The Kansas City Chiefs' first-round pick, cornerback Marcus Peters, as well as one of the Chiefs' third-round picks, cornerback Steve Nelson, will join the team on Tuesday for their mandatory minicamp, which runs through Thursday.
Because of an NFL rule that doesn't allow rookies to participate in organized team activities (OTAs) until their academic term is over, both Peters and Nelson weren't allowed to participate in the Chiefs' last 10 practices.
It's the same rule that kept De'Anthony Thomas away from the team last offseason.
After the Chiefs' last OTA practice on Friday, coach Andy Reid said he's excited for his two rookie cornerbacks to join the rest of the team this week.
"It will be good to get the two young guys, the corners (Peters and Nelson) here," Reid said. "They have a lot of work ahead of them."
After another fellow rookie cornerback, DeVante Bausby, went down with a broken clavicle suffered in practice last week, Justin Cox is currently the only other healthy rookie cornerback on the Chiefs' roster right now.
Peters and Nelson will join Cox and the rest of the defensive backs on Tuesday afternoon.
"You just hope they can get as many reps as possible when they come back," Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton said. "There is nothing really anyone can do about it. We're going to coach them up hard and they'll come back prepared.
"The biggest thing is you get that technique base that you'd love to have."
Even though they haven't been able to practice with the rest of the team, Peters and Nelson have been in touch with the Chiefs' coaches and doing everything they can to be prepared for when they take the field again on Tuesday.
"It's been going well," Chiefs defensive backs coach Emmitt Thomas said of the communication. "It's a three-way thing with (assistant defensive backs coach) Al Harris and (coaching assistant) Dino Vasso. They send off all the installments to them every day and they'll answer any questions they have.
"They'll be ready when they come back on Tuesday."
We'll have full coverage of Chiefs minicamp at KCChiefs.com.
