The Biggest Takeaways From Chiefs Training Camp

Sterling Holmes and Josh Brisco break down the biggest takeaways from the latest Chiefs training camp practices, including which players are making the strongest impressions and how early performances could impact the depth chart heading into preseason.

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Arrowhead Addict podcast on this Tuesday.

Sterling Holmes, Josh Briscoe.

You can follow him on the X, @JBBriscoe, myself, @HomestretchKC.

A lot of fun to get into at training camp.

I guess some fun, some maybe less fun, but some intriguing talking points nonetheless.

All of that and more, but Briscoe is sitting on a ball apparently.

Yeah.

I'm, I'm, I did this I think at some point last season.

I don't remember if it was around training camp time or not, but it felt fitting.

I've, I've, you know, removed my monitor and camera a little bit.

I am sitting a little low here now, but, yeah, I'm, I'm sitting on a big yoga ball instead of a- an office chair right now 'cause I've just, I've been slouching really, really terribly.

And when I just, like, actually roll my shoulders into position and, and pull the string up like that, everything, everything sort of slots back into place.

But I gotta, I gotta keep my posture right, and I feel like training camp is a perfect time for me to work on the fundamentals.

I'm proud of you.

Thank you.

Look at you.

Just a Gruden grinder out there.

Just trying to- Well, while Briscoe is working out, someone who's not is Monsaur Delane, still in the yellow jersey non-contact.

Not great.

Let's start here.

Your concern level with where he's at, 'cause this was something that happened was in OTAs.

It doesn't feel like it's anything serious, but it's not like we're getting a lot of great information, in general when it comes to this.

I know today was, well, today was a padded practice, right?

And then they'll go to shells, and then back to padded, so maybe it's just extra precautionary.

It does make sense.

It's August 4th, no reason if he's feeling any sort of tweak to have him push through it.

But we haven't really seen him do a ton.

It's a lot of him off to the side, or he'll go in and he'll listen to the first team play call and then head out and What do you make of the entire Monsaur Delane situation so far?

Because to me, I wouldn't say I'm extremely concerned, but there's at least a little bit of, "Hey, guys.

You traded up to draft this guy.

You didn't want Tyson because of injury concerns, and now there's injury concerns with your CB1."

Yeah, I, I do think that kind of pacing the concern level is a good thing to do.

But at the very beginning of camp, I remember somebody somewhere asked, like, "Are you concerned about Monsaur Delane, you know, starting the rookie period in non-con- in his yellow non-contact jersey?"

And I said, "No, not yet."

And that was in the question of full team reporting but not pads.

Hey, Delane's still in a yellow jersey.

Are you concerned?

Not, not really.

Not, not yet.

Then the pads come on, and I'm like, oh, that's, it's a, at bare minimum, it's noteworthy.

And then our friend Nate Taylor said yesterday, you know, if, if there was a game tomorrow, Monsaur Delane would not be playing in it.

And I, to paraphrase Nate a little bit, not sure that if there's a game in a month that Monsaur Delane would be playing in it.

Now, I, I do think that's probably a, not to cross-promo so early, but I'm gonna ask Nate about this on Weird Games 'cause I need to know what he's trying to say here.

I don't think he's saying, "Don't expect to see Delane in shoulder pads for another month," or expect that his week one is in danger.

But the fact that there has not been a step forward, an improvement in status to this point, that is concerning to me.

Because that, when you go back to again saying, you know, you missed some time in the mandatory mini camps or whatever, and it's, it's just been a, a matter of letting it all calm down or heal up or whatever turn of phrase you want.

I don't necessarily, I don't think we have information to believe that it's going to be a season-long injury like it was a, you know, the Jalen Watson or, or Xavier Worthy style early season injury that your options are either miss the year or play through it.

I don't think we have an indication that that's what's happened.

I, I think given when it was in the off-season, if the Chiefs thought the injury was super serious from the jump, I think they probably would've treated it differently.

But we've also seen what a nagging shoulder injury does to a football player.

You have to be able to use that shoulder as a defender, even as a corner, and he couldn't do that right now if, if they needed him to.

So I'm not panicking, but I am also thinking, and this is still true for, getting ahead on another story, this is still true for Cyrus Allen right now.

I hear all the time about how important training camp is on so many levels, and I tend to believe most of that to be true.

If training camp is really important, these are important reps that, that Monsaur Delane is not taking.

Now, again, he's kind of taking some of them.

He is on the field, but not actually playing in contact in, in 11 on 11 or full contact seven on seven for that matter.

You know, like he, he's not doing any of that.

That is something.

It's not a panic attack.

It's not that he's never going to be healthy this year or his entire career or anything that way.

But it's something that, like, a week ago I don't think it was really worth talking about, and right now it definitely is.

W- when it comes to Cyrus Allen, since you went down this path, let's start with the overarching takeaway, at least in my opinion, which is I don't understand the outrage that was him on special teams.

