5 Position Battles Kicking Off During OTAs
The Chiefs' mandatory minicamp has kicked off and it's time to dive into some of the top position battles this offseason.
The Kansas City Chiefs have officially started mandatory minicamp this week which means it’s officially time to start thinking about the 2025 season. As this unpadded camp gets on the way, let’s take a look at some early position battles to keep our eyes on as we move through the next few practices.
As mentioned, these practices are well practices and they aren’t even in pads so not a lot is likely to directly change because of performances on the field. Instead what is key to pay attention to is how quickly players are “picking up the play book” which will be seen in what team they take their reps on and how coaches speak about them.
Still, we are in June and the Chiefs are officially in mandatory camp right now so let’s talk some about these top position battles that we could get some early insight into.
Top 5 Position Battles for Chiefs Minicamp
1. Left Tackle
The obvious battle that everyone will be locked into for most of the off-season is the left tackle spot. The competition will come down to newly signed left tackle Jaylon Moore — previously of the San Francisco 49ers — and first round draft pick Josh Simmons out of Ohio State. It’s too early in the year to really make any changes to the prediction at this point in time but there has been some interesting news lately.
During the final stretch of voluntary OTAs, Simmons began participating in team drills as a full participant. That trend continued after the first day of mandatory camp which seems to point towards Simmons being on the right track to be healthy come the full on Training Camp portion of the offseason. Conversely, Jaylon Moore continues to not participate in team drills during OTAs which is providing Simmons some ability to catch the veteran at least with team-specific experience.
As the veteran, Moore has a substantial head start in terms of NFL experience and expected readiness, but Simmons having this many reps to “gel” with the team while Moore isn’t participating could change that math. If this continues all mandatory camp, we could look at a situation where a healthy Simmons with more experience with this Chiefs’ offensive line is competing against Jaylon Moore and his NFL experience. If that’s where we ultimately end up come Training Camp, it’s easier to see a pathway for Simmons’ skill being too much to overcome as the team-specific experience narrows the gap on overall professional experience.
2. Nickel Defensive Back
The Chiefs’ have come out and said Trent McDuffie will continue to play outside cornerback despite the additions to the team this season. If we are to take that at face value — and assume it’s not just outside corner in base personnel — then the Chiefs are still a little thin at their slot corner spot. If the Chiefs are returning to their 2023 defensive plan with McDuffie kicking inside, that opens up another outside corner spot available.