Sunday offensive observations from St. Joe

Kent Swanson was unavailable to scout the offense for a second straight day (his hair needed some TLC), but I’m going to do my best to fill in for you guys.

Injury update

Starting right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif left practice after the first run period. They looked to be evaluating his head off in the tent, but he was able to walk over there and kept his pads on for a while.

Damien Williams left practice after one pass-protection drill and was being evaluated for his shoulder.

Pass-protection drills started off with RBs vs ILBs and TEs vs EDGE players.

Tight ends Alex Ellis and Demetrius Harris fared well through their reps.

On the other hand, Travis Kelce, Tim Wright and Jace Amaro had more up-and-down reps and had to work much harder.

Running back Kareem Hunt clearly worked on his pass protection this offseason, as he put together multiple good reps vs the inside linebackers.

Watching Anthony Hitchens and Anthony Sherman go at it, for one rep in pass protection was awesome—two guys giving 100 percent, even in practice. Sherman ultimately held him off but Hitchens pushed the pocket a bit.

TEs and RBs vs LBs and some box safeties in coverage drills followed.

The highlight here was definitely RB Darrel Williams showing he can be a threat vertically. He made a good outside release through contact and tracked the ball well over his shoulder with some hands in the way.

All the TEs looked really good in the passing game all day Sunday consistently beating safeties and linebackers regularly.

Harris showed a fantastic swim off the line of scrimmage to get free of Watts by a few yards before hauling in the catch.

During the run period, Andrew Wylie was the man who stepped in for LDT at right guard once he departed.

Cam Erving is the starting left guard—and there is no real competition there. No one will ever say the guy can’t get out into space and cover ground.

The Chiefs worked on third and long (7-plus yards) again Sunday and went the entire period with an interception.

The pass rush and coverage really stifled the offense the first two rounds. Mitchell Schwartz struggled to contain Dee Ford off the edge.

Marcus Kemp and De’Anthony Thomas saw some reps with the ones Sunday and Kemp.

Kemp made some highlight catches with the second team as well—one full diving catch for the ball and another elevating up in the air, going over Ukeme Eligwe down the seam. He appeared to be edging out Jehu Chesson and Gehrig Dieter for that last wide receiver spot.

Up next was some red-zone work, during which saw the offense finally start to click.

A stretch of five plays saw two Harris touchdowns, a Kelce touchdown, a shallow dig to Chris Conley with room to run, and a beautiful pass to Tyreek Hill that he couldn’t bring.

Kelce, as everyone expects, is impossible to stop and was all day.

Hill had a quiet day but saw this needle-thread from Mahomes go through his hands.

The Chiefs wrapped up with long drive, and the offense continued to look sharp.

Mahomes drove the first team down the field quickly and efficiently, connecting with Kelce multiple times and the offensive line was able to open quite a few big lanes for Kareem Hunt to run through.

Quick Depth Chart Notes/Predictions:

A couple predictions, that are by no means facts, based on what I saw Sunday:

• Harris is definitely the No. 2 tight end, but Alex Ellis has a leg up on the third spot based upon his blocking and showing soft hands.
• Kemp is making a strong case to be the fifth WR but hot on his heels as best WR performance Sunday was Byron Pringle.
• Pringle is mostly working with and against the threes, but he’s gotten some reps with the twos and has looked good.