The Kansas City Chiefs will be without rookie first-round draft pick Trent McDuffie for a minimum of four weeks, but a new report suggests it could be longer.
McDuffie was placed on injured reserve this past week following a hamstring injury suffered in the Week 1 win over the Arizona Cardinals. He must stay on the injured reserve list for a minimum of four weeks before he can be designated to return to practice and subsequently be activated by the team.
According to a recent report from NFL Network’s James Palmer, while the Chiefs are hopeful that the rookie will be back sooner than later, the injury could take closer to six weeks for McDuffie. They’re in wait-and-see mode in terms of how he progresses in his recovery.
With #chiefs rookie CB Trent McDuffie (hamstring) the hope is that it's four weeks and he's back. That's the hope, but it could be more like 6 I'm told. Obviously we'll see how his progress goes the next few weeks.
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) September 16, 2022
At a minimum, we know McDuffie will miss games against the Colts, Bucs and Raiders, after already missing Thursday’s game with the Chargers. If he’s out for six weeks, he’ll also miss an important Week 6 contest with the Bills and the Week 7 tilt with the 49ers. The Chiefs would then break for the bye week in Week 8 and McDuffie would presumably be back in action for Week 9 against the Titans.
Thankfully, Jaylen Watson has done a fine job filling in for McDuffie so far, even scoring the game-changing play in Week 2. That said, it’d sure be nice for Kansas City to have their top draft choice back ahead of that big game against Buffalo in Week 6.
