"Eight Chiefs players gathered Tuesday for a throwing session at a Kansas City area high school. There was no doubt about the one in charge.

Matt Cassel, practicing in sunglasses and a ball cap turned backward, wasn't necessarily dressed for the part. But he was the one calling out orders, giving all the play calls, directing traffic. Practice started when he arrived and concluded when he left.

"This," wide receiver Jeremy Horne said, stating the obvious, "is Matt's deal."

With the owner-imposed lockout firmly in place, the Chiefs are on their own for conditioning and practice. For three weeks, Cassel has organized local workouts for any interested Chiefs players.

This morning, six players met at a local fitness center for a 2 1/2 -hour conditioning session. Later, eight Chiefs, mostly offensive skill players, showed at a high school field for an hour-long practice.

That's where Cassel took control. After a brief warm-up period, he immediately began calling plays from the Chiefs book and then giving imaginary defensive coverages.

"He's the quarterback, so he has to know what everybody is doing on every single play," Dexter McCluster said. "One thing I've learned: Matt knows what he's talking about."

Cassel would correct receivers who ran an improper route and one time asked tight end Brad Cottam how he would have changed a route if the coverage had been different. He ordered plays to be run again if things weren't done correctly.

"I don't want to come out here and just go through the motions," Cassel said. "We've got a lot of young guys out here trying to get better. If we come out here and I say, 'Just run a slant,' then they're not thinking about coverages or trying to get better. This is all about, "Why are we running this route?'…

"It's also an exercise for myself to be able to stay mentally sharp. We go through the route concepts. We can't get lazy with this. There's no defense out there so there are guys running around open all the time. But it won't be that way in a game. So I'll go through my route progressions, look here, look there, redirect my feet. It's a lot of good work for everybody.""