KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One of the biggest early stories in Kansas City Chiefs training camp was the emergence of first-round rookie defensive tackle Peter Woods, who flashed quick feet and active hands to dominate one-on-one drills.Since then, though, Woods has mostly been a non-factor in two preseason games, logging 43 defensive snaps with no tackles and one QB pressure.So what gives?The logical answer is this: Woods hasn’t quite been himself after suffering a left ankle injury in practice on Aug. 12.During a screen pass in 11-on-11 workouts, he landed awkwardly and immediately grabbed his lower left leg, though he stayed in drills then and hasn’t missed a practice since.“Just a roll-up on my ankle. It’s fine now,” Woods said Monday. “Something that I decided to push through and work through. Nothing serious to be worried about.”My biggest takeaway from Chiefs training campJesse NewellAt least, not for the future. Woods did seem to lose some side-to-side burst the last two weeks while moving closer to full health.What was most important, he said, was letting his new coaches and teammates know that small setbacks weren’t going to keep him off the field.“I’m just the new guy around here,” Woods said. “Nobody really knows me yet. So I’ve always got something to prove. Send a message to my coaches and my teammates that I’m a fighter. (Staying in practice) was more about the message I’m sending my coaches, my teammates about my reliability and my dependability — and less about how I was feeling in the moment.”The good news for the Chiefs? Woods said he felt plenty of progress in recent days after an early time when he was “telling myself to push through.” That included feeling more like himself during Saturday’s road preseason loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.“I feel like this weekend, I really got over that hump, like, ‘OK, I’m feeling good,'” Woods said. “So I’m ready to go. I’m excited.”Woods — the 29th pick in April’s draft — says he is “100 percent” confident he’ll be back to full strength for the season opener against the Denver Broncos on Sept. 14.Interestingly, fellow 2026 first-round pick Mansoor Delane said Monday that he too worked to remain on the field with a lingering training-camp injury to show his commitment. Delane, who’s been recovering from a shoulder ailment, only returned to full-team drills last week before getting into his first preseason game Saturday.“I feel like I owe it to my brothers, owe it to this team, owe it to this organization,” Delane said of staying on the practice field as much as possible. “Like I said, I’m not here to just sit on that sideline, whatever it is. I’m here to contribute.”Overall, Woods said he’d grown during the previous four weeks of training camp. Coach Andy Reid’s prep for the season in the Missouri heat and humidity is widely considered one of the NFL’s toughest preseason preps.“It’s a grind. It’s where you go into that dark place. It’s just you and football, and it’s just testing your measure and how much you love it,” Woods said. “But I think it’s so necessary because we’re all going to face some type of adversity coming up in the season. So putting you in those adverse situations on purpose, intentionally, I think that’s important.”Woods has also faced numerous double teams this preseason while playing alongside backups; he won’t get the benefit of multiple snaps next to starters Chris Jones and Khyiris Tonga until the regular season begins.Still, Woods believes he’s learned something from his first two preseason games.“It’s just been an exciting time for me, being out there, getting reps, learning different techniques that I can actually apply to a real-game scenario,” Woods said. “It’s just been a great experience.”