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The Kansas City Chiefs have made four different transactions on Wednesday according to the NFL’s official transaction report, three of which had players returning to practice for the Chiefs.
Former 2019 third-round draft pick Khalen Saunders was designated to return from injured reserve. The athletic defensive tackle suffered a dislocated elbow during the Week 1 win over the Houston Texans. He was subsequently placed on injured reserve and was expected to miss about a month with the injury. He seems to be right on track to make his return.
The Chiefs haven’t made a corresponding transaction and won’t need to quite yet. With FB Anthony Sherman on the reserve/COVID-19 list, the team has a roster spot available for Saunders for when he’s officially activated.
Teams can return an unlimited number of players from injured reserve this year. Saunders simply marks the first player to make his return. Rookies Mike Danna and L’Jarius Sneed remain options to return from injured reserve later on in the season.
Next, OL Martinas Rankin did in fact make his return to practice on Wednesday. This week marked the first week that he could return to practice after beginning the season on the PUP list. This opens a multi-week window where the Chiefs need to decide if Rankin is healthy enough to return to action. He wasn’t listed on the first injury report of the week for the Chief. That is typically a good sign.
Jordan Ta’amu, who became the first player to be placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list in Kansas City after reportedly testing positive for the virus nearly three weeks ago, has been removed from the list. It appears he has beaten the virus and has been cleared to rejoin his teammates at practice.
Finally, as shorthanded as the Chiefs are at the offensive line position, the team chose to protect practice squad OG Danny Isidora. A new NFL practice squad rule allows teams to protect players from poaching each week. Teams can choose up to four new players to be protected beginning every Tuesday. Those players can then be elevated to the active roster on game day without the threat of poaching during the week or after the game.
Isidora has played mostly at guard during both his professional and collegiate career. It’ll be interesting to see who the Chiefs turn to at the tackle position in terms of depth, assuming Mitchell Schwartz is unable to go on Sunday.
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