Arrowheadlines: Kansas City Chiefs News 7/26

Jamaal Charles reflects on his own disability in inspiring Special Olympics speech from SB Nation

He wasn't just there to support the athletes -- he was there to share about his personal struggles with his own mental disability. The starting running back also shared about how he had once competed in the Special Olympics.

Special Olympics opening ceremony is out of this world from The Los Angeles Times

First Lady Michelle Obama showed up to close the ceremonies with words of inspiration, but equally as neat were the Uganda athletes who prepared for the ceremonies next door by boogeying across the Sports Arena floor.

Stevie Wonder sang, Maria Shriver remembered her mother and Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and the reciting of the Special Olympics oath was given by Kansas City Chiefs running back and former Special Olympian Jamaal Charles, who suffers from a learning disability. But equally compelling was watching the athletes interact with each other throughout the afternoon.

ESPN Video: Special Olympics a beginning for Jamaal Charles

Chiefs Positional Guide to Training Camp from The Mothership

Chiefs Positional Preview: Examining the Offensive Line

If Jamaal Charles, Jeremy Maclin, Travis Kelce and De'Anthony Thomas are a few of the amenities, then the engine behind the Kansas City Chiefs offense is the offensive line.

Just like a car, if things aren't right with the engine, then the playmakers can't do their jobs.

For the Kansas City Chiefs in 2015, there are two players who return along the offensive line that played significant snaps for them last year.

Around the AFC West: Broncos Put Spotlight on Former Jayhawk, Chris Harris Jr. from The Mothership

The Broncos begin their training camp on Friday, July 31.

In a three-part video series at DenverBroncos.com, the story of former Kansas Jayhawk cornerback Chris Harris, Jr. is told through the eyes of Harris and those closest to him.

The video series is titled, "The Underdog." Watch Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3.

Chiefs' defensive secondary emerges with quality depth from Chiefs Digest

In 2014, the secondary jumped to No. 2 against the pass (203.2 yards allowed per game), but fell short in the turnover margin with only six interceptions.

The secondary was able to drop to 41 explosive plays of 20 yards or more last year, but arguably had to change philosophies in its aggressive press-man attack to limit the risk of big plays and stay competitive in games.

The third season will be the opportunity for the coaching staff to find a good blend between the two styles.

Kansas City currently has 16 defensive backs — nine cornerbacks, seven safeties — on the roster:

Mailbag, part I: Will Chiefs invest in a new QB soon? from ESPN

This season will go a long way toward the Chiefs' long-term picture at quarterback. If Alex Smith has a big season, I can see him being their quarterback for a lot of years. He's only 31 so age won't be an issue for him any time soon. But I could see the Chiefs getting restless about him if he doesn't respond with a big season.

The NFL 100 Rankings: Part 2 — Who Is Football's No. 1 Player? from Grantland

17. Justin Houston, LB, Chiefs (27)

Houston's cursed to play in an era when he's matched up against one of the greatest defensive players in the history of football. It's really not fair. Twenty-two-sack seasons don't come around every day; it's only the fourth time since the league started recording sacks that a player even made it to 22, and nobody's gotten to 23. Houston basically had close to the most productive pass-rushing season a player has had in modern league history ... and was completely overshadowed by Watt, because Watt also happens to be the best run defender in the league, while Houston's just a competent linebacker against the run.

Charleston Southern's Cory Peoples and Rod Wilson to join Kansas City Chiefs' staff with Bill Walsh NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship from WCBD News 2

Charleston Southern assistant football coaches Cory Peoples and Rod Wilson will join the Kansas City Chiefs' staff for the next three weeks as part of the Bill Walsh NFL Minority Coaching Fellowship. The former University of South Carolina teammates, and NFL players, will work with the Chiefs' linebackers, defensive backs and special teams units...

...Peoples and Wilson will join head coach Andy Reid and his staff this Sunday and hit the field with the Chiefs on Monday. They will remain with the team until August 13.

