I had some good KC Chiefs training camp talk with Danny Parkins on 610 Sports today. Danny was making a point earlier in the show that caused some people to think he's not a fan of training camp.
He said that the two main story lines -- Dwayne Bowe not being there and Matt Cassel needing a big season -- are far and away the most important parts of camp and the rest of the stuff, the other position battles, ultimately won't be as important.
Doesn't mean training camp is pointless; just that those two things are the questions right now.
I can see that point. As Chiefs fans, of course we love talking about the minutiae with the team -- the third tight end battle, how the third safety is used, and the backup quarterback competition. Ultimately, though, those things don't matter nearly as much as Bowe and Cassel.
But I'd still add a few more story lines to the list. If Bowe and Cassel are level 1 story lines, these are level 2:
Jon Baldwin having a big camp. This was inevitable once Bowe didn't show up. We just knew Baldwin would have a big camp. This, to me, is one of the top three story lines with this team right now. Baldwin's development affects so many different levels of the team, from Matt Cassel's 2012 season to Dwayne Bowe's future in KC. If he blows up this season, then he's as big of a story line as Bowe...but for positive reasons.
The ACL guys returning. Is this even a story line if it's, like, all we talk about anymore? This one is a no-brainer. They're healthy now. We just hope they don't get hurt again.
Will Dontari Poe be a starter? Probably not as important as the others but still important. Will the Chiefs start Poe right away? Or will he, as Romeo Crennel hinted at recently, be mostly a third down pass rusher early on in his career? This story line may matter less in the long run because we expect Poe to, at some point, become the starter.