Chiefs end 2023 training camp in St. Joseph

SAINT JOSEPH, Mo. — Training camp is officially over for the Kansas City Chiefs.

The defending Super Bowl champions wrapped up camp in St. Joseph at Missouri Western State University on Thursday with a short practice and with the players meeting with military members on the field after practice.

While the Chiefs are one of the few NFL teams that goes out of town for training camp under head coach Andy Reid, they always note the additional benefits of being together for a month before the regular season.

“I just mentioned it to the team that you started this foundation, this is where it starts, you’re building this thing as it goes on,” Reid said.

“Every week is different, every day is different in this thing, but you have accomplished some things here that’s going to help carry you through the season in a positive way. Then we take it one day at a time from there.”

 “I thought it was a good camp,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “We improved on a lot of stuff. We didn’t add a lot of new receivers, but getting those new receivers in and getting them flowing around. The guys that have been here for the second year, you can see the improvements (in) how they practiced.”

“Offense, defense and special teams kind of just flew around and we competed every day which you always want.”

Mahomes spends a lot of time with the offense as QB1, but he uses training camp to get to know the defensive players on his team; an objective that’s become one of his favorite pastimes.

“Being able to eat lunch, go to Chick-Fil-A, go get some pizza, whatever it is with different guys that you’re not around all year long,” he said.

“You build those relationships and I think that’s the best part about St. Joe is that you get out here and you really get to see those guys you don’t see maybe as much throughout the year and build those relationships. That’s what builds that bond you have whenever times get tough during the regular season.”

As good as camp was for the Chiefs, it doesn’t always mean regular season success.

“You have to keep that mentality,” Mahomes said. “I’ve had some great camps where we came in and that mentality didn’t go throughout the entire season and you didn’t get that pay off that you wanted. So, even though I feel like we had a great camp, we have to have that mentality, it’s not done.

“We still have weeks of practice getting ready for the game – first regular season game against the Detroit Lions, a team that’s hungry and ready to come out there and try to beat us. We have to have that mentality, we can’t just be satisfied with how camp went, he have to keep that mentality throughout the entire season.”

Before the Chiefs begin the NFL season with the Lions, they have two more preseason games coming up.

The next one is on Saturday when they hit the road over to face the Arizona Cardinals at 7 p.m.