The Kansas City Chiefs will make one of their expected moves following 53-man roster cuts.
Chiefs HC Andy Reid confirmed on Monday that TE Blake Bell will be placed on injured reserve this week. The 31-year-old has been a key depth piece for Kansas City at the position during the team’s Super Bowl LIV run and last season (he spent 2020 with the Cowboys). Bell suffered a hip flexor injury in preseason Week 1 against the Chicago Bears. He eventually had surgery to repair that injury and Andy Reid suggested his timeline for return wasn’t going to be anytime soon.
“Blake Bell will go to (injured reserve),” Reid said. “He’ll go down. We haven’t made any decisions on how we’ll replace that going forward. But we’ll have that all taken care of this week. At least by the end of it.”
So why did Kansas City keep Bell on the initial 53-man roster before choosing to place him on injured reserve? In order for players to be designated to return from injured reserve during the 2022 NFL season, they need to be on the initial 53-man roster before being placed on injured reserve. That gives Chiefs fans an idea that Bell could be back later this season. He’ll miss a minimum of four games due to his placement on injured reserve, but I’d expect him to miss more time than that.
Bell appeared in all 16 regular season games last season, catching nine passes for 87 yards. He also had four carries for 10 yards and four first downs on the season. The team will miss his blocking presence, but they have two players they believe are capable of filling in.
“Both of those two are capable of it,” Reid said of Noah Gray and Jody Fortson. “Noah probably did more of it than what Jody did in that particular spot. But they’re all going to play. Those are good players. There are some things we can do with them to mix personnel.”
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