KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs are in full preparation mode for their NFL season opener against the Arizona Cardinals.
And the plans include wide receivers JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, both of whom missed time with injuries in the past month.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said Monday that both wide receivers are available at full speed for practice this week.
“They’ll be ready to roll going forward here,” Reid said.
Smith-Schuster previously dealt with a knee injury and missed two preseason games, while Marquez Valdes-Scantling returned to practice the final week of August after clearing the concussion protocol.
The Chiefs project to be at full strength at wide receiver with Smith-Schuster, Valdes-Scantling, Mecole Hardman, Justin Watson and rookie Skyy Moore against a Cardinals pass defense that finished 2021 ranked seventh in the league.
In other injury-related news, Reid said that “everybody” practiced, which the head coach described as “a good, fast-paced tempo” of work.
That means players like defensive end Frank Clark (illness), rookie linebacker Leo Chenal (concussion protocol) and defensive end Malik Herring (oblique) worked in some capacity. The trio missed time in the last week of August.
Reid also announced that tight end Blake Bell (hip) was officially placed on injured reserve, an expected move. Bell, who underwent surgery in August, must spend a minimum of four weeks on injured reserve before being eligible to return.
While the Chiefs haven’t officially pulled up a player to replace Bell’s roster spot on the active 53-player list, Reid indicated the move will happen before the Chiefs take on the Cardinals.
“We’ll have that all taken care of this week,” Reid said.
Bell’s role on the Chiefs’ offense mostly fell on his blocking ability in 12-personnel packages (one running back, two tight ends) as a complementary piece to All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce’s receiving skills.
The Chiefs will rely on either Noah Grey and Jody Fortson to fill in as a blocker during Bell’s absence.
“Both of those two are capable of it, we’ll mix and match people in,” Reid said. “Noah probably did more of it than what Jody did in that particular spot, but they’re all going to play. I mean, those are good players and so there are some things we can do with them, mixing personnel in there.”
