The Kansas City Chiefs continued their live show from training camp on Tuesday. Mitch Holthus and Matt McMullen previewed the quarterback position group, made some observations and recapped what occurred in practice recently. There are two more shows this week, with live coverage of padded practice beginning on Friday at 9:30 a.m. CT.
For now, we’ve made some observations of our own based on the practice clips that were shown during the Aug. 11 episode of “Chiefs training camp live.”
Deon Yelder or Nick Keizer for TE2?
In the first clip that was shown from today’s practice, Chiefs TE Deon Yelder comes streaking across the screen. Yelder was No. 3 in the pecking order last season with Blake Bell at No. 2 behind Travis Kelce. Yelder had one standout game against the Detroit Lions where he caught two passes for 43 yards. After that, there was some inclination to believe he’d have more opportunities on offense, but that never happened.
In another clip, practice squad tight end Nick Keizer was shown lining up with the starters at tight end. Keizer was among the top-graded tight ends in blocking and receiving grades for the Chiefs during the 2019 preseason. He spent the entire 2019 season on the practice squad in Kansas City before signing a reserve/future deal to return in 2020. Keizer also worked with the second and third teams as well.
Many believed that Ricky Seals-Jones would grab the No. 2 job in Kansas City after being signed as a free agent. It’s still early and we’ve only seen Yelder and Keizer worked in on these two plays with starters, but things look good for the incumbents in Kansas City.
Clyde Edwards-Helaire working at return specialist
Chiefs first-round draft pick and presumed starting RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire fielded some punts with Dave Toub during special teams drills. Toub said they’d be working some different guys in there including players that hadn’t necessarily worked there before. Edwards-Helaire did return 40 kicks for LSU during his career for a total of 877 yards. That’s something to consider as Kansas City works to find a punt and kick returners for the 2020 season.
Other players who caught punts during this clip: Tyreek Hill, Elijah McGuire, DeAndre Washington, Justice Shelton-Mosley and Gehrig Dieter
Running back pecking order
The pecking order for the running backs in Kansas City following the opt-out of Damien Williams is coming to light. Taking snaps with the first team and Patrick Mahomes was rookie RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire and third-year RB Darrel Williams. Second-year RB Darwin Thompson worked with Chad Henne and the second-team offense. Free-agent RB DeAndre Washington worked with Matt Moore in the third-team offense. Washington also worked with Jordan Ta’amu and the fourth-team.
Now, obviously, they could still move guys around some during the course of training camp. I think those first two guys are relatively entrenched as things currently stand. It’s interesting to see Washington working with the third and fourth teams. Many believed he could earn the No. 2 role because he played with Mahomes during college. That doesn’t appear to be the case, at least right now anyways.
First, second and third-team offensive lines
The Chiefs are continuing to experiment on the offensive line and find the best combination of starters and backup players. Here’s a look at the groups that ran with the first, second and third-team offense.
The first-team offense alternated between two starting offensive lines:
- LT Eric Fisher, LG Mike Remmers, C Austin Reiter, RG Andrew Wylie, RT Mitchell Schwartz.
- LT Eric Fisher, LG Kelechi Osemele, C Austin Reiter, RG Mike Remmers, RT Mitchell Schwartz.
The second-team offense ran the following offensive line:
- LT Greg Senat, LG Kelechi Osemele, C Nick Allegretti, RG Ryan Hunter, RT Jackson Barton.
The third-team offense had this combination when Matt Moore was out there:
- LT Jackson Barton, LG Ryan Hunter, C Darryl Williams, RG Nick Allegretti, RT Yasir Durant
You can find out more about the starting guard battle here.
