The Kansas City Chiefs begin their three-day rookie minicamp on Friday and wrap up on Sunday.
Rookie minicamp will give the Chiefs their first look at their 2021 draft class, and will also give them a chance to work out a group of undrafted free agents. Brett Veach already signed eight UDFAs so far. There will also be a total of five players joining for tryouts. That number is typically significantly higher, but the NFL has limited the number of players that can participate due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
So what will rookies be doing at rookie minicamp? Players are allowed to wear helmets, but no pads. Andy Reid described what a typical day of rookie minicamp practice looks like back in 2018.
“This format is exactly like it will be for the vets when they come in for their minicamp,” Reid said. “They got here early, we had meetings this morning. Now they come out they do their walkthrough. They’ll go back for lunch. Then they’ll come out for a special teams practice, the specialists will come out. Then we’ll start our practice. There will be a special teams period within the practice, just like you guys normally see during the year. It will be an afternoon practice, will last a couple of hours and then they’re out of here. They leave the field, go into meetings again and then they go sleep.”
Obviously, this year might look a little bit different in terms of the walkthrough and special teams period. With only six draft picks, eight undrafted free agents and five tryout players, it’ll be difficult to field enough players to do a proper walkthrough. Reid will still find a way to make this count the most for his players, even if the format is a bit different due to the pandemic.
