Sammy Watkins made quite the impression on the first day of Kansas City Chiefs training camp on Thursday.
The veteran wide receiver is one of the newest options for first-year starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
”The guy’s an unbelievable talent
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”He’s a high-character guy, you can’t say anything wrong about him. It’s been exciting just to see him come out here and work because he’s such a great athlete and he makes you want to get better every single day.”
Mahomes and Watkins teamed up to elicit the biggest cheer of the day from fans attending the opening of camp.
The quarterback dropped a 60-yard pass on a breezy post route to Watkins, who hauled in the over-the-shoulder catch on the run for an easy score. Mahomes said he’s quickly developing a rapport on the field with the newcomer.
”He’s a guy that will stay after and get extra work, a guy that wants to put the work in to be great,” Mahomes said.
”When you have guys like that all around our team, it’s easy to build chemistry and build that kind of deep ball or if it’s a short pass or whatever it is.”
Coach Andy Reid also praised the willingness of Watkins to push himself during practice, whether it’s running out routes where he’s a decoy or putting in extra reps.
”I love Sammy’s attitude and his work ethic,” Reid said. ”He’s all business, he’s a quiet guy. He’s all business. I love the way he goes about, a true pro.”
For the first time in his career, Watkins comes into the season healthy and with a full offseason of work. That’s helping him acclimate to Reid’s West Coast offense playbook.
”I’ve gotten the plays down but of course we’ve got so much to build on with chemistry and working with the guys,” Watkins said.
”The offense is so bright you can’t sleep on it so everyday we’ve got to go over it and go over the installs.”
The offseason addition of Watkins figures to make the Chiefs offense a puzzle for defenses this season. The team returns three 1
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Kelce, who is used to frequently facing double teams and bracket coverage, sees the addition of Watkins creating opportunities for everyone across the offense.
”I think we’re going to open everything up for each other,” Kelce said. ”Pat’s got quite an arsenal to throw to.”
It also means a lot of players to give the ball, but Reid says the group possesses a desire to win that keeps egos in check.
”That’s what’s nice about having the guys we have, they all understand there’s one ball,” Reid said. ”They all get it. Sammy went out ran a couple of beautiful routes where he didn’t get the ball, but ran like he was going to get it. He didn’t pull off at all. That’s a great thing to have that kind of talent.”
The Chiefs open camp with just one injury issue impacting a projected starter. Inside linebacker Reggie Ragland started camp on the non-football injury list. He experienced a swollen knee following his flight to training camp. Reid does not believe the issue is a significant concern.
”He’s in great shape, we’re just going to let it calm down, precautionary measure, let it calm down and he’ll get back out
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The Chiefs are relying on Ragland as a leader in the retooled starting defense that also includes cornerbacks Kendall Fuller and David Amerson, linebacker Anthony Hitchens and defensive tackle Xavier Williams.
Those changes on defense along with the addition of Watkins and the promotion of Mahomes, puts a smile on Reid’s face.
”We’ve got a lot of new faces in new places,” Reid said. ”That part’s exciting. The ability to teach, that’s what we do. We got quite a little bit of teaching to do as we go here.”
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The slumping Chicago White Sox are playing a team that didn’t give up on its season despite a terrible start, so maybe they decided that was a pretty good strategy to adopt.
The White Sox could have easily given up on their Tuesday night game against the surging Cincinnati Reds despite falling behind 4-0 before they’d gotten an out and 7-2 following Adam Duvall’s three-run homer in the fifth inning.
And given up on the series, too, since the Reds beat them 5-3 on Monday for their 15th victory in a span of 20 games, the National League’s best record since June 10. The Reds also were 7-1 in interleague games.
Instead, the White Sox managed to tie it first at 7-all on a Leury Garcia pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth and at 8-all on Avisail Garcia’s second home run of the game and third of the series, in the ninth.
The White Sox finally broke through to win it 12-8 in the 12th on Yoan Moncada’s bases-full triple that right fielder Brandon Dixon brought back over the wall to prevent a homer but couldn’t keep in his glove, and Yolmer Sanchez’s RBI triple — both off reliever Jackson Stephens.
“The pitch was up and in but I was able to put the barrel on it and get a triple,” said Moncada
http://www.49ersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-fred-warner-jersey , who had a three-hit night after coming in with a .191 average in his previous 44 games. “Little by little, the work I’ve been putting in day in and day out, I’ve been feeling better (at the plate).”
Well before the 12th, the White Sox began their comeback as Daniel Palka hit a two-run homer in the fourth, then teamed with Garcia to homer in the sixth. Garcia has a 13-game hitting streak, and is 14-for-30 with four homers and six RBIs in his last six games.
Now, after winning for only the second time in six contests and the sixth time in 19 games, the White Sox are in position to take the series if they can win Wednesday night at Great American Ball Park. White Sox right-hander Dylan Covey (3-3, 4.82 ERA) will oppose Reds right-hander Sal Romano (4-8, 5.30) in a matchup of pitchers who haven’t faced the opposing team before.
Covey is in a major slump, going 0-2 with an elevated 12.71 ERA with 12 walks and three strikeouts over his last three starts — this after he was 2-0 with a 1.00 ERA in his first three starts in June. His last time out, he surrendered four home runs and eight earned runs in 2 1/3 innings of a 11-3 loss to the Texas Rangers on Friday.
“I made a couple of mistakes they capitalized on,” Covey told reporters afterward. “For the most part I was throwing good pitches. They were just taking the borderline ones and were all over everything that was in the zone. I don’t have an explanation.”
Manager Rick Renteria did.
“I think there were probably a lot of pitches left over the center of plate
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Or exactly the kind of pitches the White Sox jumped on Tuesday while getting 15 hits in only their second extra-inning win of the season, as compared to three losses. By winning, the White Sox avoided falling to a season-worst 27 games below .500.
The Reds have put together a string of improbable victories while starting to turn their season around after being 3-15 and 8-27. But this was a game in which they couldn’t hold a succession of leads — 4-0, 7-2, 8-7 — as they played more like they did in April.
“It got away from us late, but that’s a good offensive baseball team,” Reds interim manager Jim Riggleman said. “Garcia’s a bear to deal with right now and he got us. … But we had a big-enough lead that we should have put it away in nine (innings).”
The Reds wasted a pair of two-run homers in the first by NL batting leader Scooter Gennett and NL RBIs leader Eugenio Suarez, plus Duvall’s three-run shot and a timely play by Billy Hamilton in which he scored the go-ahead run in the eighth on a ground ball to shortstop against a drawn-in infield.
“(But) we’ve been playing too good of baseball to get hung up on one game,” Reds starting pitcher Anthony DeSclafani said. “I don’t think this game is going to affect us one bit.”
Romano has pitched well in three of his last four starts, with a June 24 outing against the Cubs in which he gave up five runs in five innings being the only exception. He gave up only three runs over 20 innings in the other three starts.
White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu (sore ankle) is expected back in the lineup after sitting out Tuesday for precautionary reasons.
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