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Jamaal Charles withheld from many contact drills in practice

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Some observations from Friday’s Kansas City Chiefs training camp at Missouri Western State University:

The Chiefs held Jamaal Charles from a lot of contact drills in an effort to keep their featured running back as fresh as possible. “He’s getting anything we’re where not going at the legs,’’ offensive coordinator Doug Pederson said. “We’ve just got to be smart that way. He’s got to be smart that way. He knows what he’s doing. We know what he can do.’’ With Charles on the sideline, Knile Davis received plenty of work. He at one point had the ball on five straight plays, one after catching a pass and four times on carries. ...

With Demetrius Harris unable to practice, the Chiefs are already thin at tight end. They lost another tight end, Ryan Taylor, during practice. He took a hit to his leg after catching a pass and was carted away with what the Chiefs called a quadriceps injury. His absence leaves the Chiefs with only rookie James O'Shaughnessy, Richard Gordon and Adam Schiltz behind starter Travis Kelce. ...

The Chiefs had three other players, also backups, carted off the field with injuries. Defensive lineman Nick Williams left with a concussion, offensive lineman Garrett Frye with a left knee injury, and wide receiver Armon Binns with a left knee injury. ...

One portion of camp featured goal-line snaps. The first-team offense scored on all four of its plays against the second-team defense. Davis scored three touchdowns, two on runs and one on a catch. Kelce had the other touchdown. The backup offense scored twice on runs by Charcandrick West, but two Chase Daniel passes went incomplete. Cornerback Sean Smith broke up one of them.