Fifth round rookie wide receiver, you're gonna play special teams, especially this part in camp this part of the year.

I know he's looked really good early on as a rookie, but that's way too soon after three practices without pads to say, "Yeah, you know what?

He looks so good.

Zero chance this guy's playing special teams."

Tyrique Kilue played special teams.

Your second round wide receiver, Mecole Hardman, played special teams.

Second round wide receiver, Skyy Moore, played special teams.

I just think it's a little, premature to even question him not playing special teams as a rookie.

I understand the landscape of the wide receiver room, and it's not great right now.

I do understand.

But point still remains, if you're a wide receiver- Well, maybe four now at this point, but five or six you're playing special teams.

I do think for me, if he continues down the path of, let's say it's week four, and all of a sudden you're sit- sitting here going, "He might be our wide receiver three," and maybe he's even getting snaps away from, hypothetically here, of course, Xaviar Worthy, or even like a Rashee Rice here and there.

We're like, "No, we, we have to have him as a legit receiver.

He's that good."

Well then yeah, at that point you take him off special teams.

But I think a fifth round wook- rookie wide receiver and a couple practices in training camp, we've lost the plot.

Yeah.

I, I truly, I do agree with the vast majority of that.

If I was gonna play devil's advocate for a little bit, it would be that really in those practices, Cyrus Allen was wide receiver two, maybe three, and that when you are in a house of cards this way, that the Chiefs wide receiver room is in, they should be a little bit quicker to go ahead and pull him out of that rotation.

It- the, the second that Xaviar Worthy left the field, if that would've happened in inverse order, I think I would've also taken Cyrus Allen off special teams and been like, "Hey, man.

Right now Rashee Rice isn't ready for this.

Xaviar Worthy..." again, he ended up being hurt after Cyler, Cyrus Allen, or at least he left after in, in, in a less severe seeming way.

I, I do empathize with people who are like, "Hey, look, if, if you think that Cyrus Allen is your number three receiver, let him skip the gunner, y- you know, the, the, the, the, the gunner test that you're trying to put him through."

In reality, you would like for Cyrus Allen, I think he talked about being this earlier in, in the off-season, you'd like him to be a four-phase special teamer, 'cause you'd like for him to be wide receiver four or five, who is wide receiver three or four next year, and then maybe he's not on special teams in year two.

The problem is that that's not the reality of this wide receiver room.

So I, I would both say, and this might be a little bit self-contradictory, but I think this is, I think this is true.

I don't really have a problem with Cyrus Allen playing on special teams in a non-padded practice.

Bleep happens.

You get injured.

Sometimes you run into Khairi Suloia.

I don't really have a problem with that.

But also, when he comes back, I wouldn't put him back out there on special teams.

Not right now, because you know in the hierarchy he's minimum wide receiver four.

Like, I think he has put Jalen Royals behind him already, and Nico Remigio is behind him, and Andrew Armstrong is behind him, and Jeff Caldwell is behind him.

So e- especially, it is a little bit of a cheat there, 'cause I can say, "Well, if he's banged up, let's not, let's not test that specific thing again."

But I understand why he was out there.

It's totally reasonable.

But I also think if you're gonna treat him like he's the future of your wide receiver room, you should start doing that whenever you as a team really believe in that.

Yeah.

From Lauren Shanks, I think this is a really fun conversation here.

So I wanna get into more with the Chiefs specific, but I think this is an overarching conversation.

He says, "Wide receiver contracts are getting crazy.

Guys like Zay Flowers are making Justin Jefferson money."

That's legit.

They are tied now for the fourth most wide receiver money AAV in the NFL.

If you did not see Zay Flowers, four years, 140 million, 108 million guaranteed, 35 mil AAV.

He goes along to say, "Are we playing moneyball with the wide receiver room?"

maybe, but I also don't think it's a bad strategy.

I- in my opinion, Zay Flowers is a really good wide receiver.

Mm-hmm.

I actually looked it up.

He's had better numbers than I expected.

It was like 850 as a rookie, over 1,000 year two, 1,200 year three.

He's also 5'9", 183.

I'm not trying to say you can't give smaller wide receivers money.

I'm not saying it's a horrendous investment, and maybe he is all four years a 1,200 yard receiving player, and you go, "You know what?

That was worth it."

But when Zay Flowers is getting paid as a top four wide receiver in the NFL, 35 million AAV, I feel like we've lost the plot a little bit.

We are seeing running backs starting to get more money.

Bijan signed a three-year, $75 million contract, 51 million guaranteed.

But if you asked, I don't know if you would feel different.

You said you can have Bijan for 25 AAV or Zay Flowers for 35 AAV.

I get the positions.

I'm taking Bijan every single time.

Now you tell me you can have Zay Flowers for 35 million or you can have Kenneth Walker for, what was it, 14 and a half AAV?

