The Kansas City Chiefs have a few injured players returning to practice on Monday.
According to a number of reporters in attendance at Monday’s press conferences, the Chiefs are set to return Mecole Hardman and Chris Jones to practice. Both players notably left practice early during the team’s penultimate training camp session with injuries. Hardman suffered a groin injury and Jones was dealing with back tightness. While neither injury was considered serious, Jones and Hardman didn’t suit up for preseason Week 2’s game against the Washington Commanders.
It’s a good sign that both players are back in action to start the practice week, but don’t expect them to get any work in preseason Week 3. They will likely begin preparing for Week 1’s matchup with the Arizona Cardinals.
A few players are expected to be absent from practice, including WR JuJu Smith-Schuster (knee), DE Carlos Dunlap (Achilles), CB Rashad Fenton (groin), RB Derrick Gore (thumb), RT Lucas Niang (knee/PUP list). Gore and Fenton will miss practice after suffering new injuries in preseason Week 2.
Andy Reid mentioned last week that there was a chance they’d get Smith-Schuster back at practice this week, but he’s clearly not yet ready after tweaking his knee during training camp. Steve Spagnuolo mentioned that Fenton’s injury is not serious, but they’ll be cautious with him with the regular season approaching.
Chiefs PR confirmed to reporters that Dunlap has been out due to an Achilles issue.
The #Chiefs say DE Carlos Dunlap is being held out due to his Achilles hindering him.
— Pete Sweeney (@pgsween) August 22, 2022
Dunlap doesn’t have a previous Achilles injury in his NFL history. His most recent injury was a knee sprain in 2019. He didn’t play in the preseason Week 2 game against the Commanders due to the Achilles issue.
