The Kansas City Chiefs suffered a pair of injuries during the Week 16 win over Atlanta Falcons.
Chiefs HC Andy Reid gave his usual injury update to kick off his postgame press conference. He only had two injuries to report and both were already previously announced by the team during the game.
“Really, the two injuries are Ben Niemann, who has a right hamstring strain, and Sammy Watkins has a calf strain,” Reid said.
Reid didn’t have much more to report on the severity of the injuries, simply that they both occurred. Niemann pulled up lame chasing down a play fairly early in the game and ruled questionable to return. The team eventually ruled him out of the game.
Considering how thin they were at the linebacker position, I’d expect this to be a more significant injury that could keep Niemann sidelined for a few weeks. A short-term injured reserve stay could even be an option for the third-year player.
As for Sammy Watkins, he left the game in the fourth quarter with a calf injury. If you’ll recall, Watkins missed several weeks earlier in the year with a hamstring injury suffered in Week 5 against the Las Vegas Raiders. He was tracking to return in Week 11 but suffered a calf injury during practice that kept him sidelined another week.
Reid didn’t give any indication whether this is or isn’t the same calf injury that hampered Watkins in Week 11. Thankfully, there is time to get him healthy and ready for the playoffs. Week 17 is now meaningless with Kansas City clinching the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye. That’ll give Watkins two weeks of rest before the playoffs.
Some more good news is hidden in the injuries that Reid didn’t report on after the game. For instance, Travis Kelce hobbled off the field in the fourth quarter but would return and finish out the game. He doesn’t appear to have suffered any significant injury, but I’d anticipate him showing up on the injury report next week in some capacity regardless. Remember, any player that receives treatment for something is required to be listed on the injury report.
As always, we’ll find out more on Monday and Wednesday about the Chiefs’ injuries. Keep in mind that Damien Wilson’s knee injury, which has kept him out for three weeks now, wasn’t something reported after the game. Things can pop up between now and the upcoming practice week.
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