The Kansas City Chiefs are back at practice on Tuesday, preparing to face the Denver Broncos on a short week after having their game flexed to Saturday.
Chiefs HC Andy Reid gave his typical post-practice injury update to start the week, informing the media of the players who didn’t participate in practice. Just two players sat out for Kansas City on Tuesday, and both were to be expected after last week.
“Really, the only players who didn’t practice today were Lucas Niang and Clyde (Edwards-Helaire),” Reid said. “Lucas obviously has a ruptured patellar tendon, so he’s not going to play. But Clyde, he has a chance to. So he’ll keep rehabbing that and make sure that he’s got a chance to get better.”
We knew about Niang’s injury after the game on Sunday, and it’ll be season-ending. Edwards-Helaire didn’t practice at all ahead of Week 17, nor did he play during the game due to a shoulder injury, but the Chiefs won’t rule him out this early on in the week. He still has a shot to play on Saturday according to Reid.
Noticeably absent from the list of non-participants was LT Orlando Brown Jr. who dealt with a pregame calf injury that kept him out of Week 17.
“He did everything today,” Reid said of Brown. “Again, he tweaked his calf. That’s not a fun thing to tweak before the game, and he’s a tough kid who loves to play the game. If he says he’s got something, then there’s something there, but he was out there today and going. We’ll just see as we go through the week.”
That’s a good sign for Kansas City ahead of Week 18. They could roll out one of their most frequent offensive line combinations of the season with Brown in the lineup.
Reid also had an update to give on an offensive lineman who has been on injured reserve since late mid-November.
“His back is feeling a little bit better as he goes,” Reid said of Mike Remmers. “We’ll just see. He’s another one that is a real tough kid, like I mentioned with Orlando (Brown Jr.). He’s trying to get back, so if he could be out there, he’d be out there wanting to play. There are no questions on it. He’s still sensitive right now, but it’s getting better.”
That doesn’t sound too promising for a pending activation from injured reserve this week. It’s also interesting that it seems to be the back injury that continues to ail Remmers as opposed to the knee injury he was dealing with around the time of his placement on the injured reserve list. This could be a situation like Mitchell Schwartz last season with his back injury, but Reid seems to at least hold some hope that Remmers has a chance to get back out there during the postseason.
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