ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — The past few years, Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid had drifted away from bringing rookies and quarterbacks into training camp a few days early, reasoning that such a veteran team coming off deep playoff runs could do without it.After all, for a decade, the Chiefs had made at least the wild-card round. Many of those seasons ended in February.But the Chiefs collapsed last season, finishing a dismal 6-11 while losing quarterback Patrick Mahomes to a major knee injury. There were significant roster issues on both sides of the ball, depth problems at important positions that became exacerbated when injuries happened to other players, and it all meant an end to the season far earlier than anyone in Kansas City had expected.So, with the team in need of a reset — among other reasons — Reid opted to bring his quarterbacks and rookies, along with a few other players coming off injuries, back to Missouri Western State University for a few days of work before the full squad arrives.
“I didn’t like not doing it last year after I got done with it, to be honest with you,” Reid said of the three-day crash course, which continued through heat indexes topping triple digits Sunday. “It’s a good thing for the quarterbacks, good thing for the rookies coming in. We do have more numbers (of rookies) this year, so it allows us to get more reps.“I think,” Reid added, “that will benefit us.”
