ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — The three-time defending AFC champion Chiefs are back, and look like they are very locked in on blowing past the narrative that their run is coming to an end. Here’s what I took from their camp, my 17th visit of the trip and final one in our big swing (I get to go home tonight!) …
• This might sound corny, but the people here think Patrick Mahomes has had a look about him through the team’s three weeks at Missouri Western State University. He’s being aggressive in pushing the ball downfield. He’s pushing his receivers. What that all translates to, we’ll see. But for now, it’s a way of bringing the team along with him, with a ratcheted-up intensity and focus from a team that didn’t really need anything extra to begin with. Last year, Kansas City had a vision for the offense that had Hollywood Brown and Xavier Worthy threatening defenses downfield, vacating space for Rashee Rice and Travis Kelce to feast on underneath. Injuries fouled that up in 2024. But it’s very much alive now, especially since …
• Depth is better at the skill spots, which should help the team sidestep last year’s issues, when the losses of Rice and Brown blew up that initial vision. The Chiefs are expecting a suspension of Rice in the neighborhood of four to six games, and are ready for it, with veteran JuJu Smith-Schuster and rookie Jalen Royals (who, like Rice, is a bigger inside receiver) prepared to man the slot if need be. Brown, who’s had trouble staying healthy, and Worthy are backed up by Tyquan Thornton, a reclamation project who’s put on 10 pounds of muscle and is starting to earn Mahomes’s trust. And at tight end, behind Travis Kelce, Noah Gray has looked like a high-end, starting-level tight end through camp, and rookie Jake Briningstool impressed before hurting his hamstring. That should give the Chiefs the insurance they didn’t have last year, with one area of concern lingering at running back, behind Isiah Pacheco (whose weight is back up to around 210) and Kareem Hunt. Rookie Brashard Smith has shown explosive potential, but isn’t quite there yet developmentally.
• Josh Simmons has been a monster at left tackle and the competition for that spot, if it ever existed, is already over. The first-round pick, coming back from a torn patellar tendon, has taken every rep at the position since camp started. He flashed elite movement skills and carried over his weight-room strength to the practice field. He’s also worked his tail off, belying the pre-draft character questions (he was one of the only rookies to stay in K.C. through the summer break), and has shown a high capacity to learn. With that spot spoken for, the expected battle on the left side has materialized on the right, with Jawaan Taylor and Jaylon Moore fighting it out. Moore’s also seen some reps at left guard, where converted tackle Kingsley Suamataia has taken the majority of first-team reps. So could the Chiefs have a $15 million (Moore) or even $20 million (Taylor) swing tackle? They could, and it’s a much better problem to have than the ones Kansas City had last year up front. As such, the line should be better, with the one concern to watch being the communication on the left side with two young starters, Simmons and Suamataia, in place.
• The team’s defensive line depth is in a better place going into this year, too. Chris Jones put on around 10 pounds in an effort to hold up a little better throughout the season, and hasn’t missed a practice rep all summer—and has been dominant enough to wreck practice for the offense at times. Third-round DE Ashton Gillotte has looked a lot—in play style, motor and physicality—like the recently-re-upped edge rusher George Karlaftis. Second-rounder Omarr Norman-Lott, before he got nicked up, looked like he could contribute to the run defense as a rookie. And veteran Charles Omenihu, who was disappointed with the result of free agency, is motivated on a one-year deal. Add to that a returning linebacker group with another promising rookie, Jeffrey Bassa, in the mix, and the front seven looks solid.
• That brings us to perhaps the biggest loss of the offseason, with Justin Reid off to New Orleans. Reid was the traffic director on the back end, taking the reins from Tyrann Mathieu in that role when he came over from Houston. The Chiefs do have a couple safeties with experience in Chamarri Conner and Bryan Cook. But perhaps the most promising piece in that position group is second-year man Jaden Hicks, who’s capable of playing all over, and could eventually grow into the Reid role in the secondary, both as a player and a leader. And as for the learning curve on the communication part of it? Finding a way to re-sign MLB Nick Bolton was huge in mitigating the loss of Reid. Trying to replace both of them as signal-callers would have been tough.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Chiefs Camp Takeaways: Patrick Mahomes Is Ratcheting Up the Intensity.