Jul 21, 2024

After last year's holdout, Chiefs Chris Jones excited to be back at Training Camp

Posted Jul 21, 2024 5:27 PM
Defensive tackle Chris Jones walks down the hill on the first day of practice alongside defensive end Mike Danna.  Jones is back at training camp this year after a holdout last year during contract negotiations/ Photo by Alexis Starks
Defensive tackle Chris Jones walks down the hill on the first day of practice alongside defensive end Mike Danna.  Jones is back at training camp this year after a holdout last year during contract negotiations/ Photo by Alexis Starks

By MATT PIKE

St. Joseph Post

After missing training camp during last year's contract negotiations, defensive tackle Chris Jones was back with the Chiefs at the start of this year's camp at Missouri Western State University.

Jones signed a new five-year deal with the Chiefs earlier this offseason. He says he's happy to be back at camp in St. Joseph

"You know it's been two years since I've been able to be out here with the guys," Jones tells reporters following practice. "Love being in this environment where we all can focus on football, get better, compete, and challenge each other day in and day out, it feels good to be back in the dorm staying on a twin bed."

Energy was high as the Chiefs kicked off this year's training camp in front of fans at Missouri Western.

With full attendance, aside from those on the injury list, one face everyone was excited to see back was Jones.

Head Coach Andy Reid says Jones is one of the team captains and he's excited to have him in St. Joseph.

"To have him out here, he brings energy, he always brings energy," Reid says. "He has fun out here and I'm glad he's here."

A significant blow to the Chiefs defense was the announcement today of safety Justin Reid being placed on the non-football injury list with a quad injury.

Fans also got an opportunity during practice to see some options to replace some key defensive players.

The Chiefs defense lost players like Mike Edwards and most notably cornerback L'Jarius Sneed this offseason and now look to replace them.

Jones admits in doing that, there are going to be some challenges ahead

"We can compare to last year but it's a completely different team from last year, we've got some challenges ahead of us, we've got a lot of young guys that we're looking forward to stepping up," Jones says. "We've still got Trent McDuffie and we can build off of it, we can build off it, we've got a lot of young guys who when the pads come on, we can see what's going on."

The Chiefs made it through day one with no major injuries and practiced for just over an hour. Practice on Monday will be for season ticket members at 9:15am.

Injury report and roster moves

The Kansas City Chiefs have placed safety Justin Reid on the non football injury list.

Reid appeared at practice without a helmet.  The Chiefs report that a quad injury is what landed Reid on the list, he can now not practice until he completes a physical and head coach Andy Reid reports he is day to day. 

The Chiefs activated running back Clyde Edwards Helaire from the non football injury list and also released tight end Gerrit Prince, who struggled with drops during the rookie and quarterback portion of camp.  

To get the roster back to 91 players Kansas City signed tight end Izaiah Gathings.

Chris Jones rides to the locker room following practice waving to fans/ Photo by Alexis Starks
Chris Jones rides to the locker room following practice waving to fans/ Photo by Alexis Starks

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