Kansas City’s star center spoke with reporters following Thursday’s training camp practice.
On Thursday afternoon, Kansas City Chiefs’ center Creed Humphrey spoke to the media after the team’s training camp practice at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, covering a variety of topics.
Trey Smith’s new contract
The Chiefs signed their right guard to a new four-year, $94 million deal on July 15. The team now has four of its five projected starting offensive linemen locked up for at least three seasons. Humphrey — who signed a four-year deal worth $72 million last year — couldn’t be happier.
“I’m super pumped,” he exclaimed. “He deserves every penny of it. He’s a great player, obviously, but just being able to have that chemistry with him? Seeing how he works [and] how he leads? It’s a huge deal for the room.”
Being back in St. Joseph
Speaking of chemistry, Humphrey believes that returning to training camp in St. Joseph has been a great opportunity to continue building it with his fellow offensive linemen — especially against the Kansas City defense led by coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
“Camp is really good for this,” he noted. “You get a ton of reps in — a ton of looks against Spags’ defense — so you know it’s preparing you all for the season.”
Left tackle Josh Simmons
Thankfully, one player is getting more reps than we initially expected: the team’s first-round draft pick. It was feared that Simmons — returning from a right patellar injury suffered last year with Ohio State — might miss the start of the season. So far, however, he’s been a full participant with the starters.
“Obviously, he’s extremely talented,” said Humphrey of his new teammate. “You can see it on the field. He moves really well — very athletic and very strong. I mean, his first punch is insane! He’s got a ton of stuff that a lot of people don’t naturally have.”
But according to Humphrey, Simmons doesn’t stop there.
“He has that drive,” added the center. “It’s been really good to see him working, doing extra stuff after practices, focusing more in the meeting rooms, taking what he can [and] studying on his own. You can tell he’s very mature and professional about how he goes about business. It’s been awesome to have him.”
Kingsley Suamataia moving inside
Last season’s initial starter at left tackle has been playing left guard with the first string, taking over after Joe Thuney was traded to the Chicago Bears in the offseason. Humphrey has liked what he’s seen from Suamataia on the inside.
“He’s a great player,” he observed. “Extremely talented, obviously — and he works really hard — so it’s been really good to see how he’s been working, how he’s taking on the new role and adapted to it, learning a new position and everything. He’s done a really good job with it. [He’s a] physical player — [a] talented player — [who is] athletic as well.”
On getting multiple awards
Humphrey was recently named to the NFL Top 100, coming in at No. 93. In 2024, he collected his first Associated Press first-team All-Pro honor. But he refuses to let these things distract him from the task at hand.
“It’s obviously a blessing to get those accolades and stuff,” he said, “but for me, it’s [about] focusing [on] what you can improve.”
In Humphrey’s mind, you can never truly reach the top, so there’s always room to be better.
“I’m hungry. I’m hungry to come out here and grind [and] get stuff going in training camp. I’m so hungry I could eat Matt McMullen,” he joked, referring to the team’s in-house reporter.
Super Bowl IX
Like most other players, Humphrey was asked how he felt about the team’s Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles — a game in which the offensive line struggled to protect quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“We have a lot of stuff to work on,” said Humphrey, “and we know that. For us, it’s improving every single day. You learn what you can, and then you move on — ready to get that feeling off you. So we’re looking forward to getting in here, working, training, going against the great D-line that we have, and just improving — [so we’re] ready to show it Week 1.”