Over the past three days, the quarterbacks and rookies for the Kansas City Chiefs took to the field for brief morning practices, followed by meetings and walkthroughs in the afternoons.
On Thursday, the other 60 or so veteran players reported to training camp on the campus of Missouri Western State University.
As it has been the case for the last few years, veteran fullback Anthony stole the show with his arrival attire.
"I actually talked to (former Kansas City Royal) Billy Butler about it, and he decided that we should try to up last year," Sherman explained of his outfit to the media. "So, I tried to up it with the leather jacket and the mullet."
Sadly, the mullet isn't real.
"I just wanted to be kind of funny and lighten up everyone's mood before we start the hard times of training camp," Sherman added.
Sherman, like many of his teammates, is excited to get back to camp and begin the 2017 season.
"It's like Christmas morning," Sherman explained of the first day. "You wake up and you come up to camp. You get to see everyone. You hang out and then tomorrow starts the real stuff."
Another player who always likes to make an entrance is running back Charcandrick West, who as has been the case over the last two years, sported his Skittles bag as he moved into his dorm room.
Earlier on Thursday, West shared an Instagram video of his newest piece of luggage.
This is the eighth year the Chiefs have held camp at Missouri Western, and they're once again partnered with Mosaic Life Care.
Chiefs' President Mark Donovan said Tuesday afternoon that after this year, the Chiefs have two, one-year team options of whether or not to continue camp in St. Joseph.
"Our intention is to come back," Donovan told the media Tuesday. "It has been a great experience for us. We had a couple of things we wanted to change a couple years ago and the university over-delivered on that. The little things behind the scenes that nobody sees and nobody knows about that may seem like the smallest thing, after a couple years of understanding how we work, the university understands that fully now."
Donovan said the decision on next year will come within three weeks of camp ending this year.
"One of the big advantages of this setup (at Missouri Western) is that you are in a preexisting dorm with a cafeteria," Donovan explained. "The services we need to operate 24/7 are here. When you leave that environment, that structural environment then you are dealing with, 'OK, what if you house guys in a hotel for two weeks, what challenges does that create? What opportunities does that create? What costs does that create? How do you feed them in a hotel versus a cafeteria, the setup for that?'
"All of those things factor in."
Kansas City Chiefs players and Coaches work during training camp practice on Thursday.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid has spoken several times publicly about his preference of going away for camp, and it's a thought Alex Smith echoed earlier in the week as well.
"I love that we come here," Smith said. "If I were a coach, I'd do the same thing, I think this is an awesome setup. We're away, but we're not that far away. I love it."
"Every minute is critical, not just every minute on the practice field but those minutes together in a meeting, those minutes walking back and forth from the cafeteria that you don't really get if you are not in this kind of environment," Donovan added. "That builds bonds, that builds relationships and that builds communication, and we think that really does matter."
Donovan also explained why fans should make the trip up to St. Joe.
"One of the biggest advantages and one of the biggest reasons to get here is the access," Donovan explained of fans coming up to camp. "Seeing the players in this environment, you have both extremes. You've got the high-competitive level of guys trying to make the team, guys fighting for jobs, and the intensity of that. And then you have the access of seeing guys up close and personal. You can't do this anywhere else.
"And seeing them after practice, and this comes from Andy [Reid], every single practice we are signing autographs with at least a position group. I believe on Friday everyone is signing. When Andy talks to the players tonight, when Clark [Hunt] talks to the players, he reiterates, they both reiterate, how important our fans are to our success. And the importance of things like this and the opportunities to get up close and personal.
"From the fans perspective, you are standing six feet away. You can't do that just about anywhere else."
For a full look at the calendar of special events, including the team autograph schedules, click here.
While there's a lot of talk about the access the fans will get to these players over the next three weeks, the players enjoy the interaction as well.
"It's fun to interact with the fans and see how passionate they are about what we do and their football team."
"It's awesome. It's definitely one of those things it's exciting to see. You kind of see the same people up here every year so you can kind of start to build a relationship with them. You know you try to take care of them first before anyone else, it's cool."
~ Fullback, Anthony Sherman
"It's always cool to show your fans love. I mean, they're coming out here and probably having to take off from work to watch us practice in the heat, so, that's just good to give back that love. When I get a chance to interact with people, I want to get to know them too."
~ Running back, Charcandrick West
"I think it's pretty interesting to see the people come out and support us. It's nice to feel loved. And to come out here and sometimes we're competing and it's just tough, and to have them come up and support us it makes our jobs a lot easier."
~ Offensive lineman, Mitch Morse
"We love it. To have fans this close, every day at practice all around the field it's an awesome opportunity to get up close and personal to a lot of fans that during the season you don't have that opportunity. You just see how much people enjoy it out here. That kind of overflows to us, that energy and man you love it. Walking into practice every day with all the screaming fans, it just brings the energy to camp. Like Arrowhead, they bring the energy here. I know there are a lot of people that travel and a lot of people that are local and we love it, it's awesome."
~ Longsnapper, James Winchester
