41 is the Mic: New Standouts Emerge as Chiefs OTAs Wrap Up!

41 is the Mic: New Standouts Emerge as Chiefs OTAs Wrap Up!

it’s time for 41 Is the Mic a weekly Chiefs podcast with Nick Jacobs of Kshb 41 and Matt Derek of Chiefs Digest 41 is the Mic starts now welcome everyone yes it’s another edition of 41 is the mic i am Matt Derek from Chief’s Digest alongside mandatory mini camp enthusiast Nick Jacobs from Kshb41 well Matt the pads haven’t come on yet i notice I uh I’m starting to hear that more and more on uh It’s everywhere everywhere now it is the nation we got to get it on TV we have to now because other people are starting to put it in their own vocabulary and so we need to make sure people are reminded where they can get the original podcast and t-shirt from that was the upstart of that phenomenal sentence well we we haven’t seen the pad yet yeah we won’t d mandatory and we’ll we’ll talk about mandatory mini camp here in a little bit but you know we have finished up OTAAS Nick all 10 OTA practices are in the books now we don’t got to see three of them only one out of three are open to the public but the Chiefs have wrapped that up um just big picture what to you if is the maybe the biggest takeaway that you saw from the three practices that we got to see the last three weeks um I you saw steady progression and I know that may not um that’s that’s the benefit of us not being there every single day because it kind of turns into ground i mean from having been somebody that’s been able to watch over the years for people that don’t know I started going to Cheese back in technically as an intern I went in ‘ 04 um a handful of times but um and that was in season and that was kind of a whirlwind but then when I really started going more was in 2010 and then when I was there pretty much all the time was 2011 and on i think you’re right you make a really good point about being able to kind of do check-in points each week to kind of see just the progress so that maybe the the minute little improvements that you might see week to week get kind of lost if you’re out there you know every you know all 10 practices so yeah for us it’s maybe maybe those little check-in points is is nice as far as it gives you a check-in as far as just being able to see how one player has progressed from one week to the next and you know and I was asked this the other day about you know really what stood out to me and you know as much as hey you focus on the rookie class and everything one of the things that we talked about going into the offseason workouts amongst the things we were going to be talking about I I think both of us mentioned this in some form it’s the secondyear players and how do they stand out how do they look coming in especially because some of them are going to be in leadership positions and and I got to tell you I mean I’ve I’ve been pretty impressed with most of the the second year class i mean we’re going to be finding out some guys chiefs are leaning on obviously Kingsley Sua Mateo and we’ll talk about his appearance on the on the podium a little bit later too and what’s going on with him but Jaden Hicks has really impressed me i mean he just seems like he’s ready to take over for Justin Reed and I think he can handle it yeah i mean with Jaden look the whole purpose of why they drafted him was to replace Justin Reed and I said that last year and I let people know in advance this is what they’re preparing for and so they the Chiefs were going to have to make two decisions at that point did they feel comfortable with where Hicks was by the end of the year to have him replace Justin Reed in that role and then if they didn’t then they were going to have to probably make a tough decision between potentially Justin Reed or Nick Bolton and Trey Smith in terms of financials to what they were wanting to do to where they may not have been able to afford Trey Smith if they had if they didn’t feel comfortable with Hicks’s at and were going to have to give Justin Reed that money or they were going to probably have to not or they were probably have to move on not sign Fulton to that expensive of a contract and then Reed replaces that contract so I mean there’s four to three to four different people that are going to be impacted by how uh Jaden Hicks progressed in year one and so the the Chiefs gave you the answer where they feel like with the fact that they’ve moved him up into that spot and into that role and they’re putting the pressure on him that they’re going to this year so yeah I mean like like we’ve talked about uh mentioned in our notes and you’ve talked about uh on the radio over on 810 on the zone with Jason Anderson um is that the play there Hicks showed his range and he was able to come over there pick up the vertical route the way that he was and then also be able to stay with Worthy and make a deflection at the right time and time it correctly to where Mahomes thought it would be open but it wasn’t but also worthy on that thing the fact that he properly stayed on the red line he didn’t drift like last year like he would have gave Mahomes a chance to lead him for an outside shoulder throw if he needed to that all that was available to him and Worthy tracked the ball well it’s just Hicks had much better vertical jump to be able to knock it away and to time it to where Mahomes already had to commit to the throw before Hicks jumped the route so all that collectively that that was that’s obviously promising because the the two most important things the Chiefs need in in the scheme is a safety who can handle the tight end if they need to and do they have somebody that is playing on the football field at that point that can play single high and have the range from sideline to sideline that’s very rare and that’s tough to ask but those are the two most important things on the back end for the Chiefs in terms of what can help their scheme really thrive in the way they want to attack with blitzes and and what we’re talking about here is it was the first play of seven on sevens and I thought I mean not only was it the best play of the day just for Jaden Hicks and the defense for Hicks yes but there is there is one play that I liked more but go ahead oo I’m interested in what that is cuz I I mean I thought that was not just a great play by by Hicks but to your point I thought it was absolutely perfectly executed on both sides um you know it was Worthy ran a great route he did everything he was supposed to do i thought he even flashed his hands late i mean it was as trying to throw off the defender it wasn’t like he just gave away that you know the ball was coming i mean Mahomes Worthy they did everything that you’re supposed to do on that play it’s just that the defender did everything that they’re supposed to do on that play too and I mean that’s And the fact that I mean Hicks read everything from the fact that it was a corner blitz so he knows he’s going to have to pick up Worthy knows the route knows what’s going on