Chiefs camp: Ben Grubbs, Eric Kush solidifying offensive line
One of the main storylines entering Kansas City Chiefs training camp this summer was how the offensive line would come together. There had been talk of who would start at center and right guard, two things that appear to have been settled by the coaching staff before the players even arrived in St. Joseph, Mo.
From all indications over the first three days, the Chiefs will roll out a unit of Eric Fisher, Ben Grubbs, Eric Kush, Jeff Allen and Donald Stephenson from left to right, barring injuries. If this is the case, the team will be starting three different players from the Week 1 group last year, and Allen is going to be starting at guard instead of tackle.
All of this movement can be tough on a position group that relies heavily on cohesion, but it appears things are coming together well. Much of the credit goes to Kush, a third-year center who is taking charge at the line of scrimmage after replacing the departed Rodney Hudson.
“It’s going good. Eric (Kush) is a big communicator, he leads the ship each and every play,” Grubbs said on Monday to the media, via a press release. “We look for his calls and at the same time, he looks for ours. A lot of that is just learning the offense and knowing the defense’s schemes. I definitely don’t want to be a burden on anybody. One man doesn’t have all the responsibility, all five guys need to know the calls. Coach Heck is coaching everybody, not just Kush. We’re just trying to help each other out.”
This is beyond critical. The center needs to recognize what the defense is trying to do and snuff it out, otherwise the play is likely to be blown up immediately. With so many new faces and some familiar ones in new positions, Kush being able to communicate is doubly important.
For Grubbs, he feels the offense is coming to him in a timely manner in regards to checks and calls.
“Yeah, it has been. A lot of that is just familiarizing yourself with the calls,” Grubbs said. “When you think you have it down, the defense throws something else at you. It’s just trying to stay a step ahead of the defense. A lot of that is just getting to your playbook, asking questions, making the mistakes on the field and then correcting them the next day.”
Kush is a veteran of training camp, despite having very limited real playing time. That experience is serving him well with a much tougher job laying ahead of him.
“Well, my first training camp – you come in here as a young guy, you don’t know what to expect,” Kush said. “You know it’s going to be a tough, tough camp. It’s an NFL training camp. My first year, I had lots of anxiety – you don’t know what’s going to happen. But this year, doing this thing for the third time, it feels great. I know what to expect every day, I know how to properly prepare for the next day and correct my mistakes and everything. It feels good, and I’m going to keep this thing rolling and keep the guys together and keep a lot of energy going forward.”