The Kansas City Chiefs completed their first set of two-a-days at training camp on Saturday.
Chiefs head coach Todd Haley held court with the media on Sunday morning to talk about the first two days of camp.
Here's what he had to say.
The players are starting to get used to their surroundings here at Missouri Western State University. The town is small so you can't go too far without seeing one of the receivers hopping into their car, or GM Scott Pioli riding a bike or Haley pulling into the parking lot. It seems the players are starting to get used to the schedule and what needs to be done.
He also talked about not working with another team during camp like the Herm Edwards-led Chiefs used to do with the Vikings when they were in River Falls, WI. Haley says he hasn't really been part of that in the past. They did it one year in New York but not in Arizona, Dallas or Chicago. The intra-squad scrimmage will be a quasi-replacement for that. "There's no doubt that scrimmage is a big day for us," he said.
He also spent a minute talking about the night practice coming up on Wednesday. He mentioned that the Chiefs first game is at night so it'll be good to get the players under the lights in a competitive setting. Somehow I don't think they'll need any help getting fired up for that game.
Fighting through injuries: "There's a difference between being injured and being hurt. Guys are going to hurt everyday." Haley said he has full trust in the team doctors and training staff when someone used Jamaal Charles as an example of possibly taking it too far. Charles' shoulder was injured at the end of last season and he had surgery on it in January. Haley wasn't concerned citing the team doctors.
"You can't get everything you want or you need." Now what could he be talking about there? The front seven. We've said before that the Chiefs are really banking on improvement from the guys already in-house. "If you're not developing young players, you're probably not seeing success." He said developing young players was "mandatory." Good thing he also said he's comfortable with his coaching staff.
Developing players isn't the only part of it. Haley also talked about developing young coaches when discussing Anthony Pleasant, defensive line coach. "You have to develop young coaches," he said. This reminds me of Belichick. He always has another guy in the pipeline. As much as you need the players, you also need a constant stream of coaches coming in. Just like losing free agents, you'll also lose coaches to coordinator and head coach jobs.
On Saturday the Chiefs spent a lot of time in nickel formation working against the run. Remember last year when teams would run in passing situations and just slice the Chiefs. That's a morale killer right there. Haley acknowledged that the run in general was a problem last year. I already told you that Wallace Gilberry is a guy that's around the ball a lot.
The Chiefs brought in a martial arts expert -- Joseph E. Kim -- over the offseason. Master Kim is back once again. Haley said he'd be with the team this week.
Haley was asked about Tyson Jackson's progress and said while he worked hard this offseason, he's not alone among the guys needing to improve. "Equally big for all these first, second and third year guys," he said. Glenn Dorsey would fall into that category. Chiefs have a lot riding on these guys improving.
The Chiefs coaches have "Chiefs Will" on the back of their shirts. Haley wouldn't talk a whole lot about it but said he likes the word. "Will is an interesting word in football but I'll leave it at that. I think I like the way it sounds."