FanPost

Observations from the Kansas City Chiefs July 25th practice

David Eulitt/Kansas City Star/MCT via Getty Images

From the FanPosts -Joel

Most of you know that Saturday is the first day that the Chiefs will practice in pads, so today the players were in jerseys, helmets, and shorts.

Since there were no pads, you have probably guessed correctly that there was minimal contact between players on the field. The focus of the morning seemed to be on fundamentals.

In the first portion of practice, which lasted a while, the coaches had the players organized by position group. The defense was on the field that's closest to the stands where most of the fans sit, and the offense was on the far field. Andy Reid roamed from group to group during this time on both fields.

During positional group drills, the secondary focused for a bit on stopping extra yardage. Al Harris led the defensive backs in a drill that focused on taking away the cutback, presumably from a running back or a receiver on a short throw in which they'd try to zig or zag around a defensive back for more running room. During this drill, one player would hold a cushion and run forward and make an effort to cutback, and the defender would make a "hit" as close to the center of the cushioned chest that he could. Harris shouted 5-8 times during this drill, "Take away the cutback!"

For a little while, the linebackers lined up against each other and practiced dropping back into coverage. Later, all the linebackers lined up against younger assistant coaches or trainers and followed them dropping back into coverage. Bob Sutton would stand behind the players and signal with his hand to each coach the type of route he wanted them to run. The players looked a lot better covering the coaches/trainers in coverage than they did against each other, not that they looked all that bad against each other. This would be a funny way to practice if it's the only time they practiced dropping back, but of course they get plenty of real practice doing this against offensive players during 11 on 11.

During another linebacker drill, an assistant coach would hold a ball and indicate when he was snapping it, and some players would go through the motions of rushing the passer and some would fall back into coverage. Between plays, Tamba must have still been in the zone. When the coach was looking the other way, Tamba decided he wanted to go in for the sack and came up behind the coach and wrapped his arm around him like he was going to take him down the sack, strip the ball, or both. The coach didn't look too taken by surprise. Everyone needs a sweaty Tamba hug every once in a while.

On the far field, the receivers (and maybe running backs) were running undefended routes and catching passes from the QBs. Junior Hemingway let out a loud, funny noise of disappointment that we could hear all the way from the bleachers by the other field after he dropped a pass that he should have caught. My friend, Curt, got a great shot of Hemingway after the play:

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7-on-7

Alex Smith made a nice connection with Dwayne Bowe toward the beginning of the drills. Chase Daniel hit Demetrius Harris over the middle in tight space. Daniel also made connection with Frankie Hammond Jr. Later, Albert Wilson caught a pass from Chase Daniel. It was a nice enough catch that it enthused a couple of other offensive players who weren't in on the play, getting them to shout. Later, Fred Williams made a nice catch from Daniel that he had to jump for. The crowd liked it.

Aaron Murray connected with De'Anthony Thomas and Thomas showed some nice moves after the catch to get by defenders. Granted, they weren't really trying to hit him today.

When Smith was back in, he targeted Bowe on the left sideline. They didn't connect. It was clear that there was some confusion or miscommunication between them on the play. I was impressed though that Smith didn't throw his hands up in the air in frustration like we've seen some quarterbacks do. Between plays, he and Bowe walked to each other and talked it out. Andy Reid joined them. The three of them talked for about 30 seconds or less and then lined up for the next play. On the next three plays, Smith hit Hemingway twice and Fasano once--all over the middle.

Smith later connected with A.J. Jenkins on a diving catch on the left sideline that the crowd loved. In an earlier post, Joel Thorman ruled the catch in bounds.

Tyler Bray threaded the needle on a pass to Demetrius Harris, who was in between two defenders who ran into each other after Harris made the grab. It was close enough that it looked like it may be broken up or intercepted.

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11-on-11

Someone blew the air horn and the players all came together for 11 on 11 as Metallica's Enter Sandman started playing on the speakers on the field. In the first play, Smith connected with Donnie Avery. Next, Bowe made a nice, athletic grab in traffic. He used his body to command the space and brought the ball in.

Smith overthrew Albert Wilson on a deep throw to the right side. Fasano dropped a pass. Jenkins dropped a pass in the secondary.

Chase Daniel had a nice throw to Hemingway and one to Travis Kelce that the crowd liked.

More observations

The special teams had a couple of sessions that focused on punting and blocking assignments during punting. Colquitt's first punt of the day disappointed him. He seemed to hit with the edge of his foot and it went short and to the left, about half way down the field. On the next punt, De'Anthony Thomas had to back up a few feet to catch it.

Players catching punts were DAT, Frankie Hammond Jr, Weston Dressler, and Kyle Williams. Williams dropped one.

While the punting unit was practicing, the QB's were having target practice on the field closest to the bleachers. They had a few different targets. There was a net with three targets. There were also tall bags with orange cones on top, so they tried to knock the cones off by either hitting them or the bag. Then for the deep ball there was a canister with a hole in it. I was standing by the other field, but the fans in the bleachers seemed to enjoy the target practice. They would cheer whenever someone made a nice throw. When I was watching, Smith hit the canister twice in a row and almost a third time.

Tamba Hali seemed particularly interested in this target drill, or at least seemed like he was having fun watching it. One quarterback would throw at a time while the rest stood together. Hali stood pretty close to the quarterbacks that weren't throwing and watched along with them.

When the whole team huddled at the end of practice, Reid addressed all of them for a few minutes.

After the team broke the huddle, assistants had stations set up near the autograph signing area where players could line up to catch footballs or tennis balls from machines. Reid hung around this area for a while and mingled with the guys in line for machines. He joked around with Justin Houston and gave him a fake punch to the gut. I thought it was cool that Dontari Poe got in line to catch footballs from the machine. He must want to be ready for the interception when the opportunity presents itself. Justin Houston joked like he was going to step in front of Poe when Poe was getting ready to catch.

WR Jerrell Jackon can juggle tennis balls quite well, which he did after his turn at that station.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Arrowhead Pride's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Arrowhead Pride writers or editors.