ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — The Los Angeles Rams’ defensive line broke into the backfield on a second-quarter rushing play Saturday afternoon, but that was actually part of the Kansas City Chiefs’ blueprint. They handed rookie Emmett Johnson the ball on a counter play, so by the time a defensive lineman and linebacker turned back to chase him, Johnson already had the angle at the corner before gaining 13 yards.

The rookie popped on film.

But so did the play design.

The Chiefs ran the ball at a pretty good clip in their preseason opener against the Rams, the kind of thing you might decide to do when Patrick Mahomes is standing on the sideline rather than in the huddle.

Or is it the kind of thing they might do even with Patrick Mahomes?

Did the Chiefs give us an exhibition-game peek at their regular season plans?

Andy Reid isn’t exactly calling from his best sheet during exhibition games — so vanilla, in fact, that he isn’t the least bit concerned about facing two teams in the preseason that they will face again the regular season.

But the Chiefs sure were working on a specific type of rushing play.

Under center.

It’s been all the rage of the offseason outside the building, but I’ll first stress the same thing I did late in 2025: There is nothing that can make a bigger difference in the Chiefs’ running game than the personnel. They have a new starting point with Kenneth Walker, who can make someone miss in the open field. He can get the yards a solid interior offensive line can create and then some. They didn’t have that last year.

The next step is the scheme. Will they also implement something in the scheme they didn’t have last year?

The vanilla version of the running game looked a lot different from the assortment from a year ago. The Chiefs handed the ball to three running backs a combined 23 times in the preseason game — Brashard Smith (eight carries), Johnson (12) and Emari Demercado (three).

Johnson shined most of the three.

The types of plays shined more than any of them.

Among the 23 designed rushes, the quarterback began under center on 16 of them, a rate of 69.6%. The Chiefs ran just seven times from the shotgun (30.4%).

The statistical production doesn’t all that mean much, but I will share them anyway. On Saturday, the 16 under-center carries produced 63 yards (3.9 yards per carry). They ran seven times for 17 yards in the shotgun (2.4 yards per carry).

The totals are an exhibition reversal from the real games last year, when they ran under center on just 44.3% of their carries. They were 29th in under-center rush attempts.

It was their method of choice Saturday.

Look, we’re not going to make any conclusions on the Chiefs’ offensive scheme off a game that doesn’t show up in the standings. The point, rather, is they sure wanted to work extensively on a specific type of running play that accounted for less than half their rushes a year ago. And the larger point is they’ve done the same a lot in training camp here in St. Joseph.

Reid has evaded any questions about potentially changing his scheme this year, because, well, why would he give anything away? He’s joked that he will perhaps just run the ball every down.

The reality won’t come to light until Sept. 14, when the Chiefs line up against the Broncos in a “Monday Night Football” game that counts.

The clues are all we have for now.

There have been more than a few.

The Chiefs are either going to make a point to run the ball from a more favorable setup this year, at the expense of their preferred run-pass option (RPO) plays — or they really want to make us think those are their plans.

Again on Monday, they turned a running drill (9-on-7) into Mahomes under-center handoffs to Walker, Johnson and Smith.

They are only the tiniest of signs.

But they’re all pointing in the same direction.

And it’s a new direction.

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