The Kansas City Chiefs are now officially on summer break, and the players' locker room Thursday afternoon following their last on-field work out as a team for the next five weeks resembled that of teenagers on the last day of school.
After all, they had every reason to be happy. Thursday was originally scheduled as their last practice of minicamp, but Chiefs coach Andy Reid decided to change up the plan and just have them do their conditioning test before it got too hot with temperatures set to hit up close to 100 degrees in the afternoon.
"I wanted to get that run knocked out," Reid explained. "I didn't want to put those guys out there in that kind of heat, running around. Normally I do the run at the end of practice and we've been fortunate where it hasn't been too hot, so I just thought we probably needed to back off that."
The players will do a similar conditioning test when they report to training camp on the campus of Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri, later in July.
Reid said they normally only have a group install period on the last day of minicamp, so it wasn't taking too much away from what they had done in the past, but it was still a nice little present for the guys heading into their five-week break.
Overall, Reid said he was pleased by what the team was able to do and the work they put in this offseason.
"I'm proud of the guys for the work they did this offseason," Reid added. "We had great attendance and the effort was great. They get a few weeks off here. It's important that they continue to condition and ramp it up for training camp, but I think we've got the right kind of guys to do that."
Players and coaches put in work on the second day of Chiefs Minicamp
Reid shared what he was most encouraged by over the last couple of months during offseason workouts, which began with the start of Phase 1 back in April.
"We have a lot of new faces so I just think the fact that guys were here and you start kind of building that team thing," Reid noted. "They kind of size up one another, they see the competition and then they communicate. I think when it's all said and done, this is premature, but Brett (Veach) is going to have some tough decisions to make barring everybody staying healthy.
"I thought it was a very competitive camp."
Reid, who is widely known as someone who is constantly working at his craft and putting in the hours, said he'll take at least a day to relax before getting back to work.
"I'll step back for a little bit and recharge and get ready to go. But I'm excited about getting back—doesn't necessarily need to start tomorrow, but I'll be ready the next day."
