Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle has been pushing through an ankle sprain, but he's healthy and ready to contribute.
Former Clemson defensive tackle Peter Woods was the talk of the Kansas City Chiefs training camp early on, as he dominated one-on-one drills, according to Jesse Newell of the Athletic. But Woods has faded from view since then, and it turns out there’s a good reason for it as the Chiefs’ first-round draft choice has been recovering from an ankle sprain.
The injury hasn’t been publicized much, which is typical for training camp injuries, but Woods downplayed his injury early on.
“Just a roll-up on my ankle. It’s fine now,” Woods said yesterday after pracice.. “Something that I decided to push through and work through. Nothing serious to be worried about.”
Woods seems to be one of those players who goes about his work quietly, as he hasn’t had much to say, even when he was lauded early on. He clearly knows his status, even if he is a first-rounder.
“I’m just the new guy around here,” Woods said. “Nobody really knows me yet. So I’ve always got something to prove. Send a message to my coaches and my teammates that I’m a fighter. (Staying in practice) was more about the message I’m sending my coaches, my teammates about my reliability and my dependability — and less about how I was feeling in the moment.”
The turning point came this weekend against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to Newell, as Woods got past the point where he had to keep “telling myself to push through.”
“I feel like this weekend, I really got over that hump, like, ‘OK, I’m feeling good,'” Woods said. “So I’m ready to go. I’m excited.”
Fellow rookie Mansoor Delane has been in a similar place, albeit with much more publicity, as he’s been struggling with a shoulder injury since minicamp. The two first-round picks have formed a bond of sorts, and Delane has a similar attitude.
“I feel like I owe it to my brothers, owe it to this team, owe it to this organization,” Delane said of staying on the practice field as much as possible. “Like I said, I’m not here to just sit on that sideline, whatever it is. I’m here to contribute.”
Chiefs coach Andy Reid runs one of the toughest camps in the NFL, and Woods reflected on the experience, which he knew was coming.
“It’s a grind. It’s where you go into that dark place. It’s just you and football, and it’s just testing your measure and how much you love it,” Woods said. “But I think it’s so necessary because we’re all going to face some type of adversity coming up in the season. So putting you in those adverse situations on purpose, intentionally, I think that’s important.”
Woods has faced multiple double-teams while playing primarily against the backups, but that’s by design. He won’t get regular reps until the regular season, when he’s expected to be a rotational player subbing in for fellow linemen Chris Jones and Khyiris Tonga.
“It’s just been an exciting time for me, being out there, getting reps, learning different techniques that I can actually apply to a real-game scenario,” Woods said. “It’s just been a great experience.”
