Reading Through The Lines At Chiefs' Preseason Camp
I haven't been able to get down to training camp yet this year, but I've been consuming as much camp content as possible and have some takeaways from the outside. Here's a list of them
I haven’t been able to get down to St. Joe's yet this summer, limiting how much information I have on these players. It’s tough to have 90 opinions on this roster without watching every single practice. I can’t say I definitively know how someone is performing in camp. That being said, I consume enough content and watch enough clips to have some takeaways from the camp. Reading through the lines can be difficult without a ton of information, but here are my seven main takeaways from training camp already.
1: Trey Smith Is Not Letting Go Of His Job
I’m not giving any analysis that hasn’t been talked about plenty here. Anyone that’s been to St. Joe or read things online knows Trey Smith is playing tremendous football at camp. He’s been the number one story at camp so far, based on how well he looks for a rookie.
There are a few things to take away from the Trey Smith experience already. Here’s a list.
#1: He’s in fantastic shape
One thing I love to do when looking for tidbits of information is looking at training camp photos. They won’t reveal everything, but one thing I look for is how guys report to camp. There are misleading pictures, but for the most part, they show the condition of a player. When I was looking through some of the pictures last week, the Trey Smith photos stood out.
Trey is in phenomenal shape. This is a big deal for Trey (besides the fact he looks incredible) because he’s been able to thoroughly condition and train for football. With Trey’s issues with his blood clots, there have been times where he couldn’t practice or work out as much as an average player could. If those issues are behind him like these photos lead me to believe, that’s terrific news (both personally for Trey and Kansas City).
#2: He’s been superb as a run blocker
We don’t get many videos from training camp because the Chiefs restrict a lot of media coverage, but from what we’ve seen, Trey’s already added a presence and physicality to the run game. He’s one of the most powerful players I’ve ever seen, combining superb linear explosion and raw strength into power. He’s able to down block a nose tackle and displace them off the ball 4-5 yards, which is extremely rare. We’ll get to some pass protection clips, but his run blocking already looks great.
#3: Great Traits In Pass Protection
Since the pads are back on, we’ve been able to get great footage of OL-DL battles. These battles are definitely slanted towards defensive linemen because a lot of pass protection is how teams slide and adjust protections to certain sides. For example, no team will leave Chris Jones one-on-one ever inside; they’re going to slide his way to account for his pass rush presence. Without that, DL have an advantage.
That advantage has led to Trey losing some reps. I won’t break down every rep in this article, but there are reps where his balance and flexibility weren’t great, and he was lunging with his body too much. Still, every trait you want in pass protection is there. His hands are hefty, and he’s able to “forklift” or raise the chest of the defender to stop his momentum. His strength and explosiveness are great, and he’s athletic enough to wash rushers up the arc and out of the play. He won’t be the best at rotating his hips in front of guys at his size, but every other trait is there. Trey may have some early struggles in pass protection, but as the season progresses, you’ll see those traits develop into more consistent play.
2: I Was Wrong; Chris Jones Might Actually Be A Very Good Defensive End
I always like to admit when I’m wrong on stuff. Because I’m wrong a lot. And I want to be held accountable for being wrong, just like I would want someone else to be held accountable when they’re wrong.
This time, I was wrong about Chris Jones playing defensive end.
I’ve been more cynical about this positional change. I didn’t love the idea of him losing more weight to play defensive end. I didn’t feel he would gain enough explosiveness and flexibility off the edge to be a productive pass rusher there, and he would lose some power on the interior. I felt he could be competent at defensive end but not elite. I may be wrong already.
Granted, it’s still early. Chris hasn’t faced actual NFL tackles on opposing teams yet, who don’t have tape on how he plays. I don’t expect him to be T.J. Watt or Joey Bosa out there, but I’ve been super impressed with what I’ve seen from Chris out there. He looks super explosive off the edge already and has some added flexibility. His length is tremendous, and his ability with his hands is developed. Yeah, you won’t see him dip under tackles a lot at 285-290 lbs, but he can use his length and power to rush well off the edge.
The other thing I’ve been impressed about is how dominant he’s been inside. Chris has obviously been dominant on the interior since 2018…but it’s different this camp. Granted, I haven’t watched every one-on-one snap, but I have yet to see him really lose a rep. That added explosiveness and flexibility translated inside as well, and he seems to have lost little-to-no power this offseason.
Look, I’m not a betting man. But if I were betting on someone to win Defensive Player of the Year this season, I would maybe check Chris Jones’s odds. If he’s able to play two positions at a high level, have excellent sack production, and play on a team as good as Kansas City, he’ll have an excellent chance at winning it. Chris seems completely locked in right now, and I expect his best season yet. Chris keeps proving me wrong.
