As the Kansas City Chiefs walked down the hill toward their practice field at St. Joseph’s Missouri Western State University on Thursday morning, veteran cornerback Kristian Fulton was finally with them.

Signed to a two-year, $20 million contract in March, Fulton has spent the entire camp on the team’s Active/PUP (physically-unable-to-perform) list as he recovered from an offseason cleanup surgery on his knee. He and linebacker Drue Tranquill — who also returned to the practice field on Thursday after missing four days of practice with a strained back — only took part in individual drills.

Neither is expected to play in Saturday night’s preseason opener against the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, but Fulton’s return probably means he’ll get plenty of playing time in the third preseason game against the Chicago Bears on GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on August 22. And for him, that should open the door to the season opener against his former team — the Los Angeles Chargers — in Sao Paulo, Brazil on September 5.

So that was an excellent way to begin the team’s final practice before Saturday’s game.

“All in all, [it was a] good practice,” announced head coach Andy Reid. “[A] long one today. The guys got a lot of reps in — and worked their tails off getting through. We had a little bit of heat today, [so] I thought the effort was definitely there. The ‘ones’ got a lot of reps, in particular.”

But will they get a lot of work on Saturday? Reid announced his usual plan for the preseason opener: the first string (including quarterback Patrick Mahomes) for the first quarter, Gardner Minshew leading the second string in the second quarter, Bailey Zappe taking over in the third and Chris Oladokun closing out the contest in the fourth.

Of course, it rarely works out exactly that way. More often, the starters are only in for a drive or two. In the team’s 26-13 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in last year’s preseason opener, even the starting offensive linemen (including rookie Kingsley Suamataia, who began the game at left tackle) were pulled after just four plays; usually, they stay in for most of the quarter. When Suamataia was outclassed in the first games of the regular season, this didn’t look like a smart move. But in fairness to Reid, he had just watched his free-agent wide receiver Hollywood Brown — who was expected to shoulder the bulk of the offensive load in 2024 — be knocked out of the game on the very first play.

“Yeah, we’ll see,” said Reid about the possibility of keeping the starters in the game for longer than usual. “We’ll see how it goes. I’ll play that by ear — but you know, probably not more than a quarter.”

Will that be enough for Josh Simmons, who is this season’s rookie left tackle? Or for Suamataia, who will probably be the starting left guard against the Chargers in Week 1?

“Well, you know, you’d like us to do well,” said Reid, “but I know we have other preseason games — to answer your question, if I’m going to be truthful about it. So [they need to] go out and do the best [they] can. I’m going to keep the numbers down for the first game. And then we’ll see about the second game.”

After all, these games are mostly about the rookies, right? It’s their chance to show the coaches — and the world — what they might be able to do in the NFL.

“It’s important that they get in now,” Reid observed. “They’re in front of some bright lights, and it takes it up one more notch. [It’s] not quite the season, but they’re still in front of a big crowd — and, I guess, another team — so their adrenaline level gets pushed to another level. Let’s see how [they] do.”

Mahomes thinks they’ll be ready.

“Coach Reid prepares us better than anybody else in the league to go out there and play [our] best football,” said the quarterback. “That’s because we practice hard [and] we practice fast. So when you get to the game, it’s not that huge step up. It’s a step up, for sure, but it’s not that huge step up.“

Mahomes believes that for the young players, it’s just a matter of continuing to do what they’ve been doing.

“Go out there like you practice,” he advises them, “have the right mindset and just play fast. Let the rest handle itself.”

Returned to practice: CB Kristian Fulton, LB Drue TranquillOut of practice (due to injury): TE Jake Briningstool (out with hamstring since 7/26), WR Hollywood Brown (out with ankle since 7/30), LB Cam Jones (out with illness since 8/6) WR Rashee Rice (out with groin since 8/6)Left practice early (due to injury): N/ANon-football injury (NFI) list: DL BJ ThompsonPhysically unable to perform (PUP) list: N/A

As always, I compiled all of Thursday’s posts here. Here is the post of the day:

Andy Reid on why he participated in the new ESPN series, “The Kingdom”: “Well, our owner asked me to do it.”

The team will not have another public practice until Monday at 10:15 a.m. (That’s an hour later than usual). Following the practice, head coach Andy Reid will once again address the media, while wide receivers and tight ends sign autographs. The team’s final public practices will be on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Here’s the complete 2025 training camp schedule.