NFL training camp: Best battle to watch for each team

Kansas City Chiefs: Kareem Hunt vs. Spencer Ware

For a team many expect to be back in the AFC Playoffs, the Kansas City Chiefs have had an overall strange offseason. Re-signing safety Eric Berry was necessary, but running back Jamaal Charles now plays for the rival Denver Broncos. When healthy, Charles is a perennial Pro Bowl running back. The problem became that he could be relied on in consecutive years, so it was time to move on.

Kansas City’s draft was a tad unorthodox. The Chiefs opted to go more for developmental projects like quarterback Patrick Mahomes and defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon than game-ready players. If any player former general manager John Dorsey selected in the 2017 NFL Draft will be game-ready Week 1, it is running back Kareem Hunt out of Toledo.

Hunt had a great Senior Bowl down in Mobile, proving to be one of the showcase’s most versatile tailbacks. The guy gets yards through the air and on the ground. He can also hold his own in pass protection. Could Hunt win the starting job? Potentially, but he will have his work cut out for him with projected starter Spencer Ware.

Ware can pound the rock as often as head coach Andy Reid sees necessary. However, he won’t have the threat of Charles taking snaps from him any more. It’s not that Ware isn’t a solid running back, he is, but Hunt will almost certainly wind up being the most productive player Kansas City drafted this spring. Mahomes is the future at quarterback, but he’s not ready to play in 2017. He’s a more talented, but less refined Paxton Lynch.