Sounds about right.

I, I'm taking Kenneth Walker and not even thinking about it, because I can use that other money elsewhere.

I mean, again, it's all about how you use said capital.

Right.

And if you are the Ravens, you're eventually gonna have a lot of these contracts coming off of the books.

You didn't have to pay Isaiah Likely.

Mark Andrews, that contract, I'm assuming eventually is gonna get off the books as well.

There's a lot of different situations and scenarios.

You backed out of the Max Crosby deal, so you don't have to pay him.

Derek Henry is getting older.

Eventually you'll probably lose that expensive-ish running back contract.

I, I, I just found myself bamboozled, hoodwinked, flabbergasted at the amount of money Zay Flowers received.

If that is the way w- wide receiver contracts continue to go, I don't think the Chiefs are having a bad strategy of trying to draft early receivers.

They didn't this year, but earlier wide receivers, let them play one contract and move on.

I, I agree with a bunch of that.

There are a couple things that I'll, you know, we can, we can dissect out a little bit.

But yeah, I mean, if you said, hey, you have a $50 million budget or $40 million budget for your number one wide receiver and your number one running back, I would not spend $35 million of that on Zay Flowers.

I, I feel like I've been higher on him than, like, the average pretty much since the draft, and I think the Chiefs really like Zay Flowers, which is the least surprising thing of all time, if you think about that for even a second.

But- I would have not, that's not a contract I could've signed.

And I don't really th- I think he's gonna be the outlier.

I don't really think that every wide receiver contract, although may- maybe other guys are gonna start saying, "Hey, I'm better than Zay Flowers.

Pay me more than Zay Flowers."

I don't think that's going to happen.

It, but ultimately I think the, the entire thing about, like, is it, are, are we kinda blowing up the entire market too much here?

You are blowing up the market if you're paying Zay Flowers 35 million.

You're not blowing up the market if you're paying Justin Jefferson 35 million.

You wanna pay Jamar Chase what he's making, that's fair value.

So, so much, and this is true all across the board, so much of good contract, bad contract is just about the caliber of player you're getting.

And so what I, what I would say is that I would have to have a pretty strong line in the sand where I could say, "I'm not paying a very good player, like an elite player.

I can't..." Sometimes you do.

They're paying Nick Bolton, a good linebacker, top of the market money.

Not, not very, very top, but, but high up the market.

It's a shorter deal, too, so it's a, like, it's a, it's an imperfect example.

But sometimes you do that.

You find times to, to borrow from one position, pay for another.

I actually think the Chiefs are kind of moneyballing defensive end more so than they are wide receiver.

That's partially paying George Karlaftis early and trying to find a little bit of a deficiency in terms of him being perhaps a bit undervalued.

And again, just paying him so early and then for so many years that it's gonna be a, a great bargain in a couple years as long as he at least kinda sustains as a player, which they're betting on him doing.

I don't know if I can say the Chiefs are moneyballing wide receiver because they have spent so much draft capital on a couple of these guys.

Xavier Worthy's a first round pick.

Rashee Rice is a second round pick with kind of an asterisk of, like, I think some teams were not interested in him as a first round pick 'cause you weren't sure what the off the field stuff was gonna be and, and here we are.

Tyquan Thornton was a moneyball practice squad player, but now he's a pretty well-paid number three wide receiver, you know?

Not, I don't know where he fits in contract- And, and former first round wide receiver as well And a former first rounder.

That's true.

His, his moneyball wing of time with the Chiefs was his half year on the practice squad and last season.

Now he's just fairly paid.

They didn't overpay to keep him around.

He's just fairly paid.

Th- that, again, this is like the biggest cheat code in all of sports analysis.

It's moneyball if it works and, and Cyrus Allen and Jalen Royals break out.

It's rage at the front office if Juju has a down year and Hollywood gets hurt two years in a row and Jalen Royals doesn't work out.

Then it's not being, it, it's, it's not being clever with your money, it's being too bold and brash about your ability to get the most out of any receiver room.

So, it, as unfortunate as it is, so much of this just comes down to the results.

Yeah.

Yeah, I, I, I'm intrigued to see- But- where the, where, where the Chiefs end up valuing wide receiver after this year when they move on from Rashee Rice.

I assume they move on from Rashee Rice.

And Travis Kelce you assume.

I mean, the next off-season's gonna be massive on, on offense.

And- Massive a- and, a- and maybe Thornton was a second rounder.

I can't remember if he was first or second, by the way.

So maybe- It was a late first, I think.

I, I thought it was first, but if it's second I wouldn't be shocked.

I thought it was like 29 or 27 or something like that.

Could completely be wrong.

Fifth- But the- Never mind.

We're, we're wrong.

Yeah, th- thank you, Steven.

Appreciate it.

Second.

Um- Thank you, Steven.

And then also- Sorry, Steven Chris Jones.

Yeah.

