ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Chiefs rookie tight end James O’Shaughnessy is currently second on the depth chart behind starter Travis Kelce. Quite a jump for a player from Illinois State, but O’Shaughnessy had plenty of mentorship along the way since arriving in May as a fifth-round pick. “The whole tight end group helped me out,” O’Shaughnessy said Saturday, “especially Kelce …
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – If the second play on the Chiefs’ first day of full-team training camp practice on Aug. 1 was called to build excitement, it served its purpose. Quarterback Alex Smith took the snap during 11-on-11 drills and immediately looked down the right sideline, where wide receiver Jeremy Maclin had a free release off the line of scrimmage. The …
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Training camp observers on Friday were often overheard asking if something was wrong with Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles. A legitimate question since Charles barely touched the field during 11-on-11 drills, instead giving way to Knile Davis. It turns out that move is by design. “He’s getting blitz periods, he’s getting the 9-on-7 run, the inside run …
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The sight of Chiefs rookie wide receiver Chris Conley wearing a baseball cap working with trainers on the sidelines has become routine at training camp. The 6-3, 205-pound Conley, the first of two third-round picks, hasn’t been on the field since suffering a knee injury on July 29. He has now missed eight total days of practice, …
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – A single practice on any given day during a football season is but a snapshot that in the end helps make up what becomes a feature film of a team’s season. Making evaluations and assumptions from a single practice like the Chiefs training camp session on Friday morning at Missouri Western State University is foolhardy. But …
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Third-year pro Marcus Cooper stood alone under the trees, the sweat flowing from his face following a training camp practice. While the shade offered an escape from the glaring sun, it didn’t prevent the inquiries the Chiefs cornerback knew awaited him. The 6-2, 192-pound Cooper could elect to ignore the questions surrounding a 2014 campaign that …
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – The Chiefs no longer designate second-year pro De’Anthony Thomas as a running back/wide receiver on the roster, making his transformation to the latter complete. The first hint of the move arrived during organized team activities when Thomas worked exclusively with the wide receivers after working with running backs in 2014. And the experiences of working at …
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Chiefs running back Charcandrick West has been hard to miss through the early part of training camp with and without pads. That is, unless one happens to be on defense trying to slow down the second-year pro. The 5-10, 205-pound West picked up where he left off in organized team activities, displaying explosion through a hole …
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Chiefs defensive tackle Dontari Poe’s time on the field shows an eye-popping 1,000-plus total snaps in two straight years. Whatever concerns lingered over snaps is now magnified by Poe’s recent back surgery, which landed the two-time Pro Bowl selection on the physically unable to perform (PUP) to start training camp. The Chiefs also need to evaluate …
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Chiefs wide receiver Fred Williams didn’t need to search far to locate motivation during the offseason. Williams had daily workouts chasing after his three daughters – Aniya and Amea, both 8 years old, and Aury, who is 4 – and he drew inspiration from them while training in his hometown of Milwaukee. “The days I just …
