"Time always creeps up on a coaching staff, and that's particularly true for the Chiefs in this most unusual of training camps. The first of two roster cutdown dates already looms after Friday night's game against St. Louis at Arrowhead Stadium.

"As coaches, you're never happy," coach Todd Haley said. "You want more, more, more and more time. It's always good."

Haley went on to say he believed the Chiefs were making progress in their player evaluations. But in a year without any offseason practices and were limited to one training camp session per day, they will have to make some snap judgments on which players make the roster and which players don't.

The Chiefs, who have 89 players on their roster, must cut to a maximum of 80 by next Tuesday and then the regular-season limit of 53 by Sept. 3.

This year, players with one specific skill have a good chance of making the team as long as they do it well. For last week's game in Baltimore, the Chiefs looked at several players in specialized roles.

"In that game, you saw Allen Bailey just as a (pass) rusher," Haley said of the rookie defensive end. "Not that that's what he is for sure, but we were able to evaluate him in that role. Cameron Sheffield only was on the (pass) rush team, so you didn't see him at linebacker. Not that he's not in the competition (at linebacker), but for last week that's the direction we chose. Now I think you'll see some of those guys get a few more snaps at a base position, and that's across the board.

"That helped with the evaluation. We're going to have to crunch numbers, and guys will have to cross-train, but right now . . . I feel like we've made significant progress as far as our understanding of what our guys can do.""