The Kansas City Chiefs kicked off their three-day mandatory minicamp on Tuesday with nearly full attendance from their 90-man offseason roster.
Several players were absent from practice as first reported to KSHB-TV’s Aaron Ladd. The most notable players were LT Orlando Brown Jr., DE Frank Clark, WR Justyn Ross and CB Rashad Fenton. Brown and Clark were both absent from OTAs.
Brown is currently working through contract negotiations with the team on a long-term deal. It’s not too surprising to see him staying away from practice until his contract is taken care of.
Chiefs public relations said that Clark was given permission to miss the first day of mandatory minicamp. Today (June 14) is Clark’s birthday. It’s unclear if he’ll return to practice tomorrow.
Ross was not present during the media look-in at OTA practice last week, but he was present for the team’s media production day on Monday. It’s unclear if he’s dealing with an injury and given his injury history it’s certainly something to monitor.
Finally, Fenton is still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. There was some optimism he could be back on the field sooner than later, but it seems like we won’t be seeing Fenton until training camp.
Other players absent from practice include TE Blake Bell, DE Malik Herring and C Darryl Williams.
There seemed to be a pair of injuries during the course of practice with rookie CBs Trent McDuffie and Joshua Williams leaving early per ESPN’s Adam Teicher. He says that both players were accompanied by trainers off the field. It sounds like both injuries are considered to be minor.
Lucas Niang was present but working on the sideline during practice as he continues to rehab his torn patellar tendon from last season. The latest timeline provided for his return by the team was late training camp, so he appears to be a ways off from participating in practice in full.
Outside of Brown, it doesn’t seem like the Chiefs have any contract-related holdouts going on this year. Everyone seems to be focused on getting better ahead of the break between mandatory minicamp and training camp.
The team also had a few players returning to action after missing recent OTA practices such as Chris Jones and Mecole Hardman. Jones was training on his own during OTAs, while Hardman was dealing with a hamstring injury.