is able to anticipate because let’s face it in a straight race Jaden Hicks is not beating Xavier Worthy but he read it correctly he anticipated reacted quickly did all the things that he has to do to make the play so that’s why I love that play not just for Hicks but for everybody because I thought it was just an absolutely perfectly thrown football perfectly run route everything and that’s that’s what a football play should be so I I loved it for that reason alone but I’m really curious about what your other highlight of the day was yeah before we go any further I just want to tell you since this is our second second show that this has happened now bart Simpson over your over your right shoulder left shoulder for us on the screen just constantly looks surprised at everything we put out there just with wide eye just jaw dropping open he is mesmerized by this podcast i was afraid you were going to say he was like moving or you know no not something i don’t I don’t think we’re uh I don’t think we’re in the uh conjuring level yet no I don’t think uh but I will get back to play so seven on it was during seven on seven uh Nazi Johnson had the deflection where he’s going up against Justin Ross had the deflection deflected it to himself to give it a nice give the ball a nice spin on it and bought himself a couple seconds to get the interception so not only did he deflect the pass put himself not only did he put himself in good position deflect it but he also intercepted it so I thought that was um just on pure effort alone that in itself was very promising with the zip that Mchu put on the ball and everything for him to be able to time it as well as he did and was in the perfect position to make that play just simply as a deflection but to deflect in a way where he also made the interception was pretty fantastic you know I’m going to give Gardenner Menchu some props on a deflection too because he had he had his own batted pass that George Carlos was just camping under ready to intercept and it’s a OTAA i mean you’re not going to blame hey Gardenner Mchu if he just phones it in you’re not going to even you know blame Gardenner Menchu if he decides to be a hero and catch the football and do something crazy but no he just goes over there he’s like Carlos is not intercepting this football and out jumped well Car I don’t think Carlet was jumped at all he was just He was just waiting for the ball yeah he was waiting like a player waiting for a pop fly in the outfield exactly he was just a catcher you know trying to pull a pop foul behind the plate and Men just goes over there out jumps him and knocks it to the ground i mean that’s what a quarterback’s supposed to do so kudos to Gardenner Mencho on making a headsy play in a practice you know if you practice it right Nick you’re going to do it right in a game too so or as Romeo Cornell would say kados kudos and kados to Gardenner Menchu on that one um the defense kind of I felt like kind of owned the day on Thursday not that the offense didn’t have a few moments and everything but um between like you mentioned Hicks Nazi Johnson uh Brandon George had an interception elevated really nicely i think he had another batted pass in that in that practice too uh Omar Norman Lot I think had a pass break up in that that session so in addition to you know the Caroftus bat I mean the defense got their hands on a lot of footballs yeah I’ll go through them here real quick in in our in our notes here um yeah for me null Williams almost had an interception um he tracked it he almost caught it and uh it was a it was an adjustment he was going to have to make it was going to be a tough adjustment when he spotted the ball and turned around so he at least got hands on it um if he had a little bit more time to track it I think he makes the pick there brandon George almost had an interception against Bailey Zappy then later in the game he had an interception that was seven on seven he almost had the interception um then in team he had the actual interception of Bailey Zappy it was a really good one the way he drew back into coverage and he was waiting for him and intercept that pass there was another one during seven on seven where Brandon George ripped the football out if we had a review I could uh replay where we could review it i could tell if the receiver had enough steps at that point to where it would have been a forced fumble but at minimum it was an incomplete you know incomplete pass so I mean there’s potentially three turnovers there that Brandon George almost hadn’t in the day so that alone kind of stands out cuz he’s built like Leo Chanel and I that’s what I want people to understand is like I’m intrigued to see what he looks like whenever they put the pads on um and how he’ll look in preseason and in special teams and then that I think he’s got a really good inside track to maybe be on the 53 depending on how he does special teams wise i think him and Jeffrey Basa and then we’ll see what potentially Cam Jones and some of those other guys can maybe do in the linebacker group and if any of them can but I I feel like Brandon George is kind of on the same trajectory that Curtis Jacobs was last year the Chiefs tried to sneak him on their practice squad the Patriots snatched him up immediately and I think the Chiefs kind of do wish they probably had Curtis Jacobs this year if they could have had that opportunity yeah cosign agree a lot there we and talking about the progress of players during these OTAAS we’ve also gotten to see Nick the progress of some injured players even some new injuries that have popped up along and I’ll note this and you know and I mean I’ll say it generically so you can’t really pinpoint on any one player might be specific to some so not trying to skirt the reporting rules here Nick um but it’s OTAAS you see a lot of protections you see a lot of sleeves you know so you know that players are dealing with a lot of soft tissue in you know not even injuries but maybe just tweaks this time of year so players are going to take it seriously trainers athletic trainers are going to take it seriously they’re not going to push anybody in some tough situations so we have seen some guys maybe set up practice that hey if this were October maybe they’re not sitting out but if it’s if it’s June you’re just going to protect some players so you know Ethan Driscoll finally came back he had been out a little bit um Jake Breening stool was on the field but not participating this week al he had a sleeve on one of his legs i mean these could just have been you know preventive you know Driscoll wasn’t in attendance so it could have it may also not have been injury related we don’t know for sure but I mean the Chiefs are they’re just going to be protective with a lot of guys so that’s probably a big chunk of the the injuries that we’ve been you know seeing at least that at during OTAAS or the issues um the two big ones to probably talk about are are Josh Simmons and Christian Fulton