‘No joke’: How Chiefs coach Andy Reid’s grueling training camps shape team’s success

Among the highlights of every season for Chiefs chairman and CEO Clark Hunt, he said Sunday, is addressing the team on the eve of the first day of full-squad practices at Missouri Western State University.

Part of the message he delivered Saturday underscored the precious opportunity at hand: to become the first NFL team to successfully defend a championship since the 2003 and 2004 New England Patriots.

The once-unthinkable circumstances, including appearances in three of the last four Super Bowls and two titles, have made for a substantial shift in the spirit of the moment.

“Seven or eight years ago, we spent a whole lot more time talking about the ‘60s and ‘70s than I do now,” Hunt said, smiling. “I still include the history of the organization, because I think it’s important for the young players to understand where the team came from in the early 1960s as a charter member of the American Football League.

“But certainly it’s great to be able to talk about the success that we’ve had over the last four or five years and also the success we’ve had over the last 10 years with Andy.”

Starting right where Hunt stood on Saturday and Sunday: at the epicenter of that success.

As he spoke under a tent by the practice fields and adjacent to where players and coaches leave the field here, he indirectly reiterated how this has come to be ... not to mention what it means.

His voice practically was muted by the loud crowd noise peaking with Patrick Mahomes passing in a golf cart and chants of “Andy, Andy, Andy” for Reid as he left.

Good thing they were there, too, for more than one reason.

Because to some degree, the fans are essential personnel at this grueling Andy Reid proving ground — where the heat index hovered around 100 on Sunday and daily high temperatures are expected to hit between 97 and 102 through at least next Sunday.

Why is their energy so vital here?

“Otherwise,” safety Justin Reid said, “Andy Reid’s camps are no joke.”

To the contrary: The old-school camp, now one of just seven conducted away from home in the NFL, is a severe test physically, psychologically and even intellectually given the complexity of Reid’s offense and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s schemes.

“Mental stress,” linebacker Nick Bolton called it Sunday.

He meant on the field, but it’s in Sensurround — including dorm life that strips everything down to its equalizing finest elements.

The better to capture a captive audience for an experience that is about everything from conditioning to camaraderie to something resembling cramming for exams.

“I think hard work can build unity …” Andy Reid said, later adding, “You’re up here, you get to room with somebody, you get to eat with them (and) meet with them …

“You’re always busy doing something, and you’re doing it with your teammates.”

Even Mahomes is contending with the discomfort of the setting — starting with the sadness of watching baby daughter Sterling wave out the window when he left home the other day en route to the spartan life here.

The sensation with the half-billion dollar contract, who recently moved into a mansion that comes with a par-3 golf hole, indoor basketball court and aquarium, is in as tight a room as anyone else and shares a bathroom with suitemate Blaine Gabbert.

Like anyone else in camp, he knows Reid will continue to challenge him in any number of new ways while here — albeit largely mentally in his case.

While it’s more or less all-football all-the time and much of the vibe is no-nonsense, the duress folds into, even amplifies, another benefit.

“This is where the chemistry comes in,” said safety Justin Reid, soon to be on his way to play chess with linebacker Drue Tranquill. “One of the things that makes the Chiefs so fun to watch is you see the personalities and how the whole team gets along with each other. And training camp is a big part of that.”

Indeed, the immersive experience is part of the signature, even DNA, of this unprecedented era in Chiefs history.

If the Chiefs make yet another deep postseason run, you can bet you’ll hear players once again referring back to this time as the endurance and emotional edge that paved the way through tight games that turn on a play or two and ever-lurking adversities.

To be sure, it’s hard to know to what degree, if at all, Reid’s camps might make others look leisurely. You can bet every NFL team is facing a harsh few weeks.

But know this: From superstars Mahomes and Travis Kelce on down to the last man who’ll make the team, the Chiefs will come out of here believing the experience is one of their great advantages — a mindset that enjoys the perpetuating credibility and momentum from what they’ve achieved these last few years.

It’s a little bit like Stanley Kowalski says in “A Streetcar Named Desire” by Tennessee Williams: “You know what luck is? Luck is believing you’re lucky.”

In this case, though, by leaving as little to luck as possible.

“It’s the work, you know what I’m saying?” running back Isiah Pacheco said last week. “This is where you get the most out of it, and ain’t nothing better than the camp when you’re with your guys and you’re pushing each other day in and day out to get better.”

Including, as Justin Reid learned last year in his first Chiefs’ camp after four seasons with the Texans, a pace that perhaps sets it apart most.

“The practices are way faster than any of the games are,” he said. “So it makes the games very easy.”

That perhaps speaks to the spectacle of rookie receiver Rashee Rice throwing up three times at the first rookie and quarterbacks practice last week — a development all the more notable since Andy Reid said he had performed well in initial conditioning tests and “can run all day.”

Some guys, Reid said, just “have a quick trigger there.”

It’s no coincidence, though, that Reid said he’s been around a number of them.

As it happens, Reid said this team largely breezed through those conditioning tests. So much so he suggested it was “one of the better groups” he’s had.

Even so …

“Now,” he added, “it’s a matter of getting in football shape.”

And what’s made for the shape of things to come these last few years.