By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
The Kansas City Chiefs have just one training camp practice left on Wednesday before they head back to their team facilities in Kansas City.
While it’s been an enjoyable experience for the team and the fans, special teams coach Dave Toub is ready to get home.
"St. Joe is great," Toub reiterated. "I'm 59 years old, and I'm sleeping in a dorm room. You know, it's kind of hard."
Running backs coach Greg Lewis said much the same.
"I'm enjoying it up here in St. Joe," said Lewis, who made the switch from receivers coach to running backs coach this offseason. "Good team building, but honestly I do want to get home and see my kids and my wife. The players probably do, too, but we still have work to do and need to come out (Wednesday) and finish up strong."
Training camp began July 28, and will have spanned 16 practices over a 22-day period.
The Chiefs practiced in full pads for just over two hours Tuesday. Defensive end Frank Clark left practice early with a hamstring. Jarran Reed left early due to cramping. Demone Harris (oblique) and Derrick Nnadi (hip) were also pulled from practice early.
Coming into Tuesday, the Chiefs had gotten mostly healthy. The only three who didn't practice at all Tuesday were Laurent Duvarney-Tardif (hand), Kyle Long (knee) and Malik Herring (knee).
Roster moves
The Chiefs announced a flurry of roster moves Tuesday to get their number down to 85 players, per NFL rules.
Receiver Chad Williams was released, while corner Manny Patterson, tight end Evan Baylis and receiver Antonio Callaway have all been waived. Running back Elijah McGuire has been placed on injured reserve.
One area where future cuts may have to be made is offensive line, where many young guys are competing for a roster spot and playing time.
Offensive line coach Andy Heck says the competition there has been solid, and that could make decisions difficult.
"We have a lot of depth," Heck said, "particularly at those inside center/guard positions, and we have a lot of guys who I think belong in this league, and I'm not sure how many of them are going to be able to make this team. So, it's great competition there. It's a good problem to have, though."
The Chiefs will have to cut five more players by next Tuesday and be down to 53 on the active roster by August 31.
Mike Danna
A second-year pro out of Michigan, Danna has had a solid camp and got the chance to play with the first-team defense late in Tuesday's practice after Clark and Nnadi were sidelined.
Alex Okafor also saw some first-team reps at DE Tuesday.
Defensive line coach Brendan Daly says Danna has turned a corner this camp.
"He's expanded his role," Daly said of Danna. "He's doing some different things for us. He's moving around to some different spots, and he's been able to handle it. He's handled a little bit more communication roles, so he's hit that mark."
Receivers
Receivers coach Joe Bleymaier, who's entering his first season in that role, gave credit where credit is due Tuesday, pointing out how impressive receiver Mecole Hardman has been this camp.
"Mecole is incredibly smart," Bleymaier said. "He's obviously incredibly athletic. He's taken coaching and he's taken the quarterbacks' input, the coaching staff's input on what he's doing and he's really applied it to the field."
Bleymaier also credited receiver Marcus Kemp saying, "he knows the offense, he knows where to be and how to get there."
Other observations
Coach Daly says the defensive staff will continue to utilize Chris Jones at both defensive tackle and defensive end. Jones got beat by rookie Trey Smith early in one-on-one blocking drills Tuesday, but then buried the rookie on the second go-round.
Rookie safety Zayne Anderson (BYU) got some time with the first-team defense Tuesday. Another rookie, corner Devon Key (Western Kentucky) has been fighting to keep a roster spot in the secondary as well.
Both Key and Anderson were signed as undrafted free agents.
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