Practice, classroom work, holdouts? What are the Chiefs missing out on without their mandatory minicamp?
Typically the Kansas City Chiefs would be starting their three-day mandatory minicamp around this time. We know that there’s nothing typical about this offseason due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Minicamp marks the final organized team practice session. The team will have a short break and then report for training camp in late July. Minicamp won’t be happening this year, though.
According to a report from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, there will be no in-person minicamps during the month of June. As a result, the NFL has extended their virtual offseason programs, but we learned from Chiefs HC Andy Reid on Wednesday that the team will conclude their virtual offseason next week.
“We have another week left here,” Reid said. “Next week we’ll finish. This week here we’re actually going back through like you guys know we do, going back through our opponents, AFC West opponents and our first game, which we know now. We’re going to get ourselves ready for camp.”
What is the team missing out on by not having mandatory minicamp practices? Well, they still aren’t allowed to have padded practices and must follow NFL guidelines for Phase 3 of the offseason program. That means they’d still be dealing with padless non-contact practices.
At minicamp they’d be doing some of the classroom work they’re doing right now, going back through AFC West opponents and studying out their first game of the 2020 NFL season. So they’re really not missing out on much in that respect either.
One thing that they’re not seeing is the extent of Chris Jones’ reported hold out. Back in late May, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport let us know that Jones hasn’t participated in any of the Chiefs’ virtual OTAs or had communication regarding an extension since the team applied the franchise tag. Rapoport also said that Jones wouldn’t be participating during in-person OTAs.
Jones missed mandatory minicamp in 2019 because of a contract dispute with the Chiefs. Would he have skipped out on mandatory minicamp in 2020 had it happened? Will Jones hold out when the NFL finally allows players in the facility for training camp?
In the grand scheme of things, a lack of a mandatory minicamp won’t hurt the Chiefs. Players and coaches alike have echoed the sentiment that they’ll be ready to go whenever they’re permitted to return to the field. But the question on Jones will remain unanswered until players have an opportunity to return to the practice field.
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