Five Observations from Chiefs OTA practice on Thursday
Chiefs hit the field for full squad workouts for first time in 2021
The Chief kicked off the third phase of their offseason program this week with three organized team activity practices (OTAs), the first opportunity during the offseason for the club to conduct full-team drills.
On Thursday the club held 11-on-11 and seven-on-seven periods with focuses on team blitz drills and 2-minute situations along with special teams.
It’s the time of the year for coaches to teach the players, which is what head coach Andy Reid loves most about his job.
“That’s what you do as a coach, you’re here to teach and there are not a lot of secrets in the NFL anymore, so the better that you can teach I think the better you can help enhance the ability of your players,” Reid said.
Offensive line gelling
The Chiefs have plenty of new faces along the offensive line, and so far Reid likes what he sees from his newcomers, especially left tackle Orlando Brown and left guard Joe Thuney.
“They're doing the kind of same things they were doing that we saw on tape, but I like the people and I like their work ethic,” Reid said. “You never know about that until you get them.”
Most importantly, Reid sees communication and chemistry developing under fire on the practice field.
“Now the defense is running twists and they’re blitzing, so they're all working, that whole front is working through the communication process with one another as they look at different looks,” Reid said. “I think that liking each other, being able to communicate, being smart, all those things matter, and so I like watching that as they go through that process.”
Brown says he finds tremendous value in getting on the field with his new teammates and acclimating himself with the offense before heading to training camp this summer.
“To me, especially upfront and maybe for quarterbacks as well, it's important to get that live timing against a real body, get that live timing against a real defensive end — the rusher, the time of the snap count, the system, all of those different things,” Brown said. “I think that I'm at a point in my career where definitely these types of offseasons and being able to practice against live personnel, it helps me a lot because I'm able to focus on things that I may not have been able to focus on last year and be able to craft.”
Reid also pointed to what promises to be one of the toughest position battles when the team arrives for training camp in July.
“There's going to be a battle on the right side and there are a bunch of guys that can play,” Reid said. We've always done this, we take the five best and throw them in there. We'll see how it all sorts out.”
As for players such as Kyle Long, Laurent Duvernay-Tardif and Lucas Niang who might need to shake off rust after not playing in 2020, Reid says he hasn’t seen any issues thus far.
“Long right now, you talk probably the most rust that you would think, and he's stepped in and done a nice job,” Reid said. “He's playing the right guard spot right now, but we know he also can play tackle. He's jumped in there next to (Mike) Remmers and they've moved right along and done a nice job.”
Anthony Hitchens leaner
It’s hard to miss a slim-down Anthony Hitchens on the field this spring, and the linebacker says that’s part of his plan to attack the offseason differently at age 28.
“It's no secret, I am in year eight, I can't do what I did three, four years ago,” Hitchens said. “I'm just trying to lean out, watch my diet and just keep working. Try different things and hopefully it works for my body.”
Hitchens, listed at 6-foot, 235 pounds, wants to start this spring lighter with more speed, then begin adding more weight and bulk when the pads go on during training camp while ramping up his weight program toward the beginning of the season.
“Obviously we all know this is a spread type of offense and a lot of guys are running criss-cross and Tyreek Hill is running down the field,” Hitchens said. “I got a little more lean and I'm just watching the body fat.”
Jarran Reed key addition
Reid applauded many of the team’s offseason additions but he saved his most pointed praise for defensive tackle Jarran Reed, a late free-agent addition from Seattle.
“We’re always talking about the offensive line, but that signing right there was a really good get and I think will pay off for us in a real big way this season,” Reid said. “It gives us some flexibility with what we can do with Chris (Jones), so I like that addition.”
The addition of Reed allows the Chiefs to explore moving Jones around more on the defensive line, especially on the edge as a pass rusher. It also adds to a deep rotation at defensive tackle with Reed joining Derrick Nnadi and Tershawn Wharton.
“You’re talking about a Pro Bowl-caliber player and just plugging him in, and not much has been said about it,” Reid said. “I’m excited to see him once we kick this thing off.”
Backup quarterbacks get reps
With Patrick Mahomes hosting a golf tournament in Hawaii for his 15 and the Mahomies Foundation, the backup quarterbacks took the spotlight on Thursday while the offense didn’t appear to skip a beat.
The Chiefs remain confident with Chad Henne’s steady veteran leadership as the No. 2 quarterback behind Mahomes, but there expects to be a battle for the No. 3 role between undrafted rookie free agent Shane Buchele from SMU and second-year pro Anthony Gordon from Washington State.
Both quarterbacks looked sharp on Thursday but Gordon had the edge during seven-on-seven work with a string of good throws into tight windows. Gordon also connected with wide receiver Gehrig Dieter on deep touchdown play.