Right?

I mean, what do they do with Chris Jones?

I mean, there's a lot of money that could be p- potentially come off the books next year.

Harrison Butker- Yep if you wanna think about kicker.

I mean, there's a lot of money after this upcoming season that could be moved off of the books.

So who knows how they decide to rebuild.

Will they retool, rebuild, however you wanna describe it, with actually paying a wide receiver one?

Will they actually pay an edge rusher or do they try a similar methodology as well?

I think that's what's gonna be so fascinating.

This off-season was a little bit of a, "Hey, last year sucked, but we're almost, not running it back, but we have the same core of guys and let's add Kenneth Walker."

Right.

Let's, let's change out some safety spots and some secondary pieces.

Let's try and get a little quicker in the secondary.

Let's try and bolster the interior of the defensive line.

This was more maybe of a retool while next year could be, again, rebuild is tough when you have Patrick Mahomes and Kenneth Walker and the plethora of players and Andy Reid and all of this stuff, but I, you're gonna see a completely different roster I think in '20, what's that, 27, 28 year- Yeah than we see this year.

And, and it was a pretty significant series of changes on the defensive side.

I think it's gonna be a little bit of what they did this year defensively is what you have to do offensively next year, where, where you free up some of that money and you have to spend it in a highly drafted receiver, a highly signed free agent receiver, and then you need Peter Woods and Monsaur Delan and Rhamason Thomas to lead the way of the next era in their second year on defense as you say, "Hey, we're not gonna be able to add as much defensively.

We're gonna have to do the offensive side of the ball."

And in that, in that way I don't mind that strategy, I just think it's, it's less, left them in such a thin place at, at pass catcher, in 2026.

Yeah, correct.

Let's get into the big talking point of training camp.

I think it's the fun one, and I think of it as a positive.

I know some people have been back and forth on this.

I know some folks think of it as a negative, saying, "Why do they pay all that money to a specific player?"

But I think this is a good thing.

Khalil Benson, yet again, UDFA right tackle out of Indiana, he's with the ones.

And depending on who you ask, who's been there, who's watched every single snap, you've heard, "Man, he's stonewalled all these dudes."

Or, "Yeah, I saw R. Mason Thomas get by him a couple times.

I saw so-and-so get around him pretty quick a few times."

And then there's also the camp of, "W- why did you pay all that money to Jaylen Moore?"

Here's my first thing.

Sunk cost.

You know me, baby.

I love my sunk cost analysis.

It does not matter anymore what you paid Jaylen Moore.

Who is the best right tackle week one?

Who does Patrick trust the most?

Who's the guy that has the best upside and best week one floor at right tackle?

If it's Khalil Benson, if it's Esa Pole, if it's Ethan Driscoll, if it's Jaylen Moore, it does not matter.

You play the best player, contracts are put to the side.

By the way, it is better if a guy like Khalil Benson or Esa Pole wins.

Why?

Well, they're younger, more cost-controlled.

This is the last year of Jaylen Moore's contract.

Really doesn't matter.

You almost hope Khalil Benson or Esa Pole wins that right tackle spot.

I think Jaylen Moore, you know what you have.

I think you know you have a serviceable right tackle.

You have a swing tackle, you have a guy who can play multiple spots on the O-line.

Khalil Benson, they clearly think he's good enough that even if they did not, did not make him the starter, you can't put him on the practice squad.

They, this ain't a stash situation.

This is not what they tried doing with Esa Pole and then Esa Pole gets, gets snatched up by the Jets.

This is full on, "We believe in Khalil Benson," at least to a certain level, and I think he- hell, at this point he's clearly on the team.

I don't think it's even a debate at this point, right?

Yes.

His knock coming out of college was speed rushing.

Or trying to stop speed rushers.

So if R. Mason Thomas gets him, that is the guy.

Mm-hmm.

That's the type of player that would get him.

Those outside linebackers in a 3-4 defense that line up, line up out wide, they come crashing down hard, they're fast.

Those will be the dudes that get him.

So that wouldn't be a huge surprise.

I don't think this is a negative at all, and maybe I'm trying to be too glass half full, but I'm excited with Khalil Benson getting the first team reps.

It's so weird.

It's one of the weirdest, this is not a positive or negative, it is one of the weirdest Chiefs camp story lines that isn't total nonsense that I can remember in recent memory at all.

Here's the thing with Khalil Benson.

It's not that he's an undrafted free agent, which is, I mean, that is part of it.

If you said, "Hey, Patrick Mahomes, his, his, his front side is being protected against the Denver Broncos in week one.

He's being, it's being protected by an undrafted free agent," I would say, "Wow.

What happened to Jaylen Moore?

That's really scary."

Frankly, what happened to Esa Pole?

'Cause that was the battle we were keeping an eye on coming into camp.

The Chiefs signed Khalil Benson on May 4th.

We were talking about Chewbacca.

