The Kansas City Chiefs said farewell to St. Joseph on Thursday, wrapping up another year of training camp north of home. The roughly four-month long camp came to a close with the Chiefs having their traditional Military Appreciation Day, a chance for military personnel to get autographs and take pictures with the players.
Thursday’s final practice concluded like many in year’s past, as the team welcomed all military members to join them on the practice field at the conclusion of practice before the team heads back to Kansas City. Head coach Andy Reid showed great respect for the armed forces of the United States while also referencing a trip to the Middle East when troops were stationed in Afghanistan. “I had a chance to go to Afghanistan a few years back and kind of see the guys in action, and what a confidence builder that was,” Reid said.
2024 marks the final summer of the contractual agreement between the Chiefs and Missouri Western. The two sides will have to renegotiate in the future and agree in principle for the team to return to St. Joseph for another training camp on campus.
Thursday marked the 14th year of the Chiefs and Western’s partnership. “The people of Saint Joe here at Missouri Western State IUniversity, we appreciate all their hospitality; what a great job they did,” Reid said Thursday. The Chiefs are one of just a handful of teams who travel away from training camp.
Being roughly an hour from Kansas City can be a juggle for players who have families, but still they came to work each day ready to compete. Both sides of the football forged each other for another season. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes said about not knowing if the defense or the offense was going to win each day, “that’s when it’s a good camp.
” “You want to compete,” Mahomes said. “There's days the defense gets after us, days that I feel like we had the advantage and so I think that was the most positive thing I took.” The Chiefs will shift their focus to their second preseason game after a lackluster first preseason game down in Jacksonville last Saturday.
Kansas City will host the Detroit Lions at Arrowhead Stadium beginning at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Head coach Andy Reid said the expectation is for the starters to play the first half..