While neither Gordon or Buechele possess the arm strength of Mahomes, both come from passer-friendly college offenses and look comfortable in an NFL pocket. This won’t be a high-profile position battle in training camp but it should be highly entertaining to watch.
Players to watch
Several young pass catchers stood out at practice on Thursday, including fifth-round draft pick Cornell Powell, who made a terrific catch in stride on a ball throw down the right sideline by Buechele. … Daurice Fountain, a third-year pro from Northern Iowa who earned a spot on the roster after an impressive performance at the team’s rookie minicamp earlier this month, also posted several big grabs. He snagged a ball away from double coverage during seven-on-seven drills and backed it up with another solid catch on the following play. … The speed of running back Jerick McKinnon is hard to miss on the practice field, and it’s easy to envision the Chiefs coming up with packages capitalizing on his quickness and acceleration. … Kansas City should get more production out of their 2020 rookie class, especially cornerback BoPete Keyes and defensive end Mike Danna.
— Matt Derrick
Note: Chiefs media guidelines for practices prohibit the reporting of depth chart listings, specific formations, trick plays and other certain details from practices that are closed to the public.
Patrick Mahomes “a full go” in recovering from toe surgery
Patrick Mahomes wasn’t at practice for the Chiefs on Thursday but head coach Andy Reid reported his quarterback has “been doing everything” during the team’s full-squad workouts that started on Tuesday.
“He’s been a full go, and he’s still working with (vice president of sports medicine and performance) Rick (Burkholder) with the toe and that,” Reid said. “We utilized this as more of a passing camp. We don’t run the ball much in this thing. It’s good that way, and he’s toe has really done well.”
Mahomes didn’t practice Thursday — he’s hosting a golf tournament in Hawaii with his 15 and the Mahomies Foundation. He was one of eight players absent from the field on Thursday along with tight end Travis Kelce, running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, defensive end Frank Clark, cornerback Charvarius Ward, defensive tackle Khalen Saunders and linebacker Kamalei Correa.
Four players appeared on the practice field without helmets and did not participate in team drills. That includes safety Juan Thornhill, cornerback Deandre Baker, safety Rodney Clemons and defensive end Malik Herring.
Reid didn’t expand on the reasons for players not attending the voluntary workout.
“We’ve been lucky where we’ve had most of our team here,” Reid said. “We had a little bit of a cold bug going around so there’s some guys missing today but for the most part we’ve had everybody here, and the injuries – we haven’t had any injuries, which is, knock on wood, is also good.”
Chiefs defense attacking red-zone woes
by Matt Derrick
In his first meeting with the Kansas City defense this offseason, coordinator Steve Spagnuolo cut right to the chase and he didn’t mince his words. The Chiefs’ red-zone defense in 2020 wasn’t merely not good enough. It was dead last in the league.
“I feel like we were pretty much at the bottom of the pack really in every red zone statistic,” safety Tyrann Mathieu said.
Scoring on the Chiefs’ defense in the red zone last season was as automatic as you can get in the NFL. Opponents scored touchdowns on 72.88 percent of their drives venturing inside the 20-yard line. The Chiefs gave up 50 scores inside the 20 last year, and 43 of them were touchdowns.
Spagnuolo stood in front of his squad and supplied three reasons the Chiefs faltered at stopping the opposition from marching into the end zone, linebacker Anthony Hitchens explained.
“Some of them were physical, some of them were mental – not doing the blitz correctly or not running the correct coverage that he called – and some of them were scheme-related,” Hitchens said. “He said he put some on himself that he made some bad calls as well.”
That caused Hitchens to sit up and take notice.
“For our coach to own up like that, we take pride in that,” Hitchens said after the team’s third offseason practice on Thursday. “He's sitting there in front of the whole defense saying that there's some calls he could have called better, but at the same time we also know talking to ourselves there are some things we could have did better as players.”
It bears underscoring that the Chiefs weren’t just bad in the red zone last season, but historically awful. Only one defense in the last decade gave up a greater percentage of touchdowns in red-zone opportunities than the 2020 Chiefs. The 2018 Tampa Bay Buccaneers surrendered touchdowns on 77.59 percent of red-zone possessions en route to a 5-11 record while ranking No. 31 in scoring defense, allowing 29 points per game.
The Chiefs ranked 10th in scoring defense last season, yielding just 22.6 points per contest, underscoring how even a slight improvement in red-zone efficiency can go a long way.
“I think we were top 10 the year we won the Super Bowl, and last year we were 32nd if I'm not mistaken,” Hitchens said. “That's the difference right there. You give three points up instead of seven, that's a four-point swing right there.”