That was 10 days after the NFL draft concluded.

He wasn't This is not me, I, I, I, if I sound angry, I'm not mad at the Chiefs, I'm just truly, honestly confused on a bunch of levels.

And if you have any theories, I'm legitimately interested to hear them, because I've talked to a number of people who are like, "Yeah, man.

I don't get it either."

Khalil Benson is not only selected at any point in the 257 selections of the NFL draft, despite the fact, I'm not a huge college football guy, I watch it some, but it, not nearly with the eye that I do to the NFL.

I watched Khalil Benson play football last year, 'cause he was blocking Reuben Bane in the national championship game.

I just happened to see him.

The draft goes by, 257 players are selected.

The entire first wave of undrafted free agency happens.

The priority undrafted free agents that you hear about, they, they get signed and snapped up.

They're getting phone EJ Smith talked about getting a phone call from DeMarco Murray right after the draft, that the priority undrafted free agent.

The Chiefs were reportedly on Jayden Ott like right after the draft wrapped up.

On May 4th, after the Chiefs had like 100 and some rookies at rookie mini camp, a ton out on a tryout basis, they signed three players that day after that camp.

Benson, Vanderbilt defensive back Marlon Sewell, who they cut when they signed L'Jarius Sneed, he didn't make it to training camp, and wide receiver Xavier Lloyd, who you may or may not remember, Sterling, 'cause he caught two passes with Mizzou last season.

Yeah.

He's still on the team as, like, wide receiver 12.

I just, it, I think, first of all, this is nothing but good for Khalil Benson, and it's probably good for the Chiefs' depth.

I don't know if it's good for the starting lineup.

But it's undeniably extremely strange.

This wasn't a guy the Chiefs fell in love with and then sniped in the third or fourth round.

This wasn't a guy that they signed right after the draft 'cause they couldn't believe that he didn't get picked up.

They just, they, they thought Garrett Nussmeier was more important.

If the Chiefs had a whiff of an idea that they thought Khalil Benson could be competing for starting reps in training camp, I think they would've grabbed him a lot earlier, or there's some other part of Benson's story that we just don't know, which, again, is weird.

It's not weird that I don't know, but it's weird that no one who I've talked to knows.

Because people tend to know those kinds of things.

So- It was a decent contract, though, by the way.

It, I, I get what you're saying.

It was, but it was, it was so late.

Like, was he holding out for a specific amount of money?

Did the Chiefs, does that If, if you think he's playable, you probably take him over Garrett Nussmeier.

Like, if you think that there's a chance, if you think he's better than Esa Pole today, if you think he's your third or fourth tackle, that's a great use of a seventh round pick.

CJ Hanson's has, hasn't, hasn't made a peep in the NFL, he was a seventh round pick, you know what I mean?

Yeah, no, I, I don't argue, but I will also say we, to your point, we don't know the exact behind the scenes.

'Cause stuff in the seventh round gets wonky with players.

Some agents will tell teams, "Hey, don't draft this guy in the seventh round."

True.

They prefer to be a UDFA.

I'm always surprised that worked, 'cause if I was a team I'd say, "Bleep you, I don't care.

I'm gonna take him in the seventh round so we have team control."

I'm guessing Garrett Nussmeier would have probably rather have been a UDFA if he would have had his druthers.

Correct.

But so there, there could And again, we don't know.

There could- Yeah have been something along the lines with Khalil Benson of, "Hey, team's late.

Don't draft him.

We'd prefer him, to be a UDFA."

Could, could be.

But then you start taking bids as soon as the draft's over, and you go sign with the highest bidder and, and you're off.

He, he, he came to- But it was a decent contract, and, and that's my point he came to work out without a contract.

But it was a decent contract.

It wasn't like it was just this cheap, cheap, cheap flyer.

And so- As a tryout player, though.

I mean, again- I, I get it there's probably something there, but the fact that he's competing and, and starting with, with first team reps right now is just extraord- it truly, it is a, it is extraordinary.

I You do not see things like this happen.

Not extremely.

I mean, Terrelle Davis went from sixth round running back, they thought he was gonna get cut, to the starter week one.

There are always outliers.

UDFA right tackle, rookie tryout practice, I, I couldn't tell you an example when that's happened.

No.

I'm sure even that has happened probably somewhere on the NFL, but he hasn't been f- he hasn't been thrust in because of injuries, he hasn't been forced into the position.

He's clearly, he's cleared Chu Godrick and cleared Ethan Driscoll.

He maybe has cleared Esa Pole, and he's maybe cleared Jalen Moore.

A- again, and if it works out that way, you can give the Chiefs credit for the scouting.

It's just so strange that I don't have a super clean take on what it actually means, because I've just never seen this happen.

It's very unique, but- And I still, right now, I still think Jalen Moore is probably your week one starter.

