By Peter King, NBC Sports
HENDERSON, Nev. – Coach Andy Reid put the AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs through a 1-hour, 16-minute workout Wednesday afternoon at the Las Vegas Raiders’ Intermountain Health and Performance Center, calling it a “mental day, a good polish day” as the team ramped up preparation with its second full practice of the week for Super Bowl LVIII.
After two cold and rainy days in the Las Vegas area to open the week, Kansas City practiced outside with no pads or helmets (except for the three quarterbacks, who wore helmets) on a windy, mostly sunny 55-degree day at the Raiders’ pristine facility.
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Teams often view Wednesdays as a heavy work day, but Reid has lightened the load on his players in the last few Wednesdays. Most players were in sweatpants and jerseys. Tight end Travis Kelce treated it like a mid-summer workout, with shorts and jersey and bright yellow gloves.
“This is a normal Wednesday for the latter quarter of the season,” Reid said as his players left the grass practice field. “It’s a lot of mental work. Recognition, going through the plays, formations. We just cut back on the speed of it. We came out on Monday, and we were in full pads. Then yesterday we did just a quick get out of the hotel and go through more reps with the plays. Slow pace. Then today, we did this part.”
Patrick Mahomes looked sharp with the first-team offense in about 18 minutes against the Kansas City scout-team defense.
All of Kansas City’s roster was available, but as expected, Nick Allegretti manned the left guard spot in place of Joe Thuney, who has been out with a pectoral injury. Reid said it looks like Allegretti, 27, will get the start against the Niners’ formidable defensive front on Sunday at Allegiant Stadium. Allegretti started the AFC Championship Game at left guard with Thuney idled.
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“I would probably bet towards Allegretti playing,” Reid said. “For Joe [Thuney], it’s a strength thing. Right now, it’s not strong enough.”
Reid acknowledged how odd it is to be practicing at the facility of Kansas City’s arch-rival. But he lavished praise on the 135,000-square-foot facility with a huge adjoining field house. “They did this the right way,” Reid said. “It’s roomy. They’re not going to outgrow it in a year or two.
“I never thought I’d be practicing here. I’m not sure that they’re the happiest about it. We’re trying to take as good a care of it as we possibly can. We respect what they’ve got here. This is beautiful.”
The CBS crew, led by Jim Nantz and Tony Romo, was on hand to watch the workout.
The AFC Champs will conduct their third practice of the week at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, the same scheduled time as Wednesday’s workout.
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