By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The Kansas City Chiefs officially concluded training camp for 2022 in St. Joseph Thursday with a fairly short, half-padded practice.
The Chiefs held a 10-10-10 practice - 10 plays for the first-team offense, 10 for the first-team defense and then 10 minutes of special teams plays. They cycled through that order three times on a clear, cool morning with temperatures in the low 70s Thursday.
This marks the end of the 12th training camp held at Missouri Western State University. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, just like every other year, was sure to thank the University for all of their hard work getting ready for camp and then hosting the team for three weeks.
"We appreciate everything Missouri Western State University does for us," Reid said. "They roll out the red carpet. It's a great situation here."
In terms of on-the-field work, Reid felt that the 17 practices were overall productive and created strong competition across the board.
"They challenged each other and that's all you can ask for as a coach," he said. "I thought it was great for the young guys to see that and feel that. That you have to come out here every day in the right mindset."
Patrick Mahomes says a number of players jumped out to him over the last three or so weeks in camp.
"Chris Jones," he said right off the bat. "I mean, he was dominant. He's the first one I think of. I think the biggest thing with Chris this year was with the run and the pass. He was down there, dominating stuff, making tackles on the run game."
Certainly on the offensive end, everyone was curious to see how Mahomes would work with the plethora of new receivers, namely Juju Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Skyy Moore. Justin Watson was also in the mix, while the tight ends also had a productive camp.
"Those receivers, in training camp and OTAs, there's a lot of routes run," Mahomes pointed out. "We practice fast. We keep things rolling, and they kind of have to be in and out. As you got to this middle part of camp, you could see it. They had their legs under them. They were running these routes."
Injury update
Running back Jerick McKinnon returned to the field Thursday after missing Wednesday's workout with a hamstring injury. Chris Jones (back spasm), Mecole Hardman (groin spasm) and Juju Smith-Schuster (knee) did not practice, nor did Blake Bell (hip) or Lucas Niang (knee).
Niang spent the entirety of camp on the physically unable to perform list, as he recovers from offseason knee surgery.
Reid said Jones and Hardman are both "improving." He said also that Smith-Schuster is "making progress." It's not yet known if Jones or Hardman will play Saturday against Washington. Reid noted it's unlikely that Smith-Schuster will see action.
As for who will play in the game, Reid said the starters will play for most of the first half, with the third and fourth-string offense playing the entirety of the second.
Just like in last year's third preseason game against Minnesota, Chad Henne and the second-team offense will sit out to allow the younger players to get more reps.
Mahomes was very effective in the one drive he had last Saturday at Chicago, completing 6-of-7 passes for 80 yards and a touchdown to Blake Bell.
His goal for this Saturday's game remains the same.
"You want to move the ball down the field," Mahomes said. "Kind of move through the procedure of everything and hopefully you get at least one touchdown in there. I mean, our goal is to score every time we're on the field. You want to be in and out of the huddle the right way, moving the ball and executing the offense."
Saturday's game kicks off at 3 p.m. central.
Future in St. Joseph
This was the last required year that the Chiefs had to be at Missouri Western for training camp, per the current agreement, with two optional years left.
Missouri Western president Elizabeth Kennedy told KFEQ Radio's The Hotline during camp that the university will officially begin negotiations with the Chiefs about exercising those two optional years in March.
The agreement is looked at and evaluated every year, and Kennedy notes how special it is for Missouri Western and St. Joseph to be in the Chiefs Kingdom spotlight for those three weeks.
"It really is just a really great atmosphere," Kennedy said. "We're happy to host it and I'm really happy to work with all of our different partners in our community who are so excited."
Voice of the Chiefs Mitch Holthus has been to every training camp the last 29 years, including all of 12 of them in St. Joseph. He doesn't believe it's a coincidence that the Chiefs started becoming consistent postseason contenders shortly after moving camp to Missouri Western in 2010.
"We've had 11 camps in St. Joe and have been to the playoffs in eight of those 11 years," Holthus said. "I don't think it's a coincidence that the most successful nine years in Chiefs history, a lot of it is Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, but this is where those seasons begin - right here on this campus and right here in this city."
"It's been fantastic for the team," Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt said in late July. "Andy and his staff really enjoy being here. They believe this environment is really conducive to getting the guys ready. The University has been very responsive over the course of our relationship in terms of making changes in order to help the experience be better."
"(The agreement) is something we'll evaluate once camp is done. We do that every year. Certainly, I hope we'll be back in the future."
Chiefs president Mark Donovan complimented Missouri Western and St. Joseph in July before camp even started, saying, "We love our partnership, we love our relationships, and we fully intend to continue to have those relationships.”
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.