The Kansas City Chiefs are set to have their first practice of the week ahead of their Week 1 game against the Cleveland Browns. That also means the return of Andy Reid’s pre-practice injury update on Wednesday.
A big focus of his update was on defensive leader Tyrann Mathieu, who won’t practice on Wednesday as he remains on the Reserve/COVID-19 list.
“Tyrann (Mathieu) is still in the protocol,” Reid said. “We’ll just see how that goes. He is getting better, though, which is a good thing.”
Reid added that Mathieu’s testing regarding COVID-19 had been better, but he didn’t specifically confirm that Mathieu has tested negative since his original positive test. Vaccinated players need to test negative twice, 24 hours apart, in order to return from the Reserve/COVID-19 list.
Reid did say Mathieu is the type of player that he’d allow to play in a game without having practiced during the week.
“Yeah, as long as everything is physically OK,” Reid said. “Rick (Burkholder) and the docs stay on top of that. We’re in communication with them obviously, but if he can go, he’ll go. If he can’t, he can’t. You’ve got to make sure he’s safe to do it, though.”
Should this come down to the wire, there’s still a chance that Mathieu plays. They won’t put him in harm’s way if he’s not ready to play, though.
As for other injury updates, the Chiefs are looking fairly healthy heading into