ST. JOSEPH, Mo – Mother Nature did not cooperate Monday morning with the Chiefs in their first padded practice of the 2015 training camp at Missouri Western State University.
Aug. 2, 2015; St. Joseph, MO; General view of rain clouds moving in over the practice field. The Chiefs were forced to practice indoors after lightning activity. (Emily DeShazer/The Topeka Capital-Journal)
Less than an hour into the work, head coach Andy Reid cleared the field, sending his players, staff and helpers into the indoor practice facility. While it was not raining, and lightning had not been seen, the skies to the north and northwest were very dark and thunder could be heard.
The Chiefs have a lightning detector on the field when they practice and when it went off, indicating nearby electrical charges, Reid changed venues. Lightning never was apparent on the MWSU campus and there was only a brief shower.
“We’ve got rules and regulations,” Reid said. “When we’re told there is lightning, we go in for the safety of the players and we were able to get the fans back to their cars.”
The head coach said the Chiefs were able to go through the entire practice script despite the disruption, and they worked at “thud” level. Translation, Reid wanted contact, but no tackling of the ball carrier, receiver and as always, the quarterback.
“It was good to get this work in,” Reid said. “It was a different tempo with the pads on. There was a lot of good hitting today, everything but taking the man to the ground.”
The increased hitting was very visible and audible during the 9-on-7 run-game drill, the pass protection-pass rush battles and in a special teams drill that features one-on-one contests with blockers trying to stop players in coverage as they were running in the open field. There were plenty of big collisions.
Aug. 3, 2015; St. Joseph, MO: Chiefs offensive lineman, in red, hold off their defensive counterparts during 11-on-11 drills at training camp. (Emily DeShazer/The Topeka Capital-Journal)
In the pass protection-rush matchups, guards Ben Grubbs and Paul Fanaika were most impressive, while on defense there was some very good work by defensive ends Allen Bailey and Mike Catapano and linebackers Dee Ford and Dezman Moses.
First-round draft choice cornerback Marcus Peters had a good day working in the secondary, grabbing a pair of interceptions and dropping another. Peters has been working at left cornerback with the No. 2 defense and the No. 1 nickel group.
One of his interceptions came on a tipped ball and the other came when he broke quickly in coverage and went up and grabbed a pass intended for tight end Travis Kelce.
“It was a good day,” Peters said. “I was able to play fast and make some plays on the ball and was able to capitalize on them. I learn from today and grow from it.”
The head coach wants to see more performances like that from Peters.
“He did nice and now you’ve got to come right back and do it again,” Reid saud.
Roster move
The Chiefs released defensive tackle Jerel Worthy on Monday. Worthy, a former second-round draft choice of the Packers, was running with the third defensive line. Running back Darrin Reaves took part in the practice. He was signed on Sunday, replacing LaVance Taylor. Reaves is wearing No. 32.
From the training room
There were no changes in the Chiefs injury report as they worked without wide receiver Junior Hemingway (hip strain), defensive end David Irving (low back), quarterback Tyler Bray (knee), wide receiver Chris Conley (knee), James-Michael Johnson (calf), tight end Demetrius Harris (foot) and nose tackle Dontari Poe (back).
Hemingway suffered his injury late in Sunday’s practice and very early in this camp he’s repeated a pattern that limited his preseason time last year with camp injuries.
“We had some tweaks with a couple of guys that got up and got back in,” Reid said of a group that included wide receiver Jeremy Maclin and cornerback Phillip Gaines. “They were all OK to come back.”
Notes
Kicker Cairo Santos made seven of nine field goal attempts, missing from 37 and 50 yards. The longer kick was compromised by a poor hold from Dustin Colquitt … NFL referee Carl Cheffers was on the field along with several other members of his officiating team. The league zebras always tour training camps in August. They will speak with the team this week about rules changes and interpretations … the Chiefs are scheduled to practice Tuesday morning, starting at 8:15 a.m.
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Bob Gretz is the senior editor for ChiefsDigest.com. Use the contact page to reach him or find him on Twitter: @BobGretzcom.
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