The Kansas City Chiefs wrapped their first group of Organized Team Activities (OTAs) on Thursday.
This was the final practice in the first of three groups of voluntary workouts, totaling in 10 practice sessions ahead of the team’s mandatory minicamp. These practices are all voluntary, which means that players will come and go throughout the course of OTAs.
While Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce were present earlier in the practice week, they were not at Thursday’s practice according to numerous reports. Some have speculated that it’s because of the charity golf event that Mahomes’ foundation is hosting in Hawaii. A number of other players weren’t spotted at practice, including Khalen Saunders, Charvarius Ward, Frank Clark, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, Kamalei Correa and Charvarius Ward.
In addition to the players who didn’t attend Thursday’s practice, The Athletic’s Nate Taylor noticed four players who were seemingly sidelined with injury.
Juan Thornhill, DeAndre Baker, Rodney Clemons & Malik Herring were on the field at practice but didn’t participate. https://t.co/Q5shWoTIwp
— Nate Taylor (@ByNateTaylor) May 27, 2021
Both Rodney Clemons and Malik Herring sat out rookie minicamp with injuries. DeAndre Baker, of course, broke his femur in Week 17 against the Los Angeles Chargers. He is clearly not yet ready to participate in practices. The one mysterious absence is Juan Thornhill, who notably missed some time during the offseason program last year during his recovery from an ACL injury. It’s possible that it’s nothing serious and that he tweaked something earlier in the practice week, but this certainly bears watching as the offseason program progresses.
Again, these workouts are voluntary and players are not required to participate. Some players do have bonuses attached to workouts and are incentivized to participate. Overall, it seems that the Chiefs have good attendance. Those who didn’t attend typically are in communication with the team and caught up to speed by the time mandatory minicamp comes around in mid-June.
