For the first time at training camp, the Kansas City Chiefs will put on the pads on Monday morning.

It's just another sign that games are getting closer.

While all of the reps the players have taken over the past week and even going back to OTAs and minicamp are important, this is the first time these guys will play actual football with blocking, tackling and everything that goes into it since the playoff loss to the New England Patriots last January.

While every drill won't necessarily be live to the ground, the players know how important this time is to get them ready for the season.

"It's one of those things like where you don't like vegetables, but they're good for you," veteran linebacker Derrick Johnson explained. "I eat a lot of vegetables when I put on my pads, so to speak.

"I'm a linebacker, so it's part of our DNA to hit."

Johnson has done plenty of that throughout his career as he's the franchise's all-time leading tackler with 1,101 tackles in his 11 years wearing a Chiefs uniform. Throughout Johnson's already illustrious career, the grind has changed when it comes to training camp. The trend over the past couple of decades has been less padded practices and less contact leading up to the season.

"It's quite a bit different," head coach Andy Reid explained of how training camps have changed. "We had a long number of two-a-days. Normally those first three or four days were pretty rough compared to what they are today.

"They were normally two padded practices and in the heat – one of them in the heat for sure – and they were a bit rough."

It was a different time with a different kind of a grind, and with the NFL Players Association changing how much time can be spent in pads during camp in the CBA agreement, the reps each player takes in full pads now become that much more critical.

"I need it," Johnson explained of the grind of putting the pads on day after day. "You can't skip that, especially for myself. When the grind comes, accepting it walking out (of the locker room) and down that hill to practice. Then going at it again the next day and walking down that hill with the same attitude.

"That lets me know I'm ready for the season."

While practicing in shorts has its advantages for many of the skill positions, for someone like veteran defensive lineman Dontari Poe, who plays in the trenches, the last few weeks have been all about technique, hand placement and understanding his responsibilities on any given play. 

Now, Poe and company get to what their position is all about—physicality and imposing your will on someone, which is tough to do in shorts.

"The first couple of days are actually kind of fun believe it or not," Poe explained. "You get to get physical. It starts to wear on you by the second week, but the first couple days—it's what football is all about.

"It's what we came here to do, so it's all good for us."

Tight end Travis Kelce agreed. "Everybody knows you can do all you want over the offseason, but it doesn't matter what you do until you put those pads on," Kelce added. "You're not going to get in football condition. There's something about hitting a guy and developing that strain, that play-long toughness till the whistle blows. That is what training camp is for and everybody knows it.

"Everybody knows it's going to be a grind. That's just the name of the game. That's why they call it a grown man's game. Nobody really loves it, but everybody knows we've got to do it to be a great football team."

It's up to the veterans like Johnson, Kelce, Poe and others to help bring along the younger players, particularly towards the middle and end of camp, to lead them through the soreness, the bumps and bruises they'll undoubtedly have as camp progresses. 

"They say, 'Fake it till you make it,'" Johnson explained. "Sometimes you come out and say 'Man, my body feels bad, it's not a good day', but then I'm just jumping around like, 'Let's go, let's go!' and by the time you know it, you're having a good day and getting a good practice.

"You've got to be easily motivated."

Each player knows once he's over that hurdle of mentally working through the pain—the soreness—that he's through the first part of the grind.

That's the goal for these guys over the next few weeks. That's when they know they're ready for the regular season.

"Once you jump that curve, it's time to go," Poe explained.

Key Upcoming Matchups

• 9/11: Home Opener vs. San Diego Chargers  – GET TICKETS
• 10/23: Kansas City Chiefs vs. New Orleans Saints – GET TICKETS