3: Willie Gay Is Bound For A Strong Year 2
One of the big stories out of training camp already is how well Willie Gay is playing. I don’t have a lot of clips for this, but there has been a lot of buzz about his improved coverage play. Willie looks better and faster around the field this year because there’s much more comfortability in the defense. He’s been an impact coverage linebacker already, which is huge for his development. I expect a sizable jump from Willie Gay in Year 2, especially in coverage. The foundation is being laid out well.
4: Lucas Niang Isn’t Ready
This may be mean for a rookie who hasn’t played football in two years. It’s most likely unfair. But from the clips I’ve seen from Lucas Niang, he doesn’t look ready to play NFL football.
Now, I will say he looks much more comfortable in space this year than in 2019 (his last college season). I went back and watched some Lucas Niang tape of his last college season, and he literally couldn’t set vertically because of his hip. Watching him try to move laterally was painful. He had no rotational flexibility at all. Even in the limited clips I’ve seen, he looks much better there.
But I still don’t like his movement skills at all. Niang didn’t come into OTAs in the best condition, which makes sense because he hadn’t played football in two years. He looks slow getting off the ball and is consistently losing to faster pass rushers up the arc. His size and ability to anchor are great, but his rotational flexibility and explosiveness are limited. Good pass rushers will run around Niang, and he won’t have the movement skills to vertically set quick enough to not give up his inside shoulder.
It’s one thing if Niang was struggling with hand technique and launching points (he still is). What I don’t love is the lack of movement skills. He looks slow off the snap, and while he’s better than where he was in 2019, it’s still not great. He has time to develop his body and get more comfortable there, but I don’t expect anything from Niang in 2021. In fact, if he had to play today, I’d be terrified.
5: Orlando Brown May Need More Time
There haven’t been many Orlando clips I’ve seen so far, but the buzz around camp is that Orlando hasn’t dominated in pass protection yet. He’s lost to Chris Jones a bunch, and even guys like Mike Danna off the edge. And I’m here to tell you…
I don’t care.
I don’t think people realize how few reps Orlando has in pass protection. It was almost all quick-setting or play action in Baltimore and very few vertical sets where he was left on an island. That’s completely different in Kansas City. Andy Reid won’t give Orlando any help and asks him to defend pass rushers by himself. That’s a massive adjustment for a player that has never really done that.
So it’s going to take time. I don’t expect Orlando Brown to be dominant in Week 1 vs. Myles Garrett. He may struggle the first few weeks of the season. All I ask is that Chiefs fans be fair to Orlando and give him time. He’s a young player being asked to do something completely new and will get better over time. It may not happen immediately, but I still have plenty of faith in Orlando.
6: Frank Clark Looks Better
Look, there’s been a lot of Frank Clark discourse on the internet. I don’t need to belabor it all again, but he hasn’t been great in Kansas City. The pass rush production hasn’t been there, and the inconsistencies have hurt the Chiefs. My problem with the discussion has always been the lack of medical context. I don’t think people give enough credit to Frank for playing through a massive gastrointestinal issue, which dropped him to 225-230 lbs. These issues have plagued Frank for two years now, which limited his explosiveness and ability to rush with power.
While I can’t find the photo (it was an Instagram story), Frank was back to adding more weight this offseason. That photo had him at 250 lbs, with more time before the season. It’s been rumored he’s around 255-260 right now, and some of the videos I’ve seen confirm that rumor.
Without knowing what exactly Frank had, hopefully, that’s behind him. Regardless, he looks to be carrying more weight this season. Now that he looks healthier expect more of the Frank Clark from Seattle. The version of Frank in Seattle was this explosive power rusher, who was superb at collapsing pockets and using his length/strength to convert speed-to-power so well. Kansas City Frank has had to revert to this bendy edge rusher, which he’s not great at. If he’s able to rush with power this season, I expect great things from Frank.
7: Noah Gray Is Gaining Trust
I don’t have a lot of clips ready for this, but the buzz out of early training camp is that Noah Gray was performing well. Part of it, I believe, is that Chiefs fans are so used to seeing bad tight ends who can’t run next to Travis Kelce, so it’s startling to see someone with actual speed and ability to run routes. But what is exciting is that you see Kansas City trust him to run actual route concepts. They’re sending him in the middle of the field, running deep intermediate routes. You’ll see seam benders and dig routes over the middle. No one Kansas City has had outside Kelce could run those routes. As Gray progresses in the playbook and gains more trust with Patrick Mahomes, you’ll see his role progress. Mahomes is very tough on rookies, so it’s great to already see progress.