because these were two players that weren’t doing much you know three weeks ago when we started this process but now they’re pretty much full participants by the end of this thing yeah and something I’ll throw in right now after we talk about injuries we’ll go back to a couple offensive plays and OTAA highlights that I forgot to mention but I want to keep my fault Nick no I want to keep going on this train for injury progress um yeah what I’ll say with Simmons what I want people to understand about him um I I have it divided two ways first way is that Simmons is able to showcase his athletic ability out there right now like he’s he’s where he was at Ohio State from an athletic ability perspective in terms of kickstep getting out in the space whether it’s on a pole screen um and watching him the other day get to the second level and on his reach blocks and kind of you know practicing the combos up to the second level like he’s there he’s one of the quickest left tackles the Chiefs have had on that football field since Eric Fischer at left tackle there’s no disputing that in any way shape or form so that’s where he’s at athletically and that’s why Andy talks as glowingly as he does because Andy sees the same thing that I do and he will because Andy is a much smarter veteran of football than I will ever be and if he wants to teach me anything I will set aside an entire lifetime for him to learn but Simmons has all of that and you you coming in expectation wise you thought he was going to be standing on the sidelines watching but for him to get as many reps as he’s getting right now that in itself is very encouraging for both short and long term um but on top of that the question that I’m still reserving and holding back on is until the pads come on what’s his drive block like what’s his reach block when he actually makes contact like what type of power is he getting off his footwork to be able to push defenders off the line of scrimmage when he’s going against speed rushers whether it’s at camp or in preeason if he’s physically out there whenever the pads are on what is he doing and does it look better than it did last year at that left tackle position but I do wonder the next the next phase is or stage for him is how is he on a drive block is that knee back to the point where he can drive block effectively is that leg back to where he can push defenders off the line of scrimmage when he can actually make contact with them and if he does have somebody who accidentally leg whips into his knee area or in that you know in that quad area how how does he do off that because another thing I’ve been watching is after every play does he limp at all does he grab at that knee does he favor it at all and I haven’t seen any of that so that’s those are the things I want to tell you from an encouraging perspective and good on that front but I also want to say the next phase for me is when the pads are on how does he do in those various blocks we’re talking about christian Fulton first time we’ve been able to watch him out there he could have been out there earlier this week we just you know in terms of team period because he has been out there doing some drills and everything you and I have seen over the weeks but this was kind of the first time he’d been able to be participating seven on seven or in team and you know I think he’s just getting back into the groove of it you see the athletic ability it’s just a matter of him getting enough practices under his belt to where he can feel as comfortable and confident coming off whatever he may have um to get to where he was at the end of last year as a player j um Jared Wy we saw out there obviously had a had the brace on and everything um but to see him out there you know that’s a slow steady progression that’s good on that front great to see Driscoll out there and and obviously you’ve talked about I want say we did see we have seen Jaylen Moore out there so don’t think that he’s just not he’s just not there he’s just they don’t need to put him through all those reps that they’re putting Josh Simmons through they need Simmons to take all those reps right now especially when it’s not contact because they need him to build the muscle memory in the way that they’re wanting moore doesn’t necessarily need that because he’s already been in the league for four years so like it’s okay to keep him off to the side so that’s where I want people to kind of take a step back not bank on anything in any way shape or form right now in terms of the offensive line because I think with somebody like Moore you already know what you have in him you’re trying to find out where Simmons is at and you’re trying to build Simmons up for year two year three year four and this is the opportunity to do that right now you know and and like you mentioned you know once again we we emphasize that we’ve only seen three of the 10 practices just because the last two practices we’ve seen Jaylen Moore on the side hasn’t doesn’t mean that he hasn’t maybe done more in practices that were not there right um another one question and if and hey Nick this might be something that you’re just like hey I don’t remember i’d have to go back and look at the notes may just say I’m crazy but you’re crazy and so it’s going to be different because last year during OTAAS’s Kingsley and Wany were sharing time so yeah they had a time share yeah just like video and I because I even went back to you know to see what Andy Reid said about Kingsley last year and it looked like in pretty much every press conference when he was asked about Kingsley it was in conjunction with W with so he answered a lot of those questions in the same way so he answered the same way about both players hey they’re both out there they’re competing all these things do what differences do you see at this time of year during OTAAS between Kingsley last year and Josh Simmons this year um for Kingsley when he was coming out of college he reminded me a little bit more of Orlando Brown Jr to where sometimes the the foot quickness wasn’t necessarily there and that could be because he’s unsure about the step that could be because he’s just trying to gauge what the pass rusher is from a speed perspective and he’s thinking versus reacting so I think he was thinking a lot more and having to react to what’s in front of him and what he’s having to change versus what he got to lean on habit-wise in college and that’s something I don’t think enough people recognize is that in all honesty if you don’t come from a program that’s got a great line coaching college or is from an SEC school where you’re routinely seeing the best of the best pass rushing wise on a regular basis then you can get away with a lot of bad habits you could maybe lean on a guy you could have a pad level too high that is going to get you blown up in the NFL you can do a you know maybe you’re a little bit slower on that kickstep or maybe you turn your hips too quickly towards the sidelines or maybe your punch is