RIVER FALLS, WIS. ? First-round draft pick Ryan Sims and Pro Bowl tight end Tony Gonzalez remain no-shows midway through the Kansas City Chiefs training camp.

And the absence of the two high-profile players is starting to wear thin on head coach Dick Vermeil, though he realizes there is very little he can do about it.

“Oh, it bothers me,” he said. “It’s a distraction, but I don’t get all tied up in knots over it.”

Vermeil said he’s particularly disappointed that Sims, a 6-foot4, 311-pound defensive tackle out of North Carolina and the sixth overall pick in the 2002 draft, isn’t in camp.

“It will eventually work out, but to me, it hurts him and it hurts the team a little bit,” Vermeil said. “And it hurts us in terms of placement of personnel as we evaluate our defensive linemen. It holds us back.”

Sims attended all of the Chiefs’ practices in mini-camp and Vermeil said there was every indication that the rookie would be signed by the opening of training camp. Sims remains one of just five first-round picks without a deal.

“From what I understand Sims’ agent would like to have some accelerated clauses at the end of the contract for big money that has not been done with sixth-pick draft choices,” Vermeil said. “It’s been done in first, second, third and some fourth picks but the agent, along with the seventh pick’s agent, are trying to set a new standard. Well, they’re not going to set it with the Kansas City Chiefs.”

Vermeil said Sims is missing a great deal by holding out.

“Mentally, he won’t lose too much,” he said. “Physically he loses out, and I think emotionally he loses contact with the squad. It will take him awhile to reconnect with the chemistry of the football team and his teammates.”

Vermeil said while the situation with the veteran Gonzalez who’s in a contract dispute with the team is different, it doesn’t make it any easier not having him in camp.

“It still hurts the football team and it hurts him, too,” Vermeil said. “It hurts the offense because you aren’t emphasizing phases of the offense that will be big. “I don’t care how much you play, you just can’t come in a week or two and all of a sudden be what you were.”

Notes: Marvin “Snoop” Minnis ran some routes on an adjacent practice field by himself. It was the first time in training camp Minnis has tried to go at full speed.

“He had a very good day today, which is encouraging,” Vermeil said. “He was excited about it. And if he’s excited about it, I’m excited about it.”

Vermeil said he hoped to see Minnis taking some reps alongside his teammates by the end of the week. Minnis is recovering from a broken foot suffered in mini-camp. Vermeil said he wasn’t sure if offensive lineman John Tait would be available for this weekend’s preseason game in San Francisco. Tait received 17 stitches in his forehead and suffered a broken nose in an altercation with rookie defensive end Eddie Freeman last week.