Kansas City Chiefs HC Andy Reid gave his usual pre-practice injury update when he spoke to the media on Wednesday.
It’s the first practice of the week for the Chiefs as they prepare for their Week 11 clash with the Las Vegas Raiders. Fresh off of the bye week, Reid had a few new and old injuries to review.
“As far as injuries go in practice today, BoPete Keyes will not practice,” Reid said. “He’s sick. It looks like a stomach virus.”
Reid specified the stomach virus, which is important to consider during the COVID-19 pandemic. Reid has been very good about clarifying when an illness isn’t something related to COVID-19. This doesn’t sound like something that will keep Keyes out for a significant amount of time.
Next up, Reid got into some injuries that we knew about.
“Taco (Charlton) won’t practice with the ankle,” Reid said.
Charlton is dealing with an ankle fracture suffered in Week 9. He recently suggested that he was set to have surgery on that ankle. The team will presumably have a forthcoming move to place Charlton on injured reserve.
“Mitch Schwartz won’t practice with a back,” Reid continued.
This is an important update because Schwartz was one of three offensive linemen placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list. The fact that Reid is disclosing his practice status suggests that he’ll be removed from the list today. The problem is that he’s still not practicing due to a back injury. Week 11 would mark his fourth missed game of the season and his fifth week without playing.
Reid did confirm that none of the other players on the list (Martinas Rankin, Mecole Hardman, and Eric Fisher) would be practicing today. That would likely suggest that they’re still on the reserve/COVID-19 list. Specifically with Fisher, if he were to miss more practice time, it wouldn’t necessarily mean that he’d be ruled out for Sunday.
“I’m just going to take it day-by-day, but we’ll see how that goes and how he feels and everything else,” Reid said of playing Fisher with some or no practice during the week. “Have I done that before? I’ve done that, yes. We’ll just see how everything works out.”
The Chiefs will have one player they’ve been missing back at practice, though.
“Alex Okafor will be back at practice,” Reid said.
Okafor was placed on the injured reserve list with a hamstring injury at the end of October. He is set to return to practice, opening up his 21-day practice window. The Chiefs will need to decide in that time frame to activate Okafor or leave him on injured reserve. They are a bit short-handed at the DE position after Charlton’s injury, so bringing back Okafor could provide some depth.
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