June is closing and we are steamrolling towards July. You know what that means? Training camp!The Chiefs will be back at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri before we know it. Training camp kicks off July 27 and will close August 18. And let me tell you, I’m excited. There’s so many new faces in key positions, and Chiefs’ fans best be ready for a new-look offense as well as a younger, exciting defense. There are some areas of concern as well.

Kansas City will pack up and head to training camp with five RBs competing for the football during camp and, if none of those separate form the pack, into week 1. Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Ronald Jones, Derrick Gore, Jerick McKinnon and rookie Isiah Pacheco are slated to wage a camp war for the attention of Coach Andy Reid and OC Eric Bienemy. The fact that Edwards-Helaire is not locked in as the RB1 by now is greatly disappointing. Yes, the stocky former LSU star back has battled injuries, but even when healthy CEH has rarely displayed the ability to ‘pop’ for impact plays and big gainers, rushing or receiving. Edwards-Helaire has yet to show the acceleration/power combination that enticed GM Brett Veach to make him the 32^nd overall pick of the 2020 draft. Production and durability (out 10 of 22 pro games thus far) have not been strengths of the former first-rounder’s young career thus far. Ronald Jones fell out of favor, in a big way, with Buccaneers’ boss Bruce Arians. Ball security issues, dropped passes and failures adhering to play designs have plagued the 38^th overall pick of the 2018 draft. Coach Arians ran out of patience with Jones despite his playmaking tools. Jones has 2 campaigns of 1000+ YFS in his 4 pro seasons and he’ll enter his 5^th year in the NFL just turned-25 in August. Jerick McKinnon was re-signed and frankly was unquestionably the best RB for the Chiefs in the 2^nd half of the 2021 season. Derrick Gore excelled with his limited chances to show and earned a longer look for meaningful snaps this season. Coach Reid and Mr. Veach liked Rutgers RB Isiah Pacheco enough that they did not want to risk losing him as an undrafted free agent and selected the fast and powerful RB in the 7^th round (which carries a 4^th-5^th round draft value about 5 years ago). These five RBs will most definitely get a chance to win a ‘starting’ gig in training camp, but all will contribute in 2022. So, as fantasy football coaches are concerned… if the Chiefs have five legit RBs all contributing in various ways, does a fantasy coach have one to count on? Let the camp wars deliver the answer to that.

The Chiefs’ WR room has gone through a major renovation since the end of the 2021 season. Tyreek Hill, Demarcus Robinson and Byron Pringle have been replaced by JuJu Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and rookie Skyy Moore. Other new tenants of the room are Justyn Ross (UDFA), Corey Coleman (15^th overall pick, 2016), 2018 Pro-Day phenom and Penn star WR Justin Watson, Cornell Powell (KC’s 5^th rounder, 2021) and extremely talented Gary Jennings. Not only is there a major shift in the personnel occupying the WR room, but also in philosophy and focus. Smith-Shuster, Valdes-Scantling, Moore all have a physical edge to their respective styles, much more so than those receivers they replace. Many football experts are projecting a WRBC here, with no KC wideout coming close to the gaudy numbers of Tyreek Hill over the last few seasons. Make no mistake there truly is pass-catching talent among the new-look Chiefs’ receivers, but in 2022… blocking matters on the outside.

Okay, it is quite clear returning WR Mecole Hardman was left OUT of my previous passage, and for good reason, or reasons. Hardman and blocking just don’t mesh. The speedy little receiver lacks sand-in-the-pants to get that job done, is easily redirected out of his routes and knocked off his pins after the catch. He’ll make the squad based on draft pedigree and time served under Coach Reid, but should one or two of the ‘no-name’ WR challengers make impact plays in the pre-season festivities, Hardman’s roster security becomes darn precarious.

Speaking of these new wideouts, Marquez Valdes-Scantling has caught the eye of QB Patrick Mahomes during various offseason sessions. Mecole Hardman and Skyy Moore missed time with Mahomes early in OTAs and mini-camps and MVS made the most of the opportunity to get more reps with Mahomes. Mahomesand the former Packer receiver also got in work back in Texas even before the OTAs. The impact battery are already wowing in practices as Mahomes’ power arm and the racing wheels of MVS mesh perfectly downfield. Listening to the QB, there’s lots more to come.

GM Brett Veach has been busy inking some very talented undrafted free agents and it will not shock to see a number of these UDFAs not only make the squad but contribute some.

Chiefs’ TE Travis Kelce has once again led the ‘TE University’ sessions with the following pro TEs attending:

