KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The donning of pads is a double-edged sword at any NFL training camp.
“When the pads go on, when the crowd comes up and when the first game comes to the present, it’s a whole different situation,” Kansas City Chiefs safety Bryan Cook said.
But it also means that the dog of preseason preparation have arrived.
“That’s the beautiful part about camp,” Chiefs center Creed Humphrey said. “It builds mental toughness. It’s something you fight through on those days that you don’t want to go but it makes you a better player for it. I think everybody is really excited to get the pads on. It’s a lot more fun playing football with pads for sure. I think everybody is really excited for Friday.”
Humphrey said no one on the team was more excited for the pads to come on than his interior offensive-line teammate, right guard Trey Smith.
“He’s always ready to hit somebody,” Kansas City coach Andy Reid said. “He’s a tough kid.”
Asked if he notices a jump in energy when the pads come on, Reid said, “Oh, yeah. Naturally it does that, so I like the way they did it, how they got after each other.”
That’s the other thing that tends to come with padded practices — flaring tempers. Cook and tight end Travis Kelce got into a scuffle Friday at Chiefs training camp on the first day in pads.
Reid said some of that is expected as long as it doesn’t cross a line.
“Fighting is a waste of time,” he said. “You get thrown out of games doing it; you get hurt out here doing it. But they’re going to jaw. It’s hot, humid — they’re going to jaw a little bit. As long as there aren't punches thrown, we’re all right. But they’re going to talk a little bit, that happens.”
With soaring heat indexes at an already notoriously tough training camp, the introduction of pads only ramps up the intensity.
“It was one of those days,” linebacker Willie Gay Jr. said. “We got better today. It was a Coach Reid’s training camp practice. I can tell you that. Tomorrow won't be any easier, but, like I told the guys, as long as we continue to get better it’s going to make the games and preseason even easier.”
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