I, I think this is still a lot of stress testing Khalil Benson to see how, how far you can push him before you start to see the flaws of maybe what made him an undrafted free agent.

But do that until 'Cause I, I do agree with you that you pretty much know who Jalen Moore is for you.

There's not a lot of untapped potential, and he's probably not on this team in 2027.

So if, if this is all stress test Jalen, Khalil Benson, and then start Jalen Moore, I'm totally fine with that and we'll just look back on this as, "Oh man, they, they think they have something in Khalil Benson, and this time next year in training camp he and Esa Pole might be your, your competing right tackles."

Or maybe it's just Benson's job and, and Pole is your backup left.

Yeah.

But either way, it's probably good.

It's certainly good for the depth.

It gives me a little bit of pause about how they're looking at Jalen Moore.

It's all just very strange.

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I'm also trying to work on my spinal alignment with the yoga ball seating today.

I mean, it's really all coming together.

Yeah.

I'm just saying they should use this at, St. Joe.

I think the players would like this.

Couple questions- I think, I think, I think Rashee Rice would be running a full route tree right now if he could just get some of this scientifically supported mattress action.

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It is, it is good, good bedding.

Awesome.

Couple questions to get to from David.

"We know who Jalen Moore is, question mark.

A career backup that primarily played left tackle.

Doesn't Moore need reps as well if he's the starter?"

That's actually a really good question.

Very fair question.

I, I guess my point would be you saw him last year.

You did see some highs.

His best game was the game where his wife had a kid and he was at the hospital all night and had to immediately go to the game, because that's when Was that when Jo- Josh Simmons just left the team?

It was a whole weird- Was that all the same?

I think it was.

Was that the Lions game?

Simmons left before the Lions game.

It was the Lions game.

Yeah.

I was thinking, I was thinking of the Lions game when you said his best game.

I forgot that he was, like, at the hospital the night before, whatever it was.

That's great.

Didn't sleep.

Had no idea.

And he was really good that game.

Yeah.

But that was also his peak.

I think from then on he was fine.

Mm-hmm.

He was almost Andrew Wylie-esque of, "Eh, it's not great, but you can scheme around it.

It's okay."

the issue is you don't wanna be paying Andrew Wylie production with Jalen Moore money.

That's a conundrum as well.

I get your point.

But I think the Chiefs know more because he was with the team the entirety of last year.

Right?

So they know at least more who Jalen Moore is than obviously Khalil Benson.

Uh- But I do think that is a totally fair point of like wouldn't it be nice to get him some more reps in camp with Trey Smith?

That's why I still wonder if at some point that, that slider doesn't move in the other direction, 'cause it is, it is a useful time for both of them.

But to your point, Sterling, Khalil Benson's getting his, his first sniff of the NFL and, and Jalen Moore is a veteran who the Chiefs have shown some trust in, which is one of the reasons this whole thing is just pretty strange.

Yeah.

Jesus Perez, "Nobody knows about Benson until he's in a game, just like Sterling doesn't know anything about the movie The Odyssey."

Correct.

You haven't seen it?

You're not gonna see it?

I might, but y- it's like three hours, dude.

Doesn't feel like it.

It feels like four probably.

I've watched college football games that feel much longer than that.

No, the, it, it's really well-paced.

I, l- look, I'm probably the first guy on the internet to say this, but it's a good movie and you should see it in theaters, and you should go see it in IMAX.

It's just, it's a, it's an incredible experience.

Is it like a voyage?

And then see if they'll put up some Khalil Benson highlights.

Is it a voyage or something?

It doesn't matter.

It doesn't matter what it is.

Just go see it.

Sit down.

Enjoy it.

It's an odyssey, some would say.

Is this the one with the Cyclops and Homer?

Maybe.

Or, or is that the Odysseus?

Not Odyssey.

You know what I'm talking about?

Uh- The Iliad I think is what you're thinking of, the other thing.

The Iliad.

I, I'm thinking of The Iliad, yeah.

Yeah.

If I tell you one way or the other if this movie has a Cyclops, would that make you more or less likely to go see it?

No, but I would like to know.

There is a Cyclops.

Okay, maybe I'll go see it.

It's really good.

Uh- You really should.

I'm thinking about seeing it a second time.

Phantom, Phantom says Spider-Man is more of a Sterling movie.

No, O- Odyssey's more of a me movie than the Spider-Man's.

I'm not a, a big, I'm not a Marvel guy at all or superhero stuff.

That's just not me.

Um- Are you like a Gladiator fan?

Nah, kinda.

I, I like, like Big Lebowski and like Dazed and Confused and- stuff like that.

Yeah, no.

It doesn't have a ton of huge laughs, but it's, it's, it has its moments.

Yeah.

I'm not a big, like, th- I don't like the Star Wars.

Some of us tried to get laid in high school.

Tried.

Try, tried's the key word here, okay?

Some of us tried to talk to girls in high school, okay?

