Kansas City Chiefs dealing with injury bug in training camp, rookies getting more reps
By Calvin Silvers
The Kansas City Chiefs were back on the campus of Missouri Western for their ninth training camp session, having to face that strong Midwestern summer heat. The heat can lead to injuries, which happened on Wednesday.
Cornerback Nazeeh Johnson is still out, along with safety Justin Reid and wide receiver Justin Watson. Five players would leave Wednesday’s practice after suffering an injury. Still, the two main names in the mix were linebacker Nick Bolton with his elbow and wide receiver Kadarius Toney with his ankle.
While not injury-related, the position coming into training camp with a large question mark was the left tackle position. The competition has been set, and rookie Kingsley Suamataia continues to get the scrimmage reps at starting left tackle over second-year player Wanya Morris.
“Both of them are competing their tails off,” head coach Andy Reid said. “I feel comfortable with where both of them are at this point. They just got to keep working and working to get better every day, you know, so that’s what they’re doing.”
Recently during these training camp sessions, Suamataia has been lined up against veteran defensive end Mike Danna. The fifth-year man turned in the best campaign of his career last season, and he’s sharing what he knows with his new teammate.
“When we get in our locker room, we’re always talking about what we could have done better or what they could have done better,” Danna said. “We’re always working together to help each other. You know, that goes along with pushing and pulling on each other. You got to be able to, you know, pull the younger guys, give them tips, you know, to help them improve.”
Going back to Danna’s best season, he set personal highs in tackles with 50, tackles for loss with seven, quarterback hits with 13 and sacks with six, while being on the field for roughly 75% of available snaps on defense.
“Number one he’s a great kid,” Reid said. “Tremendous worker doesn’t say a word. He just works and plays his heart out every play, so if you want to call him a worker bee, he’s a worker bee.”
Speaking of worker bees, wide receiver Nikko Remigio is working his way to a rotation spot, having watched last year’s Super Bowl on the sideline. Besides taking advantage of reps in receiver drills, Remigio is always finding his footing in special teams, especially kick return.
“You know, I feel extremely comfortable,” Remigio said. “It’s very different, it tends to happen a bit quicker, which I believe tends to my game a little bit more. You know, you got to change direction in a quicker amount of time in a shorter amount of space, so it’s going to be fun to see how it evolves.”
