Chiefs hold first Training Camp practice in St. Joseph with quarterbacks and rookies
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (KQTV) - The Kansas City Chiefs held their first official practice Saturday morning on MoWest's campus in St. Joseph, closed to the public with the quarterbacks, rookies, and coaches all in attendance.
Obviously, the big news Saturday was quarterback Patrick Mahomes now cleared to practice. He was out there with his teammates participating in all of the drills and starting to look like his old self again as he continues to recover from his torn ACL from 7 months ago.
Rookie first round draft pick out of LSU, defensive back Mansoor Delane went through all of the drills on Saturday as well, wearing a no-contact jersey for now as he recovers from a shoulder injury he suffered back in OTAs.
Just getting better every day. The biggest thing right now is just getting my feet under me, I'm back acclimated to the condition and being with the team," said Delane. "First day (of camp) is always ups and downs. I'm a guy where if I lose reps, I don't do well. It motivates me to get better. That just means I have more room to grow. I kind of almost get excited about those things, but at the same time, don't let the same mistakes keep happening. So that's kind of where I'm at today."
The other first-round draft pick the Chiefs had in this 2026 draft was Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods. He's looking forward to the next few days of camp with just the rookies and the quarterbacks because he said it will help this rookie class get settled and mesh better with the veteran players next week when they arrive.
We're just one day into this camp, and Woods is already chomping at the bit to put pads on.
"I'm just super eager. It's been almost a year since I've been able to put some pads on and hit somebody, so that first contact is gonna be like a kid in a candy store," said Woods. "I really can't even explain it, so I'm super excited. It'll be my first league contact. So I'm trying to make it my best whenever. I love to hit people. That's why I play the game."
Another rookie looking to make a huge impact right away is Kansas City's second round pick, the defensive end out of Oklahoma, R. Mason Thomas. He's ready to start learning the Chiefs' defensive playbook and says scheme-wise. It's very familiar to his time under head coach Brent Venables with the Sooners.
"I think it's similar. I think coach V and coach Spags are the same person. It's actually crazy. I was just talking to Coach V about that," said Thomas. "They're aggressive, they have similar calls, so I think the terminology is the difference. Some things that Coach V says that they say, means something different, so you just have to rep it. So that's one of the biggest things."
The Chiefs quarterbacks and rookies will hold two more morning practices on Sunday, July 26th and Monday, July 27th before having an off day on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, July 29th, the real thing kicks off. Training camp officially begins with the general public able to attend at 9:15 am.