off just a little bit and you’re able to get away with that because of some of the competition you’re going against and that you’re honestly just not in like I hate to say like SEC Big 10 country and when you’re in those type of conferences like you’re going up against the best of the best and a lot of guys who are going to be playing on Sundays especially SEC so you’re going up against NFL level talent on a weekly basis and I I’m this isn’t meant to be mean but like in the Big 12 that’s not necessarily all the always the case acc that’s not necessarily always the case back in the day the Pack 12 you know it it was kind of hit or miss but when those two conferences like with the way Big 10 used to be heavy on power run play action pass and that type of style and the way SEC could use power run game and blend it with the spread offense but they just had all the athletes in the world to be able to match up against everything like those are why teams would lean towards those guys because those more than not were kind of the proven commodities and and veterans overall so with Simmons Simmons was in the Big 10 he transferred to the Big 10 got to play against that level of talent and that gives to me that gives certain players just a level of confidence because they it’s easier for them because hopefully they already had their own line coach break the habit and if the line coach didn’t the quarterback for that team is going to be taking a lot of hits um in a regular basis and they wouldn’t be at one of those power conferences too long so I think Simmons just it’s more instinctive for him when I watch him out there and he’s not as reactive to it i don’t see that that tenth of a second or that half a second of hesitation on something like when I was talking talking about that reach block earlier for Simmons simmons is zoom right there knows where he’s going boom gets there and so that’s where I see the difference while with Kingsley he may take it a little bit slower step-wise yeah that guy’s going there i’m supposed to meet him right here at this point at the junction point right there oh okay i met him while Simmons is like “Tada!” Right there like speed racer used to be on MTV all the time loved it go go go Speed Racer um so but I’m saying that’s probably the difference between the two of them well that’s a fascinating point because you know let’s face it scouts coaches have talked about the fact that hey San Diego State Josh Simmons wasn’t going in the first round nope but the coaching and the improvements that he made in the last two years were what got him there and the level of competition so I mean that’s that’s a huge difference between Simmons this year and and Kingsley last year and to your point I mean I think we’ve both thought all along that the real key to Simmons if he is going to make an impact or a difference or even play in 2025 is going to be if he’s got that power back fact he’s got the you’re seeing the speed there that’s really encouraging i mean doesn’t mean that the power’s there but if it is then that’s going to be a significant development for the Chiefs um one other quick you know update and and player to talk about because we we saw him on the field for the first time at a at a media practice he had been out there um but Hollywood Brown Hollywood was out there we got to see him on the field was not I didn’t see him at any team periods though so we haven’t gotten any updates so I don’t know what the status is of and haven’t heard what the status is on Hollywood but the fact that he’s he’s been there at OTAAS is significant and and to your point on some other things Hollywood doesn’t need to work necessarily i mean it’s it’s great for him to be able to get the time in the offense because it’s still only year two and he didn’t have a lot of time last year but hey he was in meetings he picked up a lot of things he’s a veteran though so I don’t have a lot of concerns from that standpoint yeah I I’m not worried about Hollywood he Mahomes needs to spend that time building that chemistry with Worthy if if you’re giving Hollywood Browns reps to Worthy that’s a good thing if you’re giving his reps to some other guys you’re trying to decide on like Jaylen Royals if you’re giving those reps to Jaylen Royals like that’s that’s not a bad thing either those guys need those reps a lot more than Hollywood does with Mahomes okay because I cut you off let’s circle back offensive highlights because even though I thought the defense dominated on Thursday there were some offensive highlights that I neglected well offensive highlight number one is going to be the play of plays on offense and that belongs to Patrick Mahomes throwing to Bashard Smith on the vertical um so Bashard showcased his speed he’s going up against Christian Fulton took the outside release zoomed right by him and so with with Smith Mahomes tossed it up there and normally you don’t see running backs capable of tracking it the way that he was able to track it comfortably and adjust his step just a little bit but maintain that speed and that acceleration and he got to top end speed fulton was not going to Fulton was not going to be he was not going to be able to leap over you know he’s not going to be able to leap and stop that football like Mahomes led that football perfectly for Smith to run under it caught it would have been 45 yards ED in seven on seven without a problem and like that was the perfect connection so you want to see those two continually build off that and Smith’s background as a receiver is why he was able to adjust to that versus some other running backs that would have just continued probably going straight and would have had to react at the last moment which would have given Fton time to get back into position if that if that running back had to adjust or slow down just a couple ticks to be able to get back to the football if that had been the case but yeah the chemistry right there for Smith and Mahomes you want to see more of that down the road here smith had I mean uh Mahomes had two other really good throws during the day that were just just perfect um one was the anticipation that he had rice was coming on a second level route i don’t want to reveal everything that they’re doing and we’re not really probably supposed to so I’m just I’m going to tow that line um I’m just going to call it a second level route over the middle and in that second level route over the middle Mahomes anticipated it perfectly and you see these coverages and these zones and how they’re set up and everything and then he knows where this is going to carry where that’s going to carry and Momes boom timed it perfectly had it you know just velocity threw it right in there and hit it perfectly to Rice in stride caught it perfect lead boom done then there was another one and Mahomes put it in front of Skyore down in front of the hip and just rifled it in there and there’s two defenders behind in trail one’s a little bit in zone the other one’s in