Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid elaborated on the plan for training camp during Chris Jones’ extension press conference on Monday. We already know quite a bit about the schedule with rookies reporting for COVID-19 testing starting today. Reid began with high praise for the athletic training staff for getting things ready and as safe as possible given the current circumstances. He then took us through what the first few days of training camp will look like for the rookies here.
“Rick Burkholder and Mitch Reynolds have done a phenomenal job of setting everything up to try to be COVID-safe the best we possibly can,” Reid began. “That’s where we start. We start with a couple of days of testing for the players. They do back-to-back tests and then they’ll actually, from there, work their physicals, get their equipment and head with Ted [Crews] and do whatever media obligations they potentially have.
“There are a couple of days for that. That takes you into four days here and then there’s a point where we’re going to be able to have the guys lift, and meet with them, and do a potential walkthrough with them. So that’s kind of how that is setup. That goes for an extended period of time.”
Reid noted that the NFL and NFLPA are still working through some things, but he said that the Chiefs and the Houston Texans, who both are starting their training camps earlier than the rest of the league, are working within the framework that’s been provided by the NFL so far. And they’re doing things as safe as they possibly can while the NFL and NFLPA work out any remaining details.
One thing that Reid is seemingly impressed with is the socially-distanced setup the Chiefs have for training camp.
“When you guys see the setup — if you have an opportunity to do that — it’s phenomenal,” Reid said. “We’re going to do everything out of the stadium. The way they’ve set it up, we could have a ton of people social distance, more than we have with our football team. They’ve got it all set up with monitors and everything else. They’ve got each media room set up. They’ve split the Arrowhead Stadium in half, so one half, the defense is on one side, the offense is on the other side. It’s really something.”
As for the ever-present concern over the coronavirus, Reid explained that the responsibility lies on the players, coaches and staff beyond the confines of Arrowhead Stadium and playing the game.
“The guys are going to be tested often,” Reid continued. “It’ll be good that way. And then, listen, there’s a responsibility for coaches and players to make sure we handle ourselves right when we’re away from it. We’re still going to keep as much social distancing when we can. Obviously, it’s contact sport. But when we’re not in contact, we’re going to keep our social distance when we’re not playing. We have all that set up, we’re going to have our masks set up and do all the things and wash our hands, do all those fundamental things. We’re going to stay on top of that.”
Things may have come off as haphazard or unprepared as the NFL and NFLPA continue to negotiate and players voice their concerns. But there seems to be a level of confidence from Reid and others in the building that the Chiefs will be able to navigate football and the COVID-19 pandemic.
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