Waters and Vrabel attended both of Kansas City’s mandatory practices Friday, and in between the sessions, they addressed why they hadn’t been with the Chiefs during organized team activities. Waters said it was nothing out of the ordinary; Vrabel said it was about making a point.

“Just trying to exercise my rights within the CBA,” Vrabel said, referring to the league’s collective bargaining agreement and that it defines most offseason practices as optional. “We bargain for rights to make these workouts voluntary, and that’s all I was trying to do.”

Waters wasn’t as clear. The four-time Pro Bowl guard downplayed his absence, saying that he rarely appears at voluntary workouts and that his decision to skip the practices was not related to a reportedly sour first meeting between Waters and first-year Chiefs coach Todd Haley. Waters said he wouldn’t discuss his conversations with Haley and whether he was holding to a reported desire to be released or traded, saying he wouldn’t answer questions about “anything that happened in the past or anything that will happen in the future.”