Chiefs report to training camp without longtime club cornerstones

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (AP) — Two cornerstones of the Chiefs' four straight AFC title game appearances walked into training camp elsewhere this week, and Kansas City coach Andy Reid will be spending much of the next month figuring out how to replace them.

That task alone could determine whether a fifth consecutive championship game appearance awaits in January.

The biggest departure came when the Chiefs traded Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins for a package of draft picks in January, a move made with an eye both on longterm success and the bottom line but with the immediate effect of depriving Patrick Mahomes of his favorite downfield playmaker since the moment their QB stepped foot in the league.

The other big hole opened up on defense, where Tyrann Mathieu was allowed to leave in free agency, taking not only one of their biggest playmakers on that side of the ball out of the equation but also removing one of the locker room leaders.

"I look at it more of everybody getting on the same page," Reid said, "and it's an urgency to that because we know the level that we are capable of performing at. Rather it is coaches and/or players, the ones that have been here or the new ones, I think there is a sense of urgency that makes it the exciting part. Let's see what we can do."

The Chiefs and aggressive general manager Brett Veach took a remarkably similar approach to filling the openings at wide receiver and safety, spending lavishly in free agency and the draft earlier in the offseason.

To replace Hill, the Chiefs signed JuJu Smith-Schuster and are hoping for a bounce-back season following some health issues in Pittsburgh; they signed Marquez Valdes-Scantling, who must be doing something right to go from catching passes from Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay to Mahomes in Kansas City; and they spent a second-round draft pick on Skyy Moore, who has many of the same characteristics as Hill but has a steep learning curve coming from Western Michigan.

Then there's Mecole Hardman, the lone significant holdover in the wide receiver group, who is heading into a contract year and is bubbling with confidence despite having shown little ability to be a No. 1 player at his position.

"I ain't trying to prove nothing to nobody," Hardman said Monday, when veterans joined the rookies and quarterbacks in camp. "I know what I'm capable of doing. I'm just going to do that and let the work show for itself."