Chiefs Training Camp: Jonathan Baldwin's Big Opportunity

Perhaps no other player has as big of an opportunity as Jonathan Baldwin does at Kansas City Chiefs training camp this month. if Dwayne Bowe skips all of camp, Baldwin has a massive opportunity in front of him. If Baldwin turns into a solid player this year, Bowe's absence could be flipped from a negative to a positive. (Yet another reason, Dwayne...get to camp.)

I've been thinking Baldwin's going to have a big camp and you're going to hear a lot of hype from the Chiefs. They're going to be more interested in the players that are in attendance and I'm sure they won't have any problems talking about how well Baldwin is doing, perhaps in the hopes that Bowe hears them.

Romeo Crennel said on Thursday that he thinks Baldwin is in store for a good year.

"I expect that he will come on and have a good year," Crennel said, per quotes distributed by the Chiefs. "Last year, he had an injury and that kind of slowed him down a little bit, but I think this offseason he kind of feels like he might be the guy and he sees that opportunity and he worked really hard this offseason. He reported back, his weight is down, he's in great shape, he's got a good attitude, so I anticipate that he'll have a good year going forward."

A little bit of coach speak there but what he says is true. Baldwin, for his part, seems ready, saying he's "super-motivated" to play.

"I am super motivated," Baldwin said, via comments sent out by the Chiefs (I missed him yesterday). "You just have to keep working hard and critiquing yourself and don't get complacent and stuck on being one way. I just want to get better and just continue to critique myself and take it from there."

Prediction: Baldwin has one of the best camps of any player on the team this year. I hope that happens, and I hope it carries into the regular season.

For video evidence of Baldwin's newfound dedication, here's a video he tweeted out a few weeks back of him working out at 1:30 a.m.