Chiefs training camp notebook: Skyy Moore begins to settle in

After a quiet first few days for Kansas City Chiefs rookie wide receiver Skyy Moore, there was a moment during Friday's training camp workout in which it seemed like it all came together. During an early 11-on-11 period, quarterback Chad Henne threw a pass to the right sideline, and Moore, covered by cornerback Nazeeh Johnson — somehow, someway — came down with the ball.

Moore would register two more catches for a total of three on four targets throughout the scrimmage periods.

About a week ago, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid stressed how smooth the rookie looked while highlighting his 10-inch hands. The head coach's praise continued on Friday.

"He made a couple nice plays," said Reid, as he spoke to the media after practice. "It's him learning the game. He's very strong, though. You could see he's got great feet and [is] very strong in the core area — and so that's going to come in handy for him as he goes through this."

"He's a tough player," added quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who spoke after Reid. "He's smaller as far as height, but he's thicker as far as a receiver. I think you see that he's making a lot of tough, contested catches over the middle. He's thinking a lot because he's a rookie getting thrown into the offense, and we're not holding back at all.

"But you can tell when he knows what he's doing. He can run some great routes, has some great releases and I think can be a big part of our offense moving forward."

Mahomes' primary targets throughout camp have been tight end Travis Kelce and wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, but by putting good plays on film, Moore is earning more time with Mahomes and the first team.

And even as Mahomes hasn't thrown to Moore much in days leading up to Friday, watching the practice tape back has begun to make him reconsider.

"When you watch the film, you might choose to throw it on one side," started Mahomes. "You look to the other side, and you see [Moore is] getting open, then you come back and put that in your head, and you're like, 'Tomorrow, I might give him a chance to make a play on that one.'

"I think you saw that [Friday] with that catch down the field where he dove and made a big contested catch. Even though he's not the tallest guy, he can make those tough catches and can build that trust with the quarterbacks."

And Moore is even making a strong impression with those in his own position room. On Wednesday, fifth-year wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster had great things to say about the 21-year-old.

"I'll tell you one thing about that kid that I love is his happiness," Smith-Schuster said of Moore. "I've seen a lot of guys come into the league so driven, so focused and they forget to enjoy the moment. And Skyy, like I said, sky's the limit for him. He's a guy who has speed, hands – all around – smart, smart kid. That's what I love about him.

"He's a great player that's going to show. He's going to help us out a lot. Inside, outside. Potentially, I could see him playing running back, doing stuff like that just because he has it in him. And another thing is too, he's always happy. He's having fun, he's in the moment. He's enjoying himself."

Forget Skyy being the limit for a second; perhaps given Smith-Schuster’s words, we should be saying, the Moore you can do.

Observations

You can find my full observations from Friday’s practice here.

Post-practice chat

Press conferences

If you can't see the above (Apple iTunes) embed, click here. The press conferences are also available on Spotify.

Injury report

• Did not practice (due to injury): CB Rashad Fenton (shoulder) OL Lucas Niang (knee) OL Prince Tega Wanogho (leg)

Tweet of the day

Our John Dixon compiled all of Friday's tweets here. Here is the tweet of the day:

Coach 'em up, Joe.

Quote of the day

Andy Reid, responding to Patrick Mahomes criticism from an anonymous NFL defensive coordinator that he plays "streetball" after his first read: "[Mahomes] is tremendous. He's tremendous... You guys look at Pro Football Focus and all those things. Just take a peek at that, and see how many times he hits the second receiver."

What's next?

The Chiefs return to the practice field on Saturday for their third workout open to the public. The practice begins at 9:15 a.m. Arrowhead Time. Here's the complete schedule. Every member of the team will be available to sign autographs after practice as offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy addresses the media at the podium.