if these were intended to be one-handed catches, but
it’s always good to know that your players can come down with the ball by any
means necessary.
