By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. - After some offseason troubles, there were questions among Chiefs fans if wide receiver Rashee Rice would be with the team at the start of training camp.
With the threat of a suspension, Rice being able to focus on football at camp is very important.
"Just because I get to be out here and still be a part of my team and we get to dominate and focus on our goal this year," Rice tells reporters.
Rice's potential suspension by the NFL is a dark cloud looming over Chiefs camp, but Rice would not comment on that.
"It's a legal process and my team is handling it off the field for me," Rice says.
Rice knows through it all though he has one man in his corner, his quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
"He's been very important, he's there for me whenever I need him, on or off the field, he's only a call away and he's always going to pick up my call, so I got him," Rice says.
The Chiefs have been spending this week of training camp beginning to fully gear up for their first preseason game this weekend.
Kansas City still has a few players injured, that may not play Saturday, and a slew of young guys working to prove they deserve to be on the 53-man roster.
Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo says he's excited to see the chemistry between some of those young players in the first preseason game.
"Who will communicate in the heat of battle, you know sometimes it's controlled here but kind of getting into a real game atmosphere," Spagnuolo tells reporters following practice. "Biggest thing is I want to see guys that are unknown to me from their toughness and tackling, those are gonna be the two biggest things."
Several young players in the Chiefs secondary have been working hard during training camp at Missouri Western, hoping to make an impact on the team.
Spagnuolo is ready to see some of those young players step up in the first preseason game on Saturday.
"Jaden (Hicks), all of them, Kamal (Hadden), even guys, Ekow (Boye-Doe) didn't play a lot back there last year right, guys that haven't had a lot of time back there, I'd like to see those guys," Spagnuolo says.
Spagnulo says he's ready to see some of the toughness from players in an actual game, as he determines whose "tough tough" and whose "fake tough."
The Chiefs have one more practice at Missouri Western Wednesday before they depart for Jacksonville.