Another day at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri for the Kansas City Chiefs as they approach their first preseason game of the season.
The Chiefs had another one of Andy Reid’s infamous 10-10-10 practices on Monday. That means that the team cycled through 10 offensive, 10 defensive and 10 special teams plays in 11-on-11 throughout the course of practice. It’s a fast-paced practice, but it’s also akin to a walkthrough at times. Certain portions of practice are designed in which both offense and defense can run plays successfully without the opposite side of the ball interfering. The first-team offense works against the second-team defense and the first-team defense works against the second-team offense in this periods.
With all of that in mind, here are a few of the things that we’re taking away from the latest training camp practice.
Backup QB competition heats up this week
Chiefs Wire’s Nick Roesch reported that Chad Henne didn’t appear to take any snaps during Monday’s 10-10-10 practice. That’s because the team is trying to get a closer look at both Shane Buechele and Dustin Crum ahead of the first preseason game.
By most accounts, Buechele won the day of practice on Monday, but it was close. Both Buechele and Crum had deep completions to second-year WR Cornell Powell. The big difference on the day is that Crum threw an interception to Juan Thornhill. He would have been sacked on the play, but he rolled out of the pocket and chucked the ball haplessly downfield in hopes of finding a receiver.
Ultimately, Buechele and Crum’s performance in the preseason could be the difference between making it through the first round of cuts. Last season, the Chiefs cut their fourth quarterback during the trim down from 90 to 85 players.
Connection between Patrick Mahomes, Mecole Hardman shining
Fourth-year WR Mecole Hardman has been one of the standout players on offense throughout training camp. They’re using him in a variety of different ways, ranging from getting him the ball in space to lining him up as a wildcat quarterback. The most notable thing is that he seems to have developed a connection with Patrick Mahomes as one of the offense’s most veteran receivers. That trust is even showing up during the red zone and goal line drills.
Mahomes to Hardman for the TD.#ChiefsKingdom #ChiefsCamp pic.twitter.com/YYggyDV21m
— Derek Vreeland (@DerekVreeland) August 8, 2022
Keep in mind that there are portions of the 10-10-10 practices where plays are designed to be successful. This is about as close to a full-speed walkthrough as a practice will come. You can see on this deep completion below that the defense lets up a bit.
Mahomes to Hardman pic.twitter.com/ephTuG171n
— KC Sports Network (@KCSportsNetwork) August 8, 2022
All the same, Mahomes said some really good things about Hardman on NFL Network after practice.
“I feel like Mecole (Hardman), I think he’s kind of taken that step where he’s about to take over a lot of that spot that Tyreek (Hill) did of those deep routes,” Mahomes said. “He’s kind of accepted that challenge. We’ll have everybody developing and doing that different kind of stuff, but he’s going to be a big part of it and I’m excited for him.”
Cornell Powell making a case for the 53-man roster?
We mentioned earlier that Powell had some nice connections with both Shane Buechele and Dustin Crum. This particular play that came against rookie CB Joshua Williams and the starters was quite impressive, with a deep grab in tight coverage right along the sideline.
Buechele to Powell pic.twitter.com/On6pAFK75x
— KC Sports Network (@KCSportsNetwork) August 8, 2022
There seems to be a bit of an opportunity for a player like Powell to sneak in here and make the 53-man roster based on his play on offense and special teams. Daurice Fountain has the inside track, but he’s been unable to stay on the field consistently due to injuries. That could open an opportunity for Powell, especially if he performs well during the course of the preseason.
Geron Christian continues to work in with first team
For the second consecutive practice session, Christian had several first-team repetitions. While he took the majority of his repetitions at right tackle on Monday, he also had a few snaps working in a left tackle in place of Orlando Brown Jr. with the starters. It’s clear that the Chiefs want to get an idea of what a player like Christian would look like coming off the bench as a swing tackle and playing either left or right tackle at a moment’s notice.
It’s unclear what this means for Roderick Johnson, who saw the majority of the left tackle snaps in place of Orlando Brown Jr. at the onset of training camp. This could be a sign of things to come or it could be Andy Heck and the offensive coaches experimenting as they try to find the best combination of offensive linemen for the 53-man roster.
