By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Friends, family, and long, hot practices for the Kansas City Chiefs who just wrapped up a full weekend of practices in pads.
The Chiefs practices for more than two hours on Sunday.
Offensive lineman Trey Smith acknowledges things get a little chippy between the offense and the defense during drills.
“I mean, coach sets the tempo, but it’s football man,” Smith tells reporters after Sunday’s practice on the Missouri Western State University campus. “Anger, sparks are going to fly, bodies might get hit a little harder than expected. It is what it is, though. At the end of the day, we’re grown men out here competing for jobs. Man, there’s going to be tension and there’s going to be a lot of hot heads and stuff going on, but even cool tempers, we know what our goal is at the end of the year, though. We’re going to get after it.”
Linebacker Drue Tranquill returns to the team after signing an extension.
“We’ve got a great group of guys and we’re excited to play ball,” Tranquill tells reporters post-practice. “One of the things I noticed when I came to Kansas City is you just had a group of guys who love to play football. The days get long out here at St. Joe. They can get hot. Thankfully, we had a nice breeze today. Everybody felt it. It felt good. But the spirit was high. We’ve just got a lot in the balance. We’ve got a lot to compete for. We know, Coach Reid says it every day, you’ve just got to show up and push through.”
Smith says it is a privilege to line up with long-time friend of Creed Humphrey.
“Creed and I have known each other since sophomore year of high school. So, we’ve always been friends. And to be able to play with a guy, to have that continuity, that chemistry together as well, it makes our jobs a lot easier; a lot of things we don’t have to verbalize.” Smith says. “It’s been a huge help, man. It’s easy when you play next to a talent player like that.”
And Tranquill praises the sacrifices made by the wives and families as the players sequester on the Missouri Western campus for training camp.
“Our families go through a lot for us to play this game. They don’t get nearly the credit we do,” Tranquill says. “They don’t get to talk to the media, the media doesn’t really talk about them, and so the stuff that they do behind the scenes to make this possible is nothing short of amazing. They know how much we love and appreciate them. We love our wives, we love our kids, we love our family.”
The Chiefs return to the practice fields on the Missouri Western campus tomorrow morning, before taking Tuesday off.