Maybe I should've spent my time watching those movies.

Probably would've been the same result.

Yeah.

But, yeah.

You know what girls hate?

Movies.

I'm just not a, I'm not into the Marvels or the, what's the other one?

DC.

You read books.

Your best argument is that you read books.

That's correct.

You just let that be your line, 'cause that is, that does feel like that would help in a variety of facets of your life.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I read books.

That is my main thing.

Yeah.

Unlike, you know, like how LeBron would always read the first page of books, always be stuck in the first page, I actually get to like at least the fourth page.

At least the fourth page.

Ragger, dude.

I get, I get to the acknowledgments.

Fourth time.

I just wanna check and make sure that, it, I check every book I get to see if I'm in the acknowledgments, and then I put it on the shelf.

Yeah.

I lo- any movie that references the hippie lettuce is what apparently I'm into according to Phantom.

I like that.

Yeah, it's good.

St- Steven Coleman, "Sterling's more of a but i- is it as good as the book guy."

Yeah.

Yeah.

Shutter Island was as good as the book, because the final line was great.

But yes, I- Of what?

I'm sorry.

Shutter Island.

Oh.

Not Shit Island.

Oh, wow, what a- That's a different probably premise.

Are you talking about the Leonardo DiCaprio film made a little before?

Yeah, I love that movie.

Excellent.

Okay, that's great.

And the book's great by Dennis Lehane.

But honestly, the, the movie's outstanding.

Uh- It was great.

I have a fun fact about that movie I might tell you after the show if we remember, which we probably won't.

Okay.

Couple questions to get to, serious ones, from, JBenCarter88.

Will, I assume, Andrew Armstrong make the roster?

Briscoe.

Flip a coin.

Not yet, but maybe.

I think right now I'm gonna give Oh, you fli- Sterling is actually flipping a coin now.

It's a large coin.

It's, for fantasy football Oktoberfest.

Sam Adams sent me this coin and a gavel.

Which side came up?

And a gavel.

The gavel is good.

So one says start, the other side says bench.

So- Okay i- if he, if it's start, he makes the team.

Okay, great.

I do think it's about this close, JBen.

Bench.

He's not making the roster.

I'm sorry, Andrew.

I think he's wide receiver seven right now.

I, I, th- I think they could decide, I don't think this is probably gonna happen, I think there's an outside chance that they decide that the Jalen Royals experience is not worth continuing, but I would be pretty surprised by that still.

And I think there's an outside chance that somebody other than Nico Remigio provides some stability on special teams.

But I think one of those things has to happen for Armstrong to get one of those positions.

I don't think it makes sense to carry seven.

I think there's a pretty good chance he's making the practice squad.

How, I mean, let's go to Royals real quick.

I mean, I know it hasn't been good, but you think there's a legit possibility of it being that dire?

Slim.

So I was just kind of was thinking about what it would take for Armstrong to get the job.

That's, that's, in terms of like if he's wide receiver five right now, which I think he is, and if Nico's wide receiver six, I think you would either, for Armstrong to make the roster, I think you would either need the Chiefs to just say, "We're done with Jalen Royals," which I think you, I'd like to give him the year with Chad O'Shea and, and all, and I think they probably will too.

He was a fourth round pick, too.

He wasn't a seventh rounder.

So I don't, I do not think that will happen.

But just thinking about what it would take for Armstrong, he either needs help from someone on special teams to knock out Nico, or he needs to prove, and I don't know that he can do this in one training camp, that he has more potential ahead of him than Jalen Royals does, which again, right now I think is premature.

Yeah.

Kevin King, "How does our DBs stack up to last year's DBs?"

a lot different.

I mean, very, very different.

This is probably the most turnover of any position group.

Again, we, we mentioned Monsour Delane early on as far as the non-contact jersey that he is wearing.

Christian Fulton has wore that at some point or didn't even practice.

Was that today, or was that yesterday?

He missed pra- yeah, he missed practice today with a hip, I think I saw.

Which is great because he's clearly always healthy, always a fun sign.

Yeah, exactly.

Ah, L'Jarius Sneed, obviously he's now back in the fold.

It's an interesting group.

It looks like, ah, Alohi Gilman at, at safety has been very exciting, to put it mildly, right?

I think Alohi Gilman's maybe been the most fun guy.

Hearing him speak and, and just all the things he has said has been enlightening.

He feels like a leader now in this safety/secondary.

You obviously lose so many pieces.

Trent McDuffie was the quiet leader.

Obviously even prior to that, Justin Reid, a little more vocal, right, as a leader.

Who was gonna assume that role?

It feels like it's Alohi Gilman.

He had that great story of, of Kyle Hamilton at Notre Dame.

Kyle Hamilton was considering quitting football.

He's like, "Man, this I, I'm out."

And Alohi Gilman was like, "Dude, no you're not.

Come on.

Get through this.

It's gonna be okay."

