The Kansas City Chiefs have two players who suffered injuries Sunday afternoon who are expected to miss time.
Starting LG Kelechi Osemele is certain to be missing time after suffering tendon tears in both of his knees. His season is likely over and he has a long road to recovery.
As for WR Sammy Watkins, things are a bit more up in the air. Andy Reid said he “tore his hamstring” following the Week 5 game against the Las Vegas Raiders. It’s not yet clear the severity of his tear as he’ll be evaluated later today. It is possible that this is a minor tear, which wouldn’t keep him out for a long time or require surgery.
“Sammy’s a good player,” Chiefs HC Andy Reid said on Monday. “We’ll see how he does here. The guys are just coming in now. We’ll see how it looks, but if Sammy can’t play, we’ve done that throughout last year for a few games and the year before that. So we put the next man up and go. I’m not going to take away from how good of a player he is. He’s a terrific player, but we also have some other guys who can play too.”
The offense tends to play better with Watkins on the field. They’ve averaged more points per game and total yards per game over the past two seasons when he’s in the game.
“He plays a little bit of the low post for you,” Reid continued. “He does a good job with that. He’s strong. But again, we can work around that and we’ve got other guys who can step in and fill those types of roles.”
One of those guys is second-year WR Mecole Hardman. There were some lofty expectations for Hardman to start the 2020 season and he hasn’t quite met them. Through five games, Hardman has just 13 receptions on 17 targets for 194 yards and two touchdowns.
“Mecole (Hardman) just needs to keep growing and keep working,” Reid said of the second-year wideout. “He got a few reps yesterday and so that’s a step forward for him. We’ll see how he does as we go forward here.”
Shifting back to the Osemele injury, one player that has been somewhat forgotten is Martinas Rankin. Rankin is currently on the PUP list after suffering a knee injury in 2019. During the 2019 season, he started five games at left guard for the Chiefs and played very well. Rankin is eligible to return from the PUP list beginning in Week 7, but it doesn’t sound like he’ll be making an immediate return.
“Yeah, so Rank (Martinas Rankin) has done a good job of working to get back,” Reid said. “He’s not quite there yet but he’s working at it.”
They’ll likely ease Rankin back into the swing of things when he does begin practicing. Another option brought up to Reid was second-year OL Nick Allegretti, but it doesn’t seem he’ll be getting an opportunity to start just yet.
“(Nick) Allegretti, he’s been in kind of that swing position,” Reid said. “Kind of covering the bases at both the guard and at center. He’ll still be in that position. (Mike) Remmers would be the one that steps in right now.”
Reid did note that Allegretti would play that swing guard position with Remmers being inserted into the starting lineup. The Chiefs don’t intend to go away from Remmers after he filled in during Week 5. He’s your new starter at that spot for the time being until something changes.
Right now, the Chiefs feel like they have the depth and options to overcome these injuries, short term and long term. They’ll stick with the “Next Man Up” mentality so long as it remains sustainable to do so.
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