Peoples is entering his second season as defensive backs coach at Charleston Southern, while Wilson is beginning his third as inside linebackers coach. Both starred for the Gamecocks before graduating from South Carolina in 2005 and moving on to NFL playing careers.

Examining the Chiefs 2015 opponents: The Baltimore Ravens (Week 15) from Examiner.com

This is the third of a 13-part series breaking down the off-season moves, coaching changes, draft and 2015 outlook for each opponent of the Kansas City Chiefs, counting down to their foe for Week 1.

Today we look at one of the favorites to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl, the Baltimore Ravens. Love them or hate them, the Ravens are as consistently good as their AFC North rivals, the Cleveland Browns are consistently mediocre.

Former NFL running back Thomas Jones scoring roles as actor from The Allentown Morning Call

Thomas Jones would wake up, crack open a few beers and wonder what was next.

No more practices. No more games. No more locker-room laughs with his teammates. Life without football for the former NFL running back was a scary thought.

"I was very depressed, in this weird space," said Jones, who retired after the 2011 season. "There was this emptiness, almost like you broke up with your girlfriend and then it's like, what do you do? I had never been much of a drinker, but I was waking up in the morning and drinking Coronas. I needed something to get over it.

"For like eight or nine months, it was a weird, weird time for me."

Derrick Johnson eager to return to field with Chiefs from KCTV5

"Sometimes the offense is clapping and stuff when they catch a ball over the middle and I'm like, 'Come on man, I would have killed 'em on that one.'"

Johnson turns 33 years old later this year, but he maintains the enthusiasm of a rookie.

NFL suddenly enforces 'policy' to silence Seau's family from The Minneapolis Star-Tribune

Carl Peterson, a much-respected executive during his years with the Kansas City Chiefs, should take this as an insult. He was the last person to present a deceased honoree, Derrick Thomas in 2009, before the Hall decided words of praise offered in-person were redundant.

It was a long tradition of fighting against redundancy cited by Horrigan as the reason that Junior Seau's daughter, Sydney, will not be allowed to speak in honor of her father when the deceased linebacker is inducted on Aug. 8 in Canton, Ohio.

Broncos' Gary Kubiak enters first year of the job he was made to do from The Denver Post

On Aug. 2, 1976, Gary Kubiak walked off a plane and into the rest of his life. Just 14 years old, he absorbed the enormousness of the Kansas City Chiefs' Arrowhead Stadium, the exhilaration, the screaming fans, the red and yellow seats, the white scoreboard staring from above the top deck as if it were a robot raising its hand.

Kubiak caught his breath as he jogged onto the field for the preseason game. He knew how lucky he was to be a ballboy for the Houston Oilers...

...The experience resonated in a way that makes Kubiak smile 39 years later.

"That was the first pro football game I ever went to. (Coach) Bum Phillips took me to Kansas City that day," Kubiak said. "I still remember as a kid going into the stadium, chasing the balls. That was my first day. I was part of pro football."

Blog: Five potential sleepers in fantasy football as training camps open from The Colorado Springs Gazette

Chiefs No. 2 receiver

It is well documented that no Chiefs receiver scored a touchdown last season - but that won't happen again. It was an anomoly. Now, I don't expect the Chiefs to lead the league in passing or anything crazy - but the Kansas City receivers will be undervalued. I want to see who wins the No. 2 job opposite of Jeremy Maclin. Albert Wilson will be a player to watch in training camp.

Chiefs set to arrive Tuesday at Western for training camp from The St. Joseph News-Press

As part of the new contract, the Chiefs will train on newly renovated practice fields after a harsh winter forced a complete rehab of the sod. That work was completed earlier this summer and the facilities utilized by the NFL club will remain largely unchanged from previous years, despite the ongoing construction to renovate adjacent Spratt Stadium.

Fans, however, will notice some changes necessitated by the Spratt project. The parking lot at the Baker Fitness Center will likely not be utilized and Western officials have encouraged the public to park in Lot H and enter on the east side along the visitors' side of Spratt.

Western's director of athletics, Kurt McGuffin, told the News-Press last week that the school will try to use more golf carts this year to help visitors with the longer walk.