It's amazing what the difference of a year makes. I was looking through our archives and realized that last year on this day we were preparing to see the Kansas City Chiefs take the field for OTAs the following day. We were talking about whose stayed in shape, the new rookies and even whether Jarrad Page would show up.
This year, our offseason is nothing like that. As boring as OTAs are for a fan, I'd love to have some legitimate football talk rather than courtroom talk. The NFL lockout has, like so many other things, ruined our offseason to this point.
Last year the Chiefs had 17 practices from the middle of May to the middle of June so that's what they're missing out on this year. It's quite a bit of work that simply won't happen. Luckily, the offensive and defensive play books are, for the most part, staying the same so there won't be a ton of new classroom work but losing that work will hurt no matter what.
I feel like the Chiefs had a good amount of momentum heading into this year and the lockout has halted that. The challenge will be feeding off that momentum again whenever football starts.
This year it doesn't sound like any practices are happening between May and June save a few offensive players with QB Matt Cassel. There's some debate on whether those practice are worth it but it sounds like at least some other KC Chiefs players plan to get together later in the offseason if the lockout continues.