Chiefs OTAs return: Schedule, injury report, position battles and more

The Kansas City Chiefs OTAs continue today with three more practices over the next three days. These are once again of the voluntary variety so no word yet if we'll see Brandon Flowers or Justin Houston, both of whom missed the first week of OTAs.

The absence of Flowers and Houston was by far the biggest story in the first week of Chiefs OTAs. Their absence will likely be the biggest of this second week, too (assuming they actually are, you know, absent).

Related: Reason behind Houston's absence | Why would Flowers miss?

With the players and coaches meeting the media this week you can also expect to hear questions about Alex Smith and his contract because that's another popular question.

There are plenty of other story lines and position battles to follow this week. Catch up on them below.

OTA schedule

Offseason workouts begin: April 21
Rookie minicamp: May 24-26
OTAs: May 27-29, June 3-5, June 10-13
Mandatory Minicamp: June 17-19

The injury report

Injured players last week included Eric Fisher and Travis Kelce. Fisher isn't expected to practice fully until training camp after he underwent offseason surgery. Kelce had microfracture surgery last year so we're not really sure where he stands.

Other injured players at the end of last week included AJ Jenkins, Risean Broussard and Kyle Williams. Aaron Murray appears to be fully healthy, according to reports from the scene.

De'Anthony Thomas will not be there

Oregon is on the quarters system which means they don't finish up school for a couple weeks. There is an NFL rule that players can not participate with their NFL team until their school is done (Andrew Luck went through the same thing at Stanford). Thomas is getting ready with instructions from the Chiefs staff on what to do but it won't be at the Chiefs facility.

Thomas participated in the rookie minicamp last month. He can not return to the Chiefs until the mandatory minicamp June 17-19.

Position battles to watch

Read the full post with more thoughts on each position.

• Quarterback (Tyler Bray vs. Aaron Murray)
• Free safety (Husain Abdullah vs. Sanders Commings vs. others)
• Right guard (Rishaw Johnson vs. Jeff Linkenbach vs. Rok Watkins)
• Slot receiver (Junior Hemingway vs. De'Anthony Thomas vs. Weston Dressler vs. others)
• Tight end (Travis Kelce vs. Sean McGrath vs. Demetrius Harris vs. others)
• Cornerback (Brandon Flowers vs. Sean Smith vs. Marcus Cooper vs. Phililp Gaines vs. others)
• Offensive tackle (J'Marcus Webb vs. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif vs. others)

Questions to answer

• Will Rishaw Johnson or Jeff Linkenbach get the right guard snaps?
• Will Junior Hemingway secure the slot receiver position?
• Is there anyone challenging Donnie Avery for the No. 2 receiver?
• Can Tyler Bray make the No. 3 quarterback battle interesting?
• Who is starting at defensive end (Allen Bailey?) and what is the subpackage rotation?
• What's the free safety rotation between Husain Abdullah and Sanders Commings like?
• How often is Dee Ford getting on the field with Tamba Hali and the other pass rusher?
• Who are the Chiefs kick and punt returners?