Kansas City Chiefs HC Andy Reid provided his usual pre-practice injury update ahead of Wednesday’s practice session.
The start of the week will see the Chiefs without their top three wide receivers at practice dealing with injuries. At least two of those players will be non-participants in practice, if not all three.
“As far as the injuries go, Mecole (Hardman) has an illness to his abdomen,” Reid began. “He’s getting better, but he’s not back yet. The two people in the concussion protocol are (Chris) Lammons and JuJu (Smith-Schuster). (Marquez Valdes-Scantling) is just sick.”
This is the first time that we’ve heard any detail about Hardman’s abdominal issue, which is being described as an illness and not an injury. It’s still unclear what his timeline for return looks like, but Reid did mention he was improving.
It sounds like Valdes-Scantling’s illness is minor and that he could be back at practice as early as Thursday.
Chris Lammons and JuJu Smith-Schuster are both in the NFL’s concussion protocol. They’ll have to go through the five return to participation steps in order to return to practice and play on Sunday.
“Yeah, I mean you take it day by day,” Reid said Smith-Schuster. “We’ll be cautious. We’re not going to do anything that you shouldn’t do according to what the data shows and how he feels.”
With Hardman, Smith-Schuster and Valdes-Scantling absent, the Chiefs have just three healthy receivers on the 53-man roster in Kadarius Toney, Justin Watson and Skyy Moore. Andy Reid expressed confidence that they’ll be fine with their depth, citing veteran WR Marcus Kemp as someone from the practice squad who could fill in if necessary.
There was also some good injury news for the team. Chiefs RT Andrew Wylie, who exited Sunday’s game with an elbow injury, will practice on Wednesday.
“Yes, they braced (his elbow),” Reid said. “He’s got a brace on, but he feels pretty good.”
Outside of the injuries, Reid confirmed that Frank Clark would return to practice on Wednesday after serving his two-game suspension.
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