Chiefs’ Willie Gay has high ankle sprain, source says, but could return in playoffs
The Chiefs rested the majority of their starters in Sunday’s regular-season finale, but they didn’t escape it unscathed.
Rookie linebacker Willie Gay is expected to miss 2-4 weeks with a high ankle sprain, a source told The Star. He suffered the injury on his second defensive snap of Sunday’s 38-21 loss to the Chargers.
Earning a bye this week as the AFC’s No. 1 seed, the Chiefs will open their Super Bowl championship defense in two weeks in the Divisional Round of the NFL playoffs. A potential trip to the AFC Championship Game awaits in three weeks, and a possible Super Bowl in five.
Although Gay hasn’t been a regular starter in his rookie season, he played a career-high 49 snaps in the Week 16 victory against Atlanta. Along with the increased playing time came increased productivity. He led the team with nine tackles, adding a forced fumble.
“What Willie does is he plays fast,” Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said in analyzing that game. “He plays fast and he’s physical. And that’s what you want in your linebackers.
“There’s still a learning curve here, and I think that’s true of anybody that plays that particular position in Year One. And again, I go back to not having the offseason and whatnot, but we’re getting him caught up.”
The Chiefs had planned on using Week 17 to aid that process, stacking back-to-back full workloads. But in the first quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Chargers, Gay chased down a ball carrier and was undercut by fellow linebacker Darius Harris. He left for the locker room and did not return.
The Chiefs have been short-handed at linebacker in recent weeks, with Anthony Hitchens missing two games while on the league’s Reserve/COVID-19 list. They did get Damien Wilson back Sunday after he missed three weeks with a knee injury. Ben Niemann also missed Sunday’s game with a hamstring strain.
Gay finished his rookie regular season with 39 tackles (29 solo), three tackles for loss, one sack and the forced fumble.
This story was originally published January 4, 2021 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Chiefs’ Willie Gay has high ankle sprain, source says, but could return in playoffs."