The life of an NFL rookie isn’t for the faint-hearted, and Kansas City Chiefs’ running back Brashard Smith is finding that out.

As the grind of training camp begins to take hold, Smith, along with his teammates, have been put through their paces for a week as they try to build a solid foundation for the year ahead.

Smith, a receiver-turned-running back in college, has been getting his feet underneath him at St. Joe, and he’s made one rather easy conclusion about camp.

“Eye opener,” Smith said. “I feel like this is a new experience for sure. College is nothing like it. But I say just got to grasp on and you got to be ahead, too.”

Having been a receiver for the first three years of his college career, in 2024, Smith made the move to running back, and it paid dividends, rushing for 1,332 yards and 14 touchdowns.

But that was in college, the NFL is different, and Brashard knows a couple of things he needs to improve on as camp rolls along.

“Just being patient,” he added. “I’ll say sometimes I know I’m fast, so I’ll be really quick sometimes. Sometimes I could just be a little slower, and everything will read for itself.”

With the Chiefs in need of a speed injection out of the backfield, Smith provides that, so too does free agent signing Elijah Mitchell, so the run game might have a little more juice than last season.