It wasn’t just one or two bad games, either. Opposing quarterbacks completed 72.5 percent of their passes against the Chiefs in the red zone, posting an aggregate passer rating of 120.8. Las Vegas’ Derek Carr feasted on the Kansas City defense near the goal line, completing 7-of-8 passes with four touchdowns. Denver’s Drew Lock completed 85.7 percent of his passes against the Chiefs with two touchdowns and even rushed for a score as well.
And let’s not forget the three red-zone touchdown passes from Tom Brady in the team’s Super Bowl LV loss to Tampa Bay. Holding the Buccaneers to field goals instead of touchdowns wouldn’t have covered the deficit, but it would have meant the Chiefs trailing 9-6 at halftime instead of 21-6, a much more manageable deficit that would have impacted play calling in the second half.
“There were times when teams were getting in the red zone three times, scored three touchdowns, that's 21 points,” Hitchens said. “We can easily cut that in half or less than half. We're just working on that right now.”
The Chiefs believe they’ve identified some of their weaknesses on film. They fell victim to the same tricks over and over again. The defense needs to be smarter, Hitchens said, including coaches and players alike.
“We've seen the same plays from Week 1 through the Super Bowl,” Hitchens said. “We did our offseason homework, we know we've got some different things now and we're going to improve. That's our main goal is if they get down there — hopefully, they don't — but if they do give up three and not seven.”
The Chiefs started phase three of the NFL’s offseason program on Tuesday with the first of 10 organized team activity practices (OTAs). On day one they worked on red-zone defense. On day two, they worked on red-zone defense.
“We’ve been harping on it,” Mathieu said. “Coach Spags has been really harping on the details of it, but I think that’s something that I would love to see us really get better at going forward, especially during the season.”
Indeed when the Chiefs red-zone defense clicks, great things happen. Kansas City had the 10th-best red-zone defense in 2019, allowing touchdowns on just 53.03 percent of the time. The result was a Super Bowl championship. That’s why perfect can’t become the enemy of good enough for these Chiefs, Mathieu explained.
“Teams are going to be able to put drives together on us,” he said. “I think it’s up to us, it’s up to the players to really go out there and try our best to keep guys out of the end zone.”
Improvement in the red zone is No. 1 on the defense’s agenda right now, Hitchens said, and it could be what stands between the Chiefs and another Super Bowl title run.
“Did we have perfect red zone days these last two days? No, not really,” Hitchens said, “but there are things that we see from our offense that we see around this league so we'll get work at it in May and not wait until Week 1 or Week 3 or 4.
“I just think we all know we was the 32nd team in the red zone, so we got some work to do, and it started on Tuesday.”
No. 57 special meaning for Orlando Brown Jr.
Orlando Brown Jr. embraced his arrival in Kansas City because it allowed him to fulfill a promise to his late father to play left tackle in the NFL, but it also meant parting with another personal connection to Orlando Brown Sr.
Brown Jr. wore No. 78 with Baltimore, one of two jersey numbers his father wore in the NFL along with No. 77. He’s used No. 78 since his earliest days on a football field through high school, college and the pros.
But No. 78 isn’t available in Kansas City. The jersey number is retired for Pro Football Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Bell. No. 77 also wasn’t available, belonging right now to offensive lineman Andrew Wylie.
Brown pondered his options. He wanted to continue honoring his father but also wanted to pay homage to one of his mentors, Jammal Brown, who wore No. 55 as an All-American offensive lineman at Oklahoma from 2000 to 2004 before embarking on an eight-year NFL career.
Combining his father’s No. 77 and Jammal Brown’s No. 55 first prompted the notion of No. 75 — but that, too, was unavailable with right tackle Mike Remmers donning that jersey. Hence No. 57 now belongs to Brown Jr.
“I felt like 57 gave me the opportunity to represent two men that had an incredible impact on my life, with that being Jammal Brown wearing 55 and my day wearing 77 and 78,” Brown Jr. said. “I just felt like it was an opportunity.”
It’s also an extraordinarily unusual jersey number for a left tackle in the NFL. No. 57 is normally the domain of linebackers but can sometimes be found on defensive linemen and interior offensive linemen plus the occasional long snapper.
The 2020 Chiefs’ media guide lists 18 players in team history wearing No. 57, all linebackers. Defensive end Alex Okafor wore the number last season. In the last 20 years, only one offensive lineman for the club wore a uniform number in the 50s — that would be team Hall of Fame lineman Brian Waters, No. 54.
“I just thought it was a great number,” Brown Jr. said. “I definitely thought it was unique but it definitely gives me the opportunity to represent those men.”