Chiefs receiver Donnie Avery won’t play Sunday

It appears the Chiefs are poised to have a third former 49ers player start against his old team this week.

The Chiefs announced Thursday that No. 2 receiver Donnie Avery will miss the team’s game against San Francisco on Sunday with a core muscle injury, and offensive coordinator Doug Pederson said third-year pro A.J. Jenkins will likely take his place in the starting lineup.

“That’s accurate to say,” Pederson said, when asked if Jenkins is the next man up at the position. “And as you’ve seen in the last couple of ballgames, we play a multitude of guys. But A.J. will get his opportunity.”

Avery, who has started all four games this season, got hurt early in the fourth quarter in the Chiefs’ 41-14 win over the New England Patriots on Monday.

“Basically, what happened on that play is he kind of did a one-sided split and got his body into extension,” said head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder. “So (with) that injury, what happens is your abductor group or groin muscles either strain or tear and then you get some pulling away of your abdominal muscles. Those things generally need to be fixed.”

Burkholder said Avery is traveling to Philadelphia to have the injury repaired Friday by Dr. Bill Myers and will miss Sunday’s game. He didn’t give any further timeline on the injury, but Dr. David J. Chao, an NFL team physician for 17 years, said that Avery could be out for a minimum of four weeks, depending on the severity.

In the meantime, it appears Jenkins will get the nod in place of Avery, who has caught 14 passes for 156 yards on 23 targets this season. Provided he does start, he’ll join quarterback Alex Smith and cornerback Marcus Cooper as former 49ers who will face their old team this week.

“He’s a speed guy,” Pederson said of Jenkins. “He’s a guy that’s really kind of taken this challenge to heart. He’s a hard worker, he’s excited about playing. He’s one of our playmakers, and he’s going to have a great opportunity this weekend to show what he can do.”

Jenkins, a first-round pick in 2012 who has caught four passes for 16 yards this year, was acquired from the 49ers before last season for another former first-round receiver who struggled to find his way, Jon Baldwin.

But while Baldwin, who caught three passes for 28 yards last season, was released by the 49ers this preseason and remains a free agent, Jenkins caught eight passes for 130 yards last year and showed signs of life toward the end of the season, when he had a clutch 27-yard grab on third down during the fourth quarter of the Chiefs’ 45-44 wild-card loss to the Colts.

Still, Jenkins couldn’t beat out Avery for a starting job this preseason, which Pederson largely chalks up to the experience gap between the two. Avery, after all, has been in the league for four more years.

“Donnie has that game experience, and you saw this past week, he had some nice explosive gains and caught the ball well,” Pederson said. “Really, he and A.J. are very similar in style. They’re both speed, guys and we’re gonna utilize them in situations where we can maximize their speed on the football field.”

Interestingly enough, Jenkins’ start would come only four weeks after another young receiver, Frankie Hammond, got most of the work when another starting receiver, Dwayne Bowe, was forced to miss a game.

But Pederson said this isn’t necessarily an example of Jenkins overtaking Hammond on the depth chart.

“Frankie backs up Dwayne, so it’s two different positions,” Pederson said. “Frankie is alive in this situation, and he’ll get his snaps, too. Younger receivers, you kind of want to keep them foc+used at one spot.”

Jenkins was adamant that keeping focused won’t be a problem this week, even as he was repeatedly questioned about facing his former team.

“I’m just trying to go down there and get myself ready to play,” Jenkins said. “(I) can’t go down there with all these emotions in my first start. It’s not going to be a good thing if I’m so emotional about going back, so I’ve just got to stay focused, stay in my playbook and keep it simple.”

This story was originally published October 2, 2014 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Chiefs receiver Donnie Avery won’t play Sunday."