That’s a wrap.
The Chiefs on Thursday put the finishing touches on their mandatory three-day minicamp and can now look forward to what for most of them amounts to a month-long break until training camp in late July.
But before the players took off for their respective summer vacations, coach Andy Reid wanted to provide his team a message of appreciation and approval about how things went at the Chiefs’ KC training facility — not just at the now-concluded minicamp, but during the team’s entire offseason workout program.
“I told the players this, that first of all, I appreciated their attendance during this time,” Reid said. “We have a lot of new faces, and so it gave us a great introduction to the offense, defense and special teams, which I thought was huge for us, and then we’ll go ahead and fine-tune everything once we get up to training camp.”
The Chiefs didn’t have the opportunity for early preparation in 2020. Last year, the NFL adjusted to a virtual environment for the entire offseason because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Training camps followed, but they were abbreviated.
At this time last year, for instance, Reid and his coaching staff were relying on Zoom calls for install periods. As Reid pointed out Thursday, nothing compares to having players on the field under the watchful eye of the entire coaching staff.
“You can talk about fundamentals and techniques, but you can’t work on them and that’s just what’s real,” Reid said. “This gives you an opportunity to actually run the play and work on the fundamentals and techniques and let the players after the coaches have evaluated their last season to sit there and help them get better with, again, techniques and the fundamentals they might need this season.
“I think it’s a win-win. I think it’s great to have the technology, but at the same time I think it’s important that we’re still able to get them on the field.”
Reid’s last point certainly applied to quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who underwent offseason toe surgery. With in-person practices this offseason, the Chiefs were able to closely monitor Mahomes’ recovery process.
The star signal-caller said Thursday that he didn’t “see any problems moving forward” based on what he was able to do during Phase III of the offseason workout program.
“I thought I had a good OTAs, a good minicamp,” said Mahomes, who a full-go for the practices. “I was able to move around, scramble around and do the things I need to do.”
Reid agreed.
“He made it through and I think this was good for him,” Reid said. “Then we’ll just see how he feels once we get up to camp.
“But he sure got a lot of work done here and he came out feeling pretty good.”
With Mahomes getting the thumbs-up on his health, and his teammates also putting in the kind of effort their head coach wanted to see, the Chiefs enter the break on a high note.
“They’ve got a good mindset,” Reid said. “As coaches, we appreciate that.”
