By MATT PIKE
It's officially closing time on Chiefs Training Camp at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, the final practice held earlier today.
As they always do on the final day, Chiefs players and coaches celebrated and honored members of the military for Military Appreciation Day.
"Great to have the military out here," Head Coach Andy Reid told reporters after practice. "Appreciate everything they do for us, so we can do what we do, all of us in this tent included."
Reid also thanked MoWest and the university staff for its hospitality
"They took great care of us, everything from food to making our beds to cleaning our room and that can be a chore, I know, with some of my guys," Reid joked. "But they do a great job of helping us out, and we appreciate their hospitality.
During the 17 open practices, 20 overall including practices for rookies and quarterbacks, several players stood out to fans through the time in St. Joe. For Reid, he says each member of this year's rookie class had their day to shine during Training Camp
"They've added some consistency to their game. We always talk about stacking days and improving every day and find one thing you can work on to get better at all those," Reid says. "All the same, I thought they handled that and tried to do that. So, you could take that whole class there, and I'd give them a thumbs up on how they went about their business.”
The highlight of camp for many was rookie Cyrus Allen. First round pick Mansoor Delane was able to get back into pads within the final week of camp, after spending most of his time in St. Joseph in the gold non contact jersey.
Linebacker Nick Bolton says now getting to leave St. Joseph and go home, the work is far from done, but Training Camp helped build a good foundation for the season.
"Built the foundation, get you some physical conditioning, then from here on out it's kind of what we do from here," Bolton says. "Obviously camp is over with, glad to be back at the house, but you've got a lot of work to do still."
Players signed autographs and tossed gloves into the crowd as they left the practice fields. The Chiefs play their next preseason game Saturday in Tampa Bay.
The Chiefs head to Tampa Bay for their next preseason game and will return to Kansas City following that to resume practice at their facilities. The regular season kicks off on September 14th, Monday Night Football hosting the Broncos.
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