Chiefs News: More teams now travel, but KC still refuses joint practice

Once upon a time, most NFL teams held their training camps away from home.

But in the 2000s, teams began trending away from traveling for camp. In 2000, 21 of the league’s 31 teams (68%) went out of town for their summer practice sessions. By 2021 — the season after every team held training camp at their practice facilities as a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic — just six of 32 teams (19%) held training camp away from home.

In 2024, that number is up to eight. Starting this week, the Kansas City Chiefs will once again hold camp at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph. The Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, Indianapolis Colts, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints and Pittsburgh Steelers will also be on the road.

The Chiefs continue to do it for a simple reason: because that’s how head coach Andy Reid likes it.

“It’s a time for camaraderie — and bringing things together as a team,” Reid said of the experience when camp returned to St. Joseph in 2021. “It’s hard work. There’s no shortcuts, obviously. We’re going to try and cover everything we possibly can. There’s this concentration of football that you take in here. You’re sleeping in a dorm, you’re eating in a dorm and all that. You’re here — and it’s football 24/7, right now. That’s how it works.”

Decades ago, it was also common for teams to hold joint practices with other franchises during camp. But as teams started staying home — instead of traveling to cooler areas of the country, where other organizations were holding their camps nearby — it started happening less often. More recently, however, teams have again begun scheduling joint practices — mostly during road trips for preseason games. In 2024, 30 teams will participate in 22 such sessions.

But this is yet another area where the Chiefs are bucking current thinking. They (and the Raiders) are planning no camp practices with another team.

“I’ve just never been that big on that,” Reid explained to reporters in 2014. “A lot of teams do it. A lot of successful teams do it. [But] I really don’t want to give anybody anything that I don’t have to give.”

A year later, Reid provided a little more detail.

“In today’s world, with technology, there’s not a lot of secrets,” said Reid, per Fox Sports. “You have your coaching points, teaching points — you try to teach on the field — and I really don’t want anyone hearing that. That’s my own personal feeling. As much as I can keep in-house in today’s world, I want to do.”

Besides… as far as Reid is concerned, preseason games give him everything he could get from a joint practice.

“One of the benefits of having preseason games is you get to see these guys play, in front of a crowd, [when] the lights are on,” said Reid. “It’s another step besides practice.”

So as long as exhibition matchups exist, Reid will probably remain opposed to joint practices — no matter what other teams do.