The Kansas City Chiefs were back to work with another training camp practice session on Monday.

The weather was a bit more amicable on Monday with clear skies and cooler temperatures, making for a great practice session for both players and fans in attendance. This marked the last practice session in shorts before the team partakes in their first fully padded practice on Tuesday. A few players may have been caught looking ahead to their padded practice, while others took full advantage of the start of their workweek.

Here are six things that we’re taking away from the fifth day of Chiefs’ training camp:

Darius Harris getting work with first team defense

AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

With Anthony Hitchens and Ben Niemann still absent from team drills at training camp, a new player saw action at the MIKE linebacker spot. You might recall Darius Harris filling in for Hitchens and Niemann last season in Week 16 against the Atlanta Falcons. Steve Spagnuolo came away impressed with Harris that game because he’d practiced all week to play SAM linebacker and was thrown into the fire when Niemann got hurt. He had to wear the green dot and call the defense all game, notching four tackles and recovering a fumble as well.

Harris got some action playing the MIKE spot today after Willie Gay Jr. and Nick Bolton saw some time there on Saturday. Harris has also seen repetitions at the SAM linebacker spot with Hitchens and Niemann out of practice. He even managed to get an interception off of Mahomes while covering TE Travis Kelce.

It’s worth noting that when the Chiefs signed Harris as an undrafted free agent in 2019, GM Brett Veach envisioned him as a future starter for the team.

Run defense showing out on Monday

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After the run offense, led by Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Darrel Williams and the rebuilt offensive line stood out on Saturday, the run defense won the day during the team’s run period on Monday.

Standing out was free-agent acquisition at defensive tackle, Jarran Reed, who made several key plays to thwart the run game. He seems to be a pivotal component of the run defense in Kansas City this season. He was the team’s top-rated run defending defensive tackle in the 2016 NFL draft. When the pads come on tomorrow, he should be able to show out to the fullest.

Arrowhead Pride’s Ron Kopp Jr. caught some of the run game action at practice:

Young linebackers impress in 7-on-7 team drills

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

A pair of young linebackers continued to impress in practice on Monday. Second-year linebacker Willie Gay Jr. and rookie LB Nick Bolton both took advantage of some miscommunications during 7-on-7 team drills, coming away with some interceptions as a result. Bolton’s pick would have been a pick-six. Even though both instances can be attributed to a miscommunication on the offensive side of the ball, you want to see defenders taking advantage of those moments in training camp. Gay and Bolton did exactly that, which is an encouraging sign for their continued progress and development.

Tough day for Noah Gray

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

One of the biggest standouts of Chiefs training camp so far had perhaps his worst day of practice on Monday. Rookie tight end Noah Gray had some issues with drops and miscommunications during practice. He cut off his route short on a play that resulted in a pick-six for rookie linebacker Nick Bolton. Basically, the rookie looked like a rookie on Monday. It’s to be expected that guys are going to see up-and-down days during the course of training camp, but this isn’t the most encouraging start to the practice week. Hopefully, Gray can bounce back tomorrow when the pads come on for the first time and “real” football begins.

Joshua Kaindoh flashing natural ability

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Chiefs rookie fourth-round draft pick DE Joshua Kaindoh had a good day of practice after a relatively quiet start to training camp. Kaindoh started working with the third team during the practice day and he made some plays pressuring the quarterback. His flashy moments earned him action against the first-team offense, where he continued to impress beating RT Lucas Niang a few times.

Earmuffs around Eric Bieniemy

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If you watched our latest episode of Chiefs Wire TV, you’ll know that OC Eric Bieniemy has a reputation at training camp. On Saturday, he was heard at practice chewing out rookie WR Cornell Powell, presumably after the rookie made a rookie mistake. Well, it wasn’t much different on Monday, with the veteran coordinator going on a profanity-filled tirade after some poor play by his offense during 7-on-7 which resulted in some of the interceptions we showcased above.

“Obviously, you know, being a competitor we all want it to be perfect,” Bieniemy said following practice. “But we understand the eb and flow of practice. Sometimes you have good days. Sometimes the guys on the other side have good days. The only thing that you want to see is that guys continue to play with the effort that you expect them to play with. Then when it’s all said and done with, we’ll coach it up on tape and just clean it up. Today we didn’t have a very good day, but I’ll have an opportunity to really evaluate it once we go in there and take a look at it on tape.”

Bieniemy will have the players learning from their mistakes after practice. But if you’re bringing the kids to training camp, it’s probably wise to keep an eye out and tell the kids to cover those ears up when things are going poorly for the offense.