trail but they’re both behind where Mo’s at but it’s a tight window to where if Mahomes is behind it’s going to get deflected or picked off by one of the two guys but Mahomes had that window saw it right there and had that target right for that hash in between that hash and number and then zipped it right in there moore was able to catch it low in stride so that he could protect himself just in case with that other corner that was over in that range there and just spot on on the money so I’m saying like and then I know Mahomes had one with Noah Gray a couple other plays too but those are the ones where I felt like that was an NFL game situation tight window and Mahomes just shined on both those and then uh one defensive play that I do I do want to mention as well was Omar Norman Lot diving to deflect a pass on one play like he he was the if I remember correct I think he was the one that that now you’re asking yourself why is Omar Norman lot diving to deflect a pass and my answer for you is there’s a play they call a lot that frustrates us that that might have been the case where he had that opportunity but he did a good job and he was pumped afterwards after he did that and then the final thing I do want to mention and this is something I’m I’m not I’m not going to go in depth because that violates the rules but I appreciated Andy Reid’s attention to detail and I appreciate the urgency that he wanted to make sure people had in the practice and when he was doing what he talks about in the press conference where he’s talking about you know hold you know holding people accountable stuff like that he was doing that on the field and I want to recognize that for people and any of the naysayers out there i’m just telling you like Andy’s not letting things slide not that he was before but you know 100% after that practice that he’s hungry too yeah 100% and this was on a hot humid day very humid day st joe level humidity wasn’t as bad as the previous day i’m glad we weren’t out there for Wednesday when it was like 87 but uh it was very humid on Thursday so yeah you you kind of alluded to it there and what one quick bow to put on the offense i feel like that Patrick Mahomes has just been Patrick Mahomes during OTAAS i mean there’s nothing wrong with this dude i mean he looks in season form right now i mean if you just wanted to put him in bubble wrap until September I think you probably could yeah um you know any any questions or concerns I would have had about you know if there was anything he needed to do during the offseason or any recovery anything of that nature the dude had Chris Jones I think it was last week you know bearing down on him and the dude just lofted one 70 yards downfield on his back foot falling backwards the D he’s he’s ready and he has been sharp um you know and and there are things that they still have to work on there’s still timing things and there’s still things that these young this young receiving court has got to figure out but I think we saw progressions at least even in that over the course of the last three weeks yeah um one obviously big story for this team is going to be the experiment with Kingsley Sua Mata moving to left guard and we got to have a press conference this week with Kingsley and you and I both asked him a couple of questions that um I’m curious what what you think Nick about what we heard from Kingsley at the microphone this week well I I I appreciated and liked you asking the question about Andy Hec and Cory Mate and kind of what they’ve been able to kind of teach Kingsley i wish Kingsley would have gone a little bit I think he was trying to be cautious because he doesn’t I think he wants to not reveal too much and I totally get that but would have loved to hear a little bit more on that and then when I asked him what he’s been doing in the offseason I really wanted to hear more in depth of like a checklist of what he’s working on and he may have just been gunshy about that to where he didn’t really want to give that away and I understand that but like the thing is there’s a lot of people that there’s a thing I kind of want him to understand he he’s probably he gives off a teddy bear impression and that’s just that that just may be his you know his personality his nature and that’s completely fine but on that football field as an offensive lineman or a defensive lineman you want to dominate your opponent every single time so there’s got to be a switch you’ve got to be able to turn on and just a certain level of intensity and a certain level of passion you’ve got to have on that football field just to survive as an offensive line and defensive lineman let alone thrive and at times I was kind of hoping in that presser he had just a little bit of that intensity because when Trey Smith comes in the mic Trey Smith’s a man and you know Trey Smith’s a man about his business dj Humphre even though he didn’t have kind of what he probably wanted to there he had a certain you know certain confidence and certain level about himself about how he’s carrying himself there at that press conference that you kind of you want to see and you could say the same for Eric Fischer at times mitchell Schwarz had always had confidence about him because he knew the game inside and out um and I could go on and on with offensive linemen over the years but what I’m getting at is like Kingsley has a lot of eyeballs on him this year there’s a lot of people I would say the two people that have the toughest road this year to convince people that they are right for the role that they’re going to have and that they can do the job that is expected of them by fans and you know potentially coaches is going to be Kings Lisu Matya and and Felix Anid Huzama like those two have the most probably pressure to actually be what the expectations that were lofted upon them by their draft position and by fan expectation because of the draft positions so for Kingsley I just I I’m hoping that he’s able to have a certain intensity on the football field once they have the shoulder pads on and bury some dudes in the dirt during team during contact when they allow that opportunity or in preeason and that’s what I need to see because I I know a lot of people are going to cling to what he talked about at the presser about Zack Allen complimenting him and everything and that’s a good starting point and that’s what people I I guarantee we’re going to hear that reference probably 40 50 times between now and when and when the games start and matter but this is kind of a tipping point to where either Kingsley can be the guard that they need him to be and live up to the spot where they drafted him at but if that doesn’t happen that’s where a lot of my concern comes from at that point is where do they go from here with him and they’re not at that point yet there’s a lot of days left for him to get better a lot of days for him to improve but like that’s what’s on the horizon down the road if this doesn’t work out so I mean you’re