And so Kyle Hamilton tolds that, told that story, and next thing you know, Kyle Hamilton's Kyle Hamilton.

And so it sounds like Alohi Gilman is gonna be that leader in the secondary.

I think for me, it's gonna be about, like, week eight, week nine when I fully judge.

Yep.

That's exactly right.

There, there will be growing pains, and just accept that now and you'll have more fun.

I, I think Noah Williams sounds like he's had a very strong camp.

Of course you're worried about the injury front on Fulton and Sneed, and now to some extent, Delaine.

I feel perfectly fine about Shamari Conner at safety.

I think Chris Roland-Wallace in the mix works.

Think you have enough bodies, enough names in the slot corner group that you're gonna have options there.

So yeah, it's going to be a step back at the beginning 'cause you don't have two, like, Pro Bowl caliber corners that you've relied on so much, and you lost another high level safety this off-season too.

But I d- I think it's gonna work, I just think it's gonna take a minute.

I have not heard almost anything regarding the tight ends.

No.

Now, I understand it's really early on, right?

But it was a position of need.

And I remember Matt Derrick talking about was at OTAs, when they're basically just out there running routes and doing hardly anything, and he was like, "Even then they didn't look good."

Like, even then he's like, "It wasn't this like, oh man," 'cause normally when you see guys in shorts and shirts you're like, "Man, these six tight ends that you've never heard of look pretty good."

And he was like, "Yeah, it didn't look great."

So have you heard anything regarding the tight ends?

Because it feels like it's all quiet on the western front.

Yep, I think that's right.

Jared Wiley and Jake Benningstool have each had, like, a highlight or two that you go, "Ooh, okay, that's the..." But we're, we're not grading highlights, we're grading football players.

We're, we're, we're trying to figure out what their entire usage is gonna look like.

I would love a bounce-back season from Noah Gray.

I'm really, really, really surprised that their top three tight ends going into this year are the same top three they had last year.

I didn't think that was going to happen again, and it's, it's a bet they've made.

I think they're betting on Travis Kelce being elite again, Noah Gray being better, Jared Wiley being playable, but none of those guys are really moving bodies either.

So, yeah, I'm, I'm holding out a little bit of hope for, for Wiley I guess, because I do like to give t- young tight ends as much time as possible to develop.

But Gray taking a step back last year is, is really concerning.

And maybe, maybe it w- there was a health element.

Those don't always get better after a season either.

But no, I, I haven't heard anything of particular note at tight end and, and it does give me some concern.

Any other training cap, c- training camp aspects you're intrigued by heading forward over the next weeks?

Just- Anything that you're I think again, the Cole Benson one's the big one.

Yeah.

Just if he stays at right tackle.

There's not a whole bunch on offense outside of wide receiver.

I mean, again, tight ends we talked about, but that's just again the back ends 'cause you know your top two, top two are gonna be that.

You know four out of your five offensive linemen for sure.

Running back obviously is Kenneth Walker.

The best part is Patrick's looked like Patrick.

Talked with LeBo today.

He was at, been at training camp pretty much every day and just he looks like Patrick looks like Patrick.

That's a phenomenal, phenomenal sign.

A- a- any other takeaways or things you're looking at as this, rolls on?

One more last thing here.

Keep feeding me those Peter Woods clips.

I, I think that what you've seen from him both, like, technically and even vibes-wise, like he had a couple of reps against Trey Smith.

I think Smith won one.

He probably won the next one, and both times he gave Trey Smith a little helmet tap on his way back to his side of the line.

A little, little, good job there, big man.

So I, I think everything that, that Peter Woods has done so far, y- you haven't proved anything yet, but you've put down the baseline that you would need to put down if you're gonna show me that you're gonna actually go out there and, and give a hard time to some interior starting offensive linemen.

The Denver Broncos offensive line on Monday Night Football, I, I'm, I'm buying the Peter Woods hype pretty strongly at this point.

Yeah.

He was a guy I was excited about coming out of college.

I love the value where the Chiefs were able to pick him up at.

And yeah, from all accounts, Peter Woods has been putting on a show.

Between him and Cyrus Allen, that's a nice at least two rookies that you're really, really excited about.

Brisco, I appreciate it.

I know you'll have another podcast in about an hour-ish or so.

KCSN, only weird games 'cause every game with Kansas City is pretty damn weird.

Make sure you follow him on the X- It needs to be like that @JBBrisco, myself @HomeStretchKC.

Appreciate everyone in the chat.

I love that the chat is now starting to pop off even more and more as training camp gets underway.

So fun seeing a lot of y'all come back into the fold.

Give us a like or review wherever you get your podcasts.

Again, check out Brooklyn Bedding.

It is elite.

I do promise that.

I love mine a lot as a nice, nice bed.

We'll be back throughout the week as well.

Lot more Chiefs content coming your way.

Until next time, we are out.

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