The Kansas City Chiefs concluded their annual rookie minicamp over the weekend, a three-day event that provided dozens of first-year players and hopeful prospects with their first tastes of professional football. It also gave the Chiefs' coaches a glimpse of the long-term foundation of the roster.
For the Chiefs, the rookie minicamp is an important introductory weekend that allows them to at least get a handle on which young players might hold greater promise in training camp. Players are challenged up front, especially on the mental side, and the players themselves go from two-dimensional notes on scouting reports to in-the-flesh options.
Andy Reid spoke to the media after the Chiefs concluded their rookie minicamp.
Andy Reid spoke to the media on Monday and gave his observations on the team's rookie class of seven draftees and 17 more undrafted free agents—not to mention the numerous players trying out for the team.
"It’s good to have the rookies in here," said Reid. "I thought they did a nice job. It was good work. Good introduction. A lot of these guys have been traveling all over America so they haven’t done a whole lot of football to this point, so it was good to get them back into the swing of things and they can see what kind of pace we go at."
Reid also had good things to say about some members of the draft class. The Chiefs' first round pick, wide receiver Xavier Worthy from Texas, got his first looks within the offense and Reid described him as a "sharp kid."
"I thought he did a nice job picking things up and working through… you know, we asked him to do a whole lot of stuff there. He was put in most of the primary spots so it was good for him to get in there and move around a little bit."
The Chiefs added three new offensive linemen in this draft class, anchored by second-round choice Kingsley Suamataia, a tackle out of BYU. Reid had positive things to say about the entire group.
"I thought it was good. I’ll be curious to see when our other guys get in here. We’re not going live and there’s no running game," said Reid. "We’re not doing that against each other, so you’re not going to see that going on. But I liked what I saw from what I saw. It’s gotta be one of the better young offensive line groups that we’ve had in here collectively."
The Chiefs also added a new face at tight end to help deepen the position in TCU's Jared Wiley. Reid had plenty of praise for him as well saying, "I liked what I saw."
"Big kid. Can change direction. He was a good blocker in college so we’ll see how that transfers. I thought he caught the ball well for the most part. Retained information. So I thought he did a pretty good job there."