hoping it does but I’m just those will be things I’ll be keeping tabs on when August rolls around there was one thing and you you also mentioned this Nick that about what did Kingsley do during the off season because I I learned quickly talk about me going to be back to 2016 i covered Tyreek’s rookie season and when he came back in 2017 you know and I I asked him at one point that year just you know what was his process you know as far as trying to get better and everything and one of the things he said hey at the end of his rookie season he went to DA Anthony Thomas he’s like “What do you do during the offseason what’s what what what’s your training?” And Dan Anthony said “I go work with Keith Williams in Nebraska the wide receivers’s coach.” And I mean Tyreek will tell you that Keith Williams had a bigger impact on him becoming a better wide receiver than anybody else tyreek Hill would be a guy with 10.15 speed and 100 yard dash um today but he would not be a thousand yard receiver multiple seasons without Keith Williams i mean that was the difference that that dude made in his career and you know that’s that’s what I learned that you’re like you know what and and and Keith Williams even you know explained this to me he’s like coaches in the NFL don’t have time to make you better because they don’t have you on they don’t have enough time on the field with you i mean you think about this you know like offensive line Andy Hec and Cory Mate have got right now they’ve got like 15 players that they’re coaching up and their job is to get these guys for the regular season their job is to make sure that they understand the playbook that they understand all of the blocking sequences that they understand where they’re supposed to be on every single play the about the most fundamental thing that they can even possibly begin to do is like what Kingsley alluded to is just fixes you know it’s like hey maybe maybe hey your hand hand placement here is a little wrong maybe work on that they can do tweaks they can’t do overhauls they can’t teach you know the big sweeping differences like Tyreek learning how to continue to maintain his speed turning his hips and going into turns so that you don’t slow down he never had to do that before because he was a sprinter but learning to do that from Keith Williams made him a better player i mean those are the things and you’re not going That’s why I say if you’re going to become an allp pro you’re be a pro bowler it’s because you’re getting better between February and May that’s when you’re going to get better and that’s when you’re not around the team that’s when you’ve got to go do it on your own and C Humphrey Trey Smith what’s their commonality they’ve been going to Duke Manny and training on the offseason since their rookie years and going to O line masterminds so that’s true for any player and and that’s why I always get nervous if anybody’s just like “Yeah I went to my gym and worked out with my trainer or worked out with my guys back in college.” It’s great you’re staying in football shape great that you’re staying in contact with the game but if you’re not going out and finding an expert that can make you better and that’s what Andy Reid says all the time Nick is what is it that great players want are looking for from coaches they want that one thing that’s going to make them better so if you’re not going to different coaches and different people trying to find that one thing that’s going to make you better you’re never going to get better your mileage may vary 100% matt that’s that’s why I just I I was hoping Kingsley could kind of go a little bit more hey I was working with my cousin putting a soul doing this hey I was you know doing that you don’t necessarily have to tell us I’m having to work on this specific technique and this specific timing but like just showing recognition about what you’re needing to work on just kind of that’s what I was kind of hoping to get from uh asking that question but I wanted to give him the opportunity no matter what to kind of showcase to us and to anybody who’s aggregating or um you know any fan that was just listening in general to be able to learn more about what they’re working on um in general and to your point maybe he’s just you know hey Kingsley’s a little shy and a little guarded maybe he is doing some of these things maybe he’s going to be doing them in the next month and you know just hasn’t told us and doesn’t want to tell us but if there you know if there has been some of that in just a little bit more detail would have been great it would have gone it would have gone a lot longer way than he than he realizes yeah this week Nick we’ve got three more practices to go it is the mandatory mini camp tuesday Wednesday Thursday thursday is not going to be it’s going to be a big media day it will not be much of a practice day because that is the conditioning test the players going out and running the dreaded gassers i asked Kareem how many gasters he had to run this year and he’s just I don’t even want to think about it so it’s not the player’s favorite day um but we’ll be getting the media availability on those three days and get to watch a couple of practices that we can then report and tell you what we saw um the the biggest the most eyes will be maybe the biggest eyes too i don’t know Nick but the most eyes will be on whether Travis Kelce and Trey Smith are there i can I can tell you I’ve been told that the Chiefs do expect Travis Kelce to be there um I know there was report Jeremy Fowler had this and there probably a few others that Kelsey has lost significant weight so we’ll be asking him about that um no I want to I want to step in right here and give credit to Matt Derek who put it on his chiefs.com article and one of the first I saw it that did definitively say per source Travis Kelce would be a practice matt was a day or two ahead of Jeremy F why you read the notebook want to recognize that and put that out there right now you gotta read the notebook i try to put that to people try to get to the people that’s a nugget that was a nugget just for people to read the notebook and to punish you if you didn’t read the notebook uh but I am going to It wasn’t a punishment hoist you high on my shoulders like the Lion King over the mountain and say Matt had this first thank you for the hoisting i appreciate that hey no problem man it’s what I’m here for now there’s also going to be the questions about Trey Smith and I have neither have not heard from either side whether or not Trey Smith will will be attending mandatory mini camp um I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t Nick i mean the fine for missing the cumulative fine for missing all three of the mandatory mini camp practices and not running the Gers on Thursday is like $104,000 there are guys on this team that would pay $104,000 not to run the Gassers but that is less than a half% of his guaranteed money for this year for with the with with the franchise tag