AFC Notes: Omarion Hampton, Josh Simmons, Chargers, Chiefs, Raiders

“We know they’re going to run the ball, so I’m loving it,” Hampton said this week on The Jim Rome Show. “I’m excited, we’ve got me and Najee, a dominant duo backfield. I’m excited to learn from him, I’m excited to get out there. We got a good offensive line, a good quarterback. I feel like we’re building something special here.”

Chiefs

Chiefs LT Josh Simmons had suffered a torn patellar tendon at Ohio State and told reporters that he plans to be ready to return by late July.

“[I] attack rehab as hard as I can — that way, when training camp does come around, I can be the most help that I can possibly be,” Simmons said, via Pete Sweeney of ArrowheadPride.com. “There’s nothing I can really do to force myself [into the lineup]. There are a lot of vets in here. My thing is just to stay out of the way and work hard. Be a helpful piece if I can.”

“You have to come in and attack it like hell every day,” Simmons continued. “Just really, really go hard in rehab — that’s how you have to do something like this.”

“The playbook is not as complex as I thought it’d be, but it’s a different playbook than Chip Kelly, so, [I’ve] got to do a bit of studying,” Simmons added.

Raiders

The Raiders elected to bring back TE coach Luke Steckel to new HC Pete Carroll‘s coaching staff. He’s grateful to stay with the organization and work under Carroll. 

“First and foremost, I’m just extremely grateful to have a chance to stay on,” Steckel said, via Carter Owen of the team’s site. “You know how this league works. There’s so much turnover every year. So, to have the opportunity to be here with an organization as great as this one and to work for a coach like Pete with the resume he has, I mean, he is as advertised. He is high energy. He has a positive mindset. He’s all about the culture that’s established in this building, and I can see why it’s something that’s really easy to buy into.”

As for new OC Chip Kelly‘s offense, Steckel said he finds a lot of ways to get tight ends involved, pointing out he was highly productive with Brent Celek and Zach Ertz during his time as the Eagles’ head coach from 2013-2015. 

“Chip’s got a great history of high-scoring offenses. He’s got a great history of using tight ends, finding ways to get them involved in the offense, whether that’s in 11 personnel or 12 personnel. He had Brent Celek and Zach Ertz in Philadelphia, two great tight ends that were highly productive for him in his time there. The best thing about Chip, he’s been so inclusive of everyone’s ideas and experiences. We’ve got a great staff from a bunch of different backgrounds. It’s Chip Kelly’s offense, but it’s going to look a lot different thanks to the influences he’s allowed us to have. He’s obviously the guy calling the shots, but it’s going to be a great mix of everyone’s histories and backgrounds. As you mentioned, a lot of that is focused and run through the tight ends, which I’m certainly excited about.”

Raiders TE Brock Bowers had a huge rookie season in 2024. Steckel wants to temper unrealistically high expectations for Bowers, but understands the tight end has incredibly high expectations for himself. 

“He obviously had a historic rookie year, but the great thing about Brock and the same mindset that I’m taking is, that year is in the past. Grateful for the experience of it, and now we’re just moving on. I know there’s going to be a lot of expectations for him in Year 2. It’s my job, I think, to temper those expectations, knowing that what he did last year quite literally was historic. But the good news is no one’s going to have higher expectations for Brock Bowers than Brock Bowers. He’s a guy who has extremely, extremely high expectations for himself. I have extremely high expectations for him. We’re going to go out there and put in the work, and hopefully it leads to similar results.”