Real or Fantasy: Chiefs' 2022 training camp storylines
Real or Fantasy: Chiefs' 2022 training camp storylines
There are a lot of narratives already forming as Kansas City gets ready for the season. Let's try to sift through which ones are real and which ones are not.
It’s August, it’s hot, and the pads have come on for NFL teams. And for fans everywhere, that means narratives are already starting to emerge.
As we talked about when discussing what matters and what doesn’t during training camp, there is always going to be a ton of coverage on each practice. That’s only natural, as we enjoy a return of the best sport on Earth. It also means that narratives are going to quickly emerge as people look to confirm their priors as well as start to predict what the new season will bring.
And you know what that means? It means we get to run back one of my favorite games from last year, “Real or Fantasy.” Here’s what I wrote last year regarding training camp narratives/storylines.
As camp goes on and turns to preseason and then regular season, many of the storylines that develop during camp are stamped out as nothing more than a pipe dream… The key is to try and figure out which of them are pointing towards something real and which of them are nothing but a wisp and a vapor.
With that in mind, let’s take the opportunity to play “real or fantasy,” in which I’m going to go through some of the main storylines early in Chiefs camp and give my best shot as to whether they point towards something solid or something that will be nothing but a faded memory by midseason (or even early season).
Some of last season’s camp storylines included Chris Jones actually getting time at DE, Trey Smith grabbing a starting job, Jody Fortson hype season, Willie Gay Jr. finally being a full-time player, Mitch Schwartz potentially returning, Noah Gray as a legitimate weapon on offense, and a lot more. Some of them were real (Jones DID get a shot at DE and Smith DID grab a starting job), and some of them were fantasy (Schwartz returning, Gay being given the reins, etc).
So what about this year? There are already an abundance of storylines emerging, from the New Frank Clark to Isiah Pacheco and Skyy Moore impressing to MVS showing hands issues to Juju being “the guy” to… well, you get it. I asked you, Chiefs kingdom, to name some of your favorite storylines as well.
You gave some great suggestions, and I’m going to tackle as many of them as possible here. So let’s play “Real or Fantasy!”