and the tender less than half a percent that’s I mean we’re talking about NFL players here it’s a little bit of pocket change and he’s not playing for $23 million he’s playing for 50 million plus and maybe a hundred million over four or five years $104,000 is nothing in comparison to that so if Trey Smith and his agents didn’t want to come out here and get hurt Nick I don’t blame him at all well I think I feel like there’s a happy medium you can find on that front you show up and sit in i wouldn’t call it sit in but like you the team understands that you’re not trying to get yourself injured but the fact you’re still showing up and being there for your teammates and for yourself like I I think that’s the happy medium they can both find find on that front and avoid a fine so um I just I I’m hoping he’s there and but I do understand if he’s not in terms of like being out there on the field and maybe taking a cut wrong you know on a reach block or something like that or a drop set and something happens like I totally get that until you have that long-term contract locked in but I do also think from a good faith perspective showing you know that you’re I just don’t think you’re gaining leverage by not showing up but I think if you’re physically there and you and the team both collectively agree you avoid the fine but you also you know you avoid the injury as well i think there’s I think there’s a happy I think that’s the happy medium that would you know would be the smart way and if you tell us quote unquote you know he’s coming back from a pulled hamstring whatever fine that’s fine you know but I just I think him being there you know whenever you whenever I feel like he’s one of the leaders of the offensive line I just think that’s a good thing all around there’s no doubt i mean and if he is out there I mean the teammates and the coaches will appreciate that like I said if he’s not there it’s it’s not going to be Trey’s decision it’s going to be because he’s listening to his agents who have told him not to be there 100% too and and there are I mean there are plenty of agents who will just simply say we don’t want you to go because we don’t want you to getting talked into or pressured into doing something you shouldn’t do and that’s not to say that chiefs are going to do that but agents certainly have that fear that it’s like okay are players going to show up but there’s no guarantees i mean what if you know hey what if a you know or even the player wants to players players like hey I can’t stand by and watch my guys do this i feel guilty all of a sudden they’re want to jump in and do something they shouldn’t do and like you said all of a sudden twist a knee and now how many how many millions of dollars did you just lose so it’s a business and players and coaches get that so regardless of what Trey Smith’s decision is I mean hey if he shows up and is even just there to watch he’ll he’ll earn a lot of points for being there for to support his teams if he’s not there everybody’s going to get it and understand why nobody’s going to hold it against him right and Bart Simpson is surprised by all that still is always surprised all right I think we’ve exhausted ourselves Nick is is there anything else on your mind that you want to get off your chest before we Oh you know what we We were gonna talk about the Bengals yeah the other one we’ll save for uh next week but yeah we got the Bengals blunders that we’ll close out on the Bengals blunders are fantastic that’s right um do you want to set the stage on on those situations i know you and I talked about them privately well the I mean part part of the background you should know is that the Bengals are notoriously one of the cheapest teams in the NFL that is their reputation among agents yes that is and and not even amongst agents i mean there or the league whatever you want to call it or the league and it it doesn’t matter about whether you talk about players you’re talking about concession stands you’re talking about facilities nothing it’s like Bengals are are are considered to be maybe the cheapest team in the league so they’re they have they have two deals going on right now one is with their first round draft pick Shamar Stewart for which they are seeking to have some conditions on his contract that would potentially void his his guaranteed money if he were to void his contract in any way and I mean void now for a player to void their contract I mean it doesn’t happen very often i mean it’s it’s essentially the player has done something that’s against the rules i mean and now the rules can be pretty you know lame i mean like you can void your contract by injuring yourself in an unauthorized workout or a pickup basketball game i mean these things can can get you a voided contract so it’s not insignificant doesn’t happen very often and the Bengals have never included this in a rookie contract before and they also have another situation with Trey Hendrickson franchise player guy that pretty important to their team for which they basically haven’t been negotiating to try and and get him signed for the upcoming season yes all right so on on two fronts here’s what I’m going to say first I’m going to criticize their PR staff which reportedly you know like one of the lowest paid and cheapest PR staffs in the league and smallest PR staffs too where if I was the owner of the Bengals at that point the first thing I’m telling the PR staff is why are you letting Trey talk to the media why did you let him show up to OTAAS to talk about how terrible things are going they were following a rule there i mean if he showed up you kind of have to make him available i mean I don’t fault about that at all thank you Bengals you you you gave us entertainment so normally most PR staffs are not going to allow you know the player to be available especially you know is not feeling it yeah especially they’re not you know they’re not practicing but to just to just have a form where they just talk negatively about the organization how negotiations are going then Stuart got to have the limelight there as well and have a little uh you know share his voice as well that was more remarkable that yes the the talk signed his contract allowed to talk on the on the team’s mic and and and they’re in and if they’re inside the locker room talking to him as well because I saw lockers behind there so teams are not universal on that front either um so like but he just gave his thoughts on everything and he he was professional about it and everything but I mean that’s not that’s from a team perspective that’s not the ideal look you want is two not only one but two defensive players just not showing your organization in the best light and being able to do it at your facility twice that is that is some dysfunction right there or showcases dysfunction and then on top of it um what they’re trying to do with Stewart is they’re trying to set a new precedent that like hurts that entire locker room because any player that