Chiefs training camp notebook: Orlando Brown Jr. has arrived — so what happens next?

As of Monday afternoon, the Kansas City Chiefs had held five full-team practices without starting left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. Roderick Johnson started at left tackle for the first three workouts, with Andrew Wylie working at the position on Saturday.

For Monday morning's workout — the first padded practice of training camp — Johnson returned to the top left tackle position. But that sounds like it is all set to change on Tuesday.

"You have the right to throw him back in and go," said head coach Andy Reid at a post-practice presser on Monday. "When he gets here, we'll talk to him and see where he's at — [and] be smart with it."

As a reminder, Brown hasn't only missed the beginning of Chiefs training camp. Not having signed his franchise tag, he also missed the team's entire offseason program, including voluntary organized team activities (OTAs) and mandatory minicamp. The last time he was in a Kansas City jersey was the AFC title game in January, which was seven months ago.

Though he had yet to see Brown at the time of his press conference, Reid made it sound as if the left tackle will be back in the lineup as soon as possible.

"It's hard to mimic the game speed and putting the uniform on and so on — helmet and pads on when you're doing stuff on your own," said Reid. "You got to go through that to get yourself right — and he understands that."

Reid said the challenges found in Brown's late arrival will be learning the new parts of the offense implemented for 2022 while adjusting to the heat in St. Joseph. Reid's practices are famously more difficult than those run by other coaches around the league — and, on Monday, it was hot and humid at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri.

"It was warm and it's tough," acknowledged Reid. "You're adding another layer on, plus the crown that they have to wear, which isn't real cool, so you add that with the heat and the elements, you got to push yourself through."

Still, the difficult part of camp for Brown will come with the easy part: getting to rejoin teammates he built relationships with all throughout 2021.

"That's one of our leaders out there, and everybody in this building loves Big O," said tight end Travis Kelce. "And hopefully, we can get him here and get him acclimated as soon as possible... it's definitely been a little bit different of a locker room, you know? Such a big dude, such a big personality, man. [He] brings a lot of life to the group, so we'll be happy to have him back."

Observations

You can find Arrowhead Pride my full observations from Monday’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), TE Jody Fortson (quad)

Tweet of the day

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

Super Bowl LIV champ Mitch Schwartz is fully embracing the post-career life.

Quote of the day

Tight end Travis Kelce on Eagles center Jason Kelce wearing bubble wrap on his NFL-mandated guardian cap: “You guys thought I was a prick. He's the stubborn one — but he's funny. It was a funny gesture. I think that the guardian caps are silly. I think we're just out here wearing mushroom helmets that are doing nothing but just adding weight to our heads, so hopefully we can get rid of those so we won't have to wear them again.”

What’s next?

The Chiefs return to the practice field on Tuesday for their fifth workout open to the public. The practice begins at 9:15 a.m. Arrowhead Time. Here’s the complete schedule. The team’s quarterbacks, running backs and specialists will be available to sign autographs after practice as special teams coordinator Dave Toub addresses the media at the podium.