{"id":797098,"date":"2026-08-01T08:52:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T08:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/797098\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T08:52:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T08:52:17","slug":"chiefs-training-camp-notebook-day-3-two-rookies-are-stealing-the-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/797098\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs training camp notebook Day 3: Two rookies are stealing the show"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was another nice, cool day in St. Joe for Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> training camp on Friday. It was another ramp-up practice before the pads come on Monday. The session lasted roughly two hours.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s everything to know from Arrowhead Pride\u2019s in-person observations of practice:<\/p>\n

Check out our coverage of the information head coach Andy Reid shared with local media after practice on Friday<\/a>. It includes clarification on the only injury of Friday\u2019s practice: defensive end Ashton Gillotte straining his hamstring.<\/p>\n

Kahlil Benson starts for a second consecutive day<\/p>\n

To open training camp, veteran offensive tackle Jaylon Moore manned the starting right tackle position. On Thursday and Friday, rookie Kahlil Benson was the starter on the right side while Moore went from playing left tackle with the second-team unit on Thursday to playing the right side more on Friday.<\/p>\n

Andy Reid shared his thoughts on Benson\u2019s performance in camp so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe and Moore kind of rotated through that, but he\u2019s done a nice job,\u201d Reid said of Benson. \u201cHe\u2019s learning, but very strong, powerful, good feet, good athletic ability, and is working the consistency part scheme-wise. Physically, he\u2019s got all the tools there, so he\u2019ll just keep working at it, and we\u2019ll see where it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

With full pads set to come on Monday, Reid is being cautious in talking up the undrafted, rookie-minicamp tryout signing from Indiana.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got talent,\u201d Reid reiterated. \u201cWe\u2019re early\u2026 I want to see how he does as we go. Can you pound through those two-and-a-half-hour practices, in the heat, with pads on? And so on\u2026 then you got the preseason games, how do you handle that? It\u2019s a long road\u2026 but to this point, my hat goes off to him; he\u2019s doing a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cyrus Allen refuses to go quietly into the Chiefs\u2019 rookie-receiver narrative<\/p>\n

Through two days of full-team practices, with the context that starting receiver Rashee Rice has been leaving practice for rehabilitation, rookie wideout Cyrus Allen has been the most consistent option for quarterback Patrick Mahomes during seven-on-seven and team periods.<\/p>\n

After contributing in standard ways out of the slot during Wednesday and Thursday\u2019s practices, Allen took another step in showcasing what he can do on Friday.<\/p>\n

After hauling in a one-handed pass down the field, between three defenders, during a full-team period, Allen made another catch on a tight-window throw from Mahomes in a seven-on-seven period. After Mahomes scanned the front side of the route progression, he turned to the backside route being run by Allen on the sideline versus cornerback Nohl Williams.<\/p>\n

Allen secured the catch in bounds and through the ground, proven by the crowd roar that came with it.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Reid alluded to the belief that Allen has gained Mahomes\u2019s trust. He doubled down on that point after practice on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done a nice job; the quarterback trusts him,\u201d Reid said. \u201cHe\u2019s got to clean some things up, but he\u2019s willing to work at it and do that. He\u2019s had a productive two days; you have to keep stacking those as you go, then you have to get the pads on, and we\u2019ll see from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third-year wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who is working to strengthen his chemistry on downfield throws with Mahomes, reminded local media after practice that he warned them<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t even surprising,\u201d Worthy described Allen\u2019s performance through three practices. \u201cI told y\u2019all in the offseason that Cyrus is doing this. He\u2019s going to continue to show out in camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

Our first \u2018chippy\u2019 play of camp comes before the pads<\/p>\n

During a seven-on-seven period featuring the starting offense and the starting defense, running back Kenneth Walker caught a pass going towards the sideline and advanced upfield as the play wrapped up. In pursuit, linebacker Drue Tranquill came over and wasn\u2019t able to slow up before Walker cut back in. The two collided.<\/p>\n

Walker went to the ground, but quickly bounced up and threw the football directly at Tranquill, pairing the gesture with a quick staredown. Tranquill stood at the podium after practice and addressed one of the first \u201cfiery\u201d plays of camp.<\/p>\n

\u201dSmall moment,\u201d Tranquill said. \u201cWe\u2019re just competing at the end of the down, trying to get the ball out, punch, and then Kenneth\u2019s fired up, throws the ball, and it\u2019s all love. We\u2019re smiling at each other after the play, but we\u2019re just making each other better rep by rep.<\/p>\n

\u201c[We\u2019re] trying to make an emphasis this year on getting the ball out; we need to get the ball out more on defense,\u201d Tranquill emphasized to finish his description of the play.<\/p>\n

Other notes from practice<\/p>\n

Backup quarterback Justin Fields was impressively accurate throwing deep passes for the second consecutive day. During a team period, he perfectly placed a fade pass on the pylon for wide receiver Nikko Remigio to secure between a trailing corner and a safety coming over. The tough catch produced one of the loudest crowd roars of the day.<\/p>\n

In the backfield, it appears rookie running back Emmett Johnson has work to do to contribute to the first-team offense. Second-year back Brashard Smith has been featured with the starters much more often; on Friday, Johnson seemed to run exclusively with the second- or third-team units.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to take too much away from the Chiefs\u2019 usage of under-center plays during camp so far, but there has been a clear focus on working from those types of formations when running through plays or pass routes in seven-on-seven periods. During a team period on air in the early stages of Friday\u2019s practice, the starting offense ran six of seven plays; most were under-center formations with play action.<\/p>\n

With Gillotte out, fourth-year defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah seemed to be a formidable fill-in. Reid pointed him out after practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cFelix is actually doing a nice job; it looks like his get-off, his explosion, is better,\u201d Reid shared. \u201cWe\u2019ll see when the pads get on\u2026 he\u2019s shown us some things here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was another nice, cool day in St. Joe for Kansas City Chiefs training camp on Friday. It…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":797099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[142521,24538,349,99],"class_list":["post-797098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-kansas-city-chiefs-analysis","tag-kansas-city-chiefs-training-camp","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/797099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=797098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}