Chiefs training camp storylines that interest me
Looking at some of the most intriguing things I'll be watching... and a reminder that some stuff doesn't matter.
Football is back! Well, sort of.
After an offseason that seems shorter every year (this whole “winning the Super Bowl” thing really tends to limit time off from football, and I don’t hate it), the Chiefs have started training camp. Quarterbacks, rookies, and guys working their way back from injuries have already reported, and the rest of the veterans will be arriving at St. Joseph this weekend.
I’ve said this before, but NFL training camp is a magical time of the year. Almost every single team feels good about their chances of improving from last season’s results (except for the champs, who feel good about their chances to maintain). Rookies are going to hit the ground running. Free agent acquisitions are going to seamlessly be incorporated into a new system. Developmental players will all take a step forward, and important contributors will maintain their level of play or improve on it. Sunshine, rainbows, etc.
And, of course, we fans are here for all of it. We’ve gone months without football, and so we’re the equivalent of a parched man desperately stumbling through the desert searching for even the smallest drop of water. Here’s what I’ve written previously about our desperation for something, ANYTHING football related.
A corollary consequence of us starving for real football news is that everything feels like it’s wildly important. Much like to the starving/parched man all things taste incredible and all water goes down smooth, for us, every single play in every single practice feels as though it tells us a story. Everything is a storyline. Every tweet is a reason to get psyched or despair.
I’ve written previously that some things do and don’t matter at training camp. You can read that if you want an in-depth look at why you don’t necessarily need to live and die by each rep in practice. However, today I want to talk about some of the more interesting Chiefs training camp storylines. With a roster that is largely set (they might only have about 5-6 actual roster spots up for grabs, if that), what’s more fascinating to me this year is usage and how the Super Bowl champs are going to incorporate some of the new faces (and utilize guys who are back in perhaps larger roles).
Before we do that, I’ll do a quick refresher on what does and what doesn’t really matter at training camp to remind us all not to get too caught up in the breathless reporting of every single detail as football returns to us. Then I’ll talk about the things that most interest me as the Chiefs start their quest for a threepeat.
What does/doesn’t matter
Since I’ve written about this before, I’ll keep this short and sweet.
The first thing you need to recall is that the results of reps in practices without pads don’t tell you squat about a player in the NFL. In fact, they might be the opposite of informative in that they can be actively deceiving.