The Kansas City Chiefs thought they had two advantages over most of their competition heading into training camp, one being startling continuity for the salary-cap era and the other a high-scoring offense led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Those advantages might still be there, though not in the abundance they were before the calendar turned to August. Two offensive starters, running back Damien Williams and guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, opted out of playing this season amid the coronavirus pandemic, dealing the Chiefs a blow.

"It hurts," tight end Travis Kelce said. "The guys that we have in that locker room can fill that void. I honestly believe that. We have an unbelievable roster, and I'm excited to see how this group molds together."

There's no reason to believe the two player losses will unravel everything the Chiefs have going for them. Eighteen starters still return from the Super Bowl LIV win over the San Francisco 49ers. That familiarity could provide an edge in a season without offseason practice and preseason games and with an abbreviated training camp.

But Williams was the Chiefs' leading rusher last season and a Super Bowl star. He ran for 104 yards against the 49ers and scored the final two touchdowns in the fourth quarter of the 31-20 victory.

The Chiefs also lost their second-leading rusher, LeSean McCoy, who left as a free agent. They did draft LSU's Clyde Edwards-Helaire in the first round, but their veteran running backs have a total of five NFL starts among them.

The Chiefs already had big expectations for Edwards-Helaire as a rookie. Now he must deliver.

In an illustration of just how important he is to the Chiefs this season, a defensive player, linebacker Anthony Hitchens, said, "Our job [on defense] is to get him ready for Week 1: show him different looks, practice hard, try to strip the ball out, playing tight coverage on him."

The Chiefs also lost Stefen Wisniewski to free agency, so they need starters at both guard positions. They had to mix and match along the offensive line last year. Injuries forced them to start five different line combinations.

So between free-agent additions Kelechi Osemele and Mike Remmers, part-time 2019 starters Andrew Wylie and Martinas Rankin and young players in Nick Allegretti and Lucas Niang, the Chiefs have plenty of candidates.

The Chiefs won't have as much time to sort through the possibilities as they usually do.

"The older guys, the more they play, the easier it is to mesh them together," tackle Mitchell Schwartz said. "Obviously, [Osemele] has had an awesome career and Remmers has had a really good career too. Those are guys who understand fits and understand how to play with people, next to people. So that's not something I'm too worried about."