Mini-Camp Practice #3 Report

From the Truman Sports Complex

With the sound of thunder and a torrential morning thunderstorm pounding on the roof, the Chiefs moved indoors for their first of two mini-camp practices scheduled for Saturday at the team’s facilities.

The 90-minute session went down pretty much as the sessions before it, as the Chiefs continued a review of what they learned during a dozen OTA practices. Saturday morning was a bit faster paced and advanced than Friday’s double sessions, especially on offense.

The coaching staff continued to mix and match players in an attempt to get different looks at the same players.

“It’s all mixing and matching,” said head coach Todd Haley. “It’s giving guys a chance to go against different guys on the other side. Sometimes when you just stay the same and nobody changes, you might be going against the same guy every single snap. They get to know each other, and get to know their little tricks and moves and their steps.

“By moving guys in and out, you get different matchups.”

Casey Wiegmann got work with the first team offense Saturday morning at center, with Rudy Niswanger going with the second unit. On defense, Derek Lokey was the nose tackle with the No. 1 defense, ahead of Ron Edwards and Shaun Smith.

When the Chiefs went to their No. 1 nickel defense, OLB Mike Vrabel was moved inside, replacing Jovan Belcher, and Andy Studebaker was on the corner.

Other observations from Saturday morning’s practice:

• Punter Dustin Colquitt was back, now as the father of three as he and his wife Christia welcomed their third child.
• With Colquitt working there were again 86 of 87 on the field, with only unsigned restricted free agent S Jarrad Page absent.
• The rehab group remained the same as Friday: RB Jamaal Charles, CB Brandon Flowers, TE Brad Cottam, WR Quinten Lawrence and WR Lance Long.
• Brodie Croyle showed there’s no continuing problem with his injured right index finger in the seven-on-seven passing drill, throwing a couple of darts and threading the needle a couple times with smoke.
• Croyle’s last throw however, was picked off in the corner of the end zone by CB Maurice Leggett.
• Rookie WR/RB Dexter McCluster has been impressive in many areas during his first off-season in the NFL. It was evident again during the morning practice when he was catching passes along the boundary and had to get both feet down inbounds for a catch. This is a fundamental that many receivers coming out of college struggle with as rookies because they only had to get one foot down for a legal catch there. McCluster looked like an old master, constantly planting one foot and dragging the other.
• On special teams, the Chiefs worked on their kick coverage unit.
• In the seven-on-seven passing, QB Matt Cassel threw a nice pass to WR Dwayne Bowe for a TD that beat coverage from CB Jackie Bates. That made up for an earlier drop by Bowe.