Could KC Chiefs’ Travis Kelce return this week? ‘Good shot at that,’ his coach says
The Chiefs were missing numerous players, including five starters, in Sunday’s 36-10 home victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The players were on the NFL’s reserve/COVID-19 list.
And as of Monday morning, tight end Travis Kelce, rookie linebacker Nick Bolton, rookie tackle Lucas Niang, kicker Harrison Butker, punter Tommy Townsend, cornerback Rashad Fenton, offensive lineman Kyle Long and safety Armani Watts remained in the NFL’s coronavirus protocol.
Three players from the Chiefs’ practice squad were also on the reserve/COVID-19 list: wide receiver Daurice Fountain, wide receiver Gehrig Dieter and linebacker Darius Harris.
The Chiefs later Monday afternoon activated Long and Dieter from the list, according to the NFL’s daily transactions report. Before being placed in the protocol, Long was a healthy inactive for three straight games since coming off the physically unable to perform (PUP) list on Nov. 30.
The good news regarding the others in the Chiefs’ COVID group? Chiefs coach Andy Reid sounded optimistic that he will have most, if not all, of those players back on the practice field ahead of this Sunday’s Week 17 game in Cincinnati against the Bengals.
“I think we have a good shot at that,” Reid said Monday. “This thing is so unpredictable — that’s the hard part about it — so we’ll just see how it goes.
“But if I had to guess, I think they’d probably be back. Let’s just see how it goes this week.”
Kelce and Bolton and Niang might be the closest to returning. The Chiefs on Saturday preemptively activated all three from the reserve/COVID-19 list ahead of Sunday afternoon’s game, with hopes they could test out of the protocol. It didn’t happen: All three were eventually declared inactive against the Steelers.
Under the NFL’s updated COVID-19 protocols, fully vaccinated individuals who test positive are tested daily. A faster return is possible if a player (or staffer) is asymptomatic for at least 24 hours, among other considerations. The new protocols were put in place in the wake of multiple positive tests around the league over the past few weeks.
With Kelce and the others still sidelined on Sunday, wide receiver Byron Pringle helped pick up the slack in the passing game with six catches for 75 yards and two touchdowns. Ben Niemann started in place Bolton, while Andrew Wylie manned the right tackle position.
Kansas City also received strong performances from kicker Elliott Fry, who made three of four field goals in place of Butker, and replacement punter Johnny Townsend, who is Tommy Townsend’s oldest brother.
“These guys, they came out and did a great job of making it look easy,” Reid said of the two kickers. “Not such an easy thing, but they really did a nice job.”
In other team news Monday, Reid had no injury updates on running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire (shoulder) or safety Tyrann Mathieu (quad). Both were hurt in the second half of Sunday’s win.
But the Chiefs could have help on the way if Edwards-Helaire is forced to miss any playing time with just two games left in the regular season. Running back Jerick McKinnon (hamstring), who went on the injured reserve list Nov. 30, is eligible to return to practice this week.
“McKinnon is in a pretty good position physically and we’ll just see how he does,” Reid said. “And then we’ll just see where Clyde’s at after we get some of these (medical) reports back, and kind of go from there.”
This story was originally published December 27, 2021 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Could KC Chiefs’ Travis Kelce return this week? ‘Good shot at that,’ his coach says."