signs a contract in the future if Steuart and his agent agree to it then they are going to try to put that in as many contracts as they can to whether they’re veterans rookies or whatever they’re going to try to sneak those in and see if the and see if the agent or whoever the lawyer ers are that look over the contract can find that fine print but they just they want to set a new precedent that’s what they’re trying to do with it unfortunately Stuart’s the guy they’re doing it with because in all honesty I think they thought they could get one over on his on his agent and they found out didn’t work out so I mean look it’s not where it’s sad is that Stuart’s not exactly making the first round money that would have been before the pay scale like I would understand it if it was like that you know the 80 million over five years thing i would totally get that but like this has already been locked in the books about how everything is going to go and and what that kind of just says to me i don’t even I mean they can say well it might be because of there’s only two I guess there’s only two outcomes you can come with this and this is what I was getting ready to say but I want to take it in a little bit different comparison either one you’re concerned about something character-wise which the question then becomes why did you draft him to begin with if you didn’t feel that comfortable or two you’re being cheap with your first round pick where else are you being cheap at that and are did you really just pay Joe Burrow Jamar Chase and T higgins and everybody else is going to fend for scraps at this point that wasn’t already on the budget before those three guys so like it’s just I’m just telling you like I mean you already lost Louis Anarumo he’s in Indie now so you don’t have the defensive coordinator and the defense that helped you make it to AFC Championship in a Super Bowl you don’t have that anymore you’ve already completely burned that bridge you already lost the offensive coordinator to the Titans so are you slowly turning yourself into a 500 football team or worse each year that is dependent on Joe Burrow staying healthy and Jamar Chase staying healthy and they determine your seasons every single year because you don’t have a roster around them that doesn’t force it to be like the 2018 Chiefs that have to have shootouts all the time in terms of you know hanging 40 to 50 points a game and that pressures on those two guys every single week to have to do that because that’s what the roster building looks like in Cincinnati right now and so that’s why I’m that’s unfortunate for Bengals fans this is where I feel bad for Bengals fans is like there they had a ton of promise there but all it took was just a handful of things to just seem like derail what they were building there in Cincinnati while Buffalo on the other hand’s done a really good job of being able to maintain and keep themselves in the position that we thought Cincinnati would yeah and and now case in point I mean Trey Hendrickson is signed for the 2025 season he’s just being paid under what he has performed to he’s signed a contract that he has outperformed and at 31 I get I mean he doesn’t want to play another season under with an unperforming contract if he doesn’t have to because he’s 31 i mean things could drop off get hurt anything could happen and maybe he doesn’t get another contract so once again it’s a business players are going to get that they understand that aspect of it but again I mean if this is how you end up treating and both these players I mean you know like you said you know what Shamar Stewart’s going to make these these first round picks are slotted i mean going to make like $18 million guaranteed $10 million signing bonus i mean that’s just and $18 million in the NFL isn’t that much over four years so and then even then you’re talking the guaranteed money in which case like you’re we’re talking about here i mean the Bengals are trying to set themselves up in a position where they would go after the signing bonus potentially if this guy if Shamar Stewart showed up next year $425 the Bengals are going to say okay he let himself go avoided this contract so we want the $7.5 million of his signing bonus that we’ve already paid him back i mean that’s something that’s not in and it’s not in the standard base player contract for this it’s not you know anything like that clause so yeah i mean the Bengals are trying to trying like you said I mean they’re obviously trying to to shove one past Shamar Stewart here that can be then something that they use on all their contracts and no player or agent wants to be the one that lets that one slip past the goalie so it it’s it but once again we come back to hey the Bengals are notoriously stingy with their money and part of it is because they don’t have a ton of money i mean and we’ve talked about it before you know the the money that you have to put into escrow when you guarantee contracts it’s not that big of a deal necessarily for Shamar Stewart’s contract and they’re not trying to get out of the escrow here but with the money that they’ve had to put up for Joe Burrow and for Trey Trey Hig for for Higgins and for Jamar Chase then yeah that is kind of big money so I get it they’re strapped cash organization and they don’t want to necessarily be blowing whether it’s $12 million you know avoided on a Stewart conceivably in the future or somebody else’s contract that’s a whole lot more expensive maybe they just want to get out of it but it just makes them look cheap and petty and makes them look like a team that nobody wants to play for well maybe they just need to sell some more of their TVs from around the facility like I think they did before make that money back the Bengals always remind me of the Oakland days and Moneyball and so I’m I’m just picturing you know Mike Brown calling up Clark Hunt and saying “Hey you know we’ll send you we’ll send you a player but can you stalk our soda machines we’ll send you a seventh round pick if you could stock our soda machines anything’s possible man anything is possible all right now we’ve definitely talked our ourselves horse here but hopefully you’re all still here and if you’re not you’ll be back here next week hopefully so I think that’s all I have to say Nick all right Matt happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there and to anybody that had to play the father role tip of the cap to you on this fantastic day and until next time we’ll see you you’ve been listening to 41 is the mic presented by Kshb 41 your home of the Chiefs and Chiefs Digest

Matt Derrick of Chiefs Digest and Nick Jacobs of KSHB 41 wrap up the final week of Kansas City Chiefs OTAs. They break down standout performances from key rookies, highlight a cornerback turning heads, and discuss the return of a few important injured players. Get all the insight from the final phase of OTAs on this episode of 41 is the Mic.

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