Chiefs TE Noah Gray, Blake Bell, Jody Fortson

Cowboys TE Dalton Schultz, Jake Ferguson

Packers TE Robert Tonyan, Dominique Dafney, Tyler Davis, Josiah Deguera

Commanders TE Logan Thomas, John Bates

Bengals TE Hayden Hurst, Drew Sample

Dolphins TE Mike Gesicki, Durham Smythe

Broncos TE Albert Okwuegbunam

Jets TE C.J. Uzomah,Tyler Conklin

Lions TE T.J. Hockensen, Eric Saubert, Brock Wright

Eagles TE Dallas Goedert, Tyree Jackson

Bucs TE Codey McElroy

Bills TE Dawson Knox, O.J. Howard, Jalen Wydermyer

Raiders TE Darren Waller, Foster Moreau

Bears TE Cole Kmet

Falcons TE Kyle Pitts

Jaguars TE Evan Engram, Dan Arnold

Panthers TE Tommy Tremble

Colts TE Mo Alie-Cox

Browns TE David Njoku

Rams TE Tyler Higbee, Brycen Hopkins, Kendall Blanton

Titans TE Chig Okonkwo, Tommy Hudson

Giants TE Daniel Bellinger

Patriots TE Jonnu Smith, Matt Sokol

Vikings TE Irv Smith

49ers TE Charlie Woerner, Tanner Hudson

Texans TE Brevin Jordan

Seahawks TE Noah Fant

Saints TE Adam Trautman

-QB Patrick Mahomes comes into 2022 with the sour taste of playoff defeat still permeating. He’s been saying all the right things, sounding highly motivated to right the wrong that ended his 2021 campaign. Add to his motivation the challenge of thriving without Tyreek Hill threatening opposing defenses and we have a perfect recipe for a season rich in aerial numbers delivered by the Kansas City power thrower. I’m telling you he sounds downright excited to get back on the field and take apart defenses with an array of pass-catching characters owning unique, distinct individual skill sets that, when melded into the Coach Reid special brew of play-booking, will create waves of production. Patrick Mahomes sounds determined to set himself and his teammates up for the opportunity to boast, "Tyreek who?"

- Coach Reid may have lost some love for his 2020 #1 pick, RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire. The signing of talented but flawed ex-Tampa Bay RB Ronald Jones poses a latent challenge to CEH’s 2022 touch and YFS potential. Jones will enter the regular season having just turned 25, just 2 years older than Edwards-Helaire. The former Bucco back has 4 seasons of experience under his belt and, quite honestly, has displayed more explosiveness in live action than Edwards-Helaireand produced better overall numbers. Jerick McKinnon was the most effective, more dangerous and more versatile RB in Kansas City’s post-season run last year. He pummeled Pittsburgh for 142 YFS and a receiving TD on 18 touches. Next McKinnon beat Buffalo’s defense for 78 YFS on 15 touches and finally, in the AFC title game loss to the Bengals, McKinnon handled another 15 touches, slashing Cincinnati for 95 YFS. Derrick Gore rumbled past defenses for 5.0 YPC in his limited windows of opportunity. He looked strong and confident rushing the rock. Rookie Isaih Pacheco bring s solid 5’10"-216 frame to the field. He bolted his Pro Day forty at a swift and surprising 4.37-seconds. Pacheco’s collegiate numbers are nothing to get excited about… on the surface. Chuck on some of his Rutgers game tape and you understand why the Chiefs spent a draft pick (7^th round) rather than try and sign him as an UDFA or lose him to another late-drafting franchise. Pacheco is a leader on the field and delivers a fast, smart but physical style of play. He is a better receiver than his college numbers suggest and could actually thrive behind a quality O-line… like the unit the Chiefs field right now. Given the number of quality RBs on the roster and the quality of the offensive line, it looks, smells and feels like Coach Reid is planning on a more balanced playbook in 2022, running the ball with greater efficiency and effectiveness and keeping his RBs fresh in a deep rotation. This is a nightmare scenario for fanballers determined to make Clyde Edwards-Helaire a weekly starting option in fantasy lineup.

- One more time, the WR crew of 2022 is vastly different than that of 2021. It may be hard for Chiefs’ fans to grasp that the offense may be better WITHOUT Tyreek Hill, but that’s exactly what I see here. GM Brett Veach made a football decision to trade off the focused, centralized, target-magnetism of playmaker Tyreek Hill and a gaggle of 3^rd/4^th level support talent like Demarcus Robinson and Byron Pringle for a deep, dangerous and diverse group of receivers. Fanballers won’t likely see JuJu smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling or Skyy Moore capture 100 catches like Tyreek Hill did last year when he hauled in 111 passes. Over the last 4 seasons Hill averages just over 10 TD catches per year, and fantasy coaches shouldn’t project any of the 2022 Kansas City wideouts with 10 TDs. But how about this thought… there could very well be two Chiefs wideouts with 850-900 yards and 7-9 TDs each. When healthy Smith-Schuster has proven to be a force from the slot. Valdes-Scantling owns a career 17.5 YPR and has already built an on-field WR/QB relationship with Mahomes. Coach Reid and Mr. Veach were quick to pounce on MVS when he shook free from Green Bay and Coach Andy seems quite excited about the ways he plans to deploy his new, big, fast play-making threat. Skyy Moore became a Chief in the 2^nd round of this last draft. Coach and GM valued the Western Michigan star receiver with outstanding YAC abilities, glue-lined hands and supreme route acumen that much. The rookie is at best third in the pecking order among the WRs but his big days are just a year away. For 2022 fantasy folks might want to bank on JuJu Smith-Schuster for 900 yards and 7 TDs while Marquez Valdes-Scantling torches secondaries for 850 yards, about 18 YPR and 8 TDs, many of the long variety.

- TE Travis Kelce has posted at least 92 catches over the last 4 seasons despite sharing the field with Tyreek Hill. The way it appears that Coach Reid will be spreading the ball around to a wider range of receivers and more often, Kelce may very well experience a dip under the 90-catch mark for 2022. Last time that happened was 2017 when the best TE in football today caught ‘just’ 83 balls. We must go back to 2015 when Kelce was held under 80 receptions (72). Still, fanballers will take a75-80 catch, 10 TD performance from Kelce in 2022 and run with it.

- Looking at fan-generated mock draft results I am shocked at the soft interest in Chiefs’ kicker Harrison Butker. The guy is one of the best in the NFL… dare I say a click under Justin Tucker.Butker has a career field goal success rate of 90%. He’s hit 20 of 28 tries from 50+ yards out since coming into the league, including 7 of 9 just last season. Fantasy Pros consensus ADP has Butker ranked 5^th among NFL kickers. He is the kicker of one of the highest scoring offenses in the NFL… c’mon people! Harrison Butker is primed to boot for big, big numbers in 2022… BOOK IT!

Fantasy footballers and Kansas City Chiefs fans can book another Eye in the Sky Report late July, right about when Coach Reid blows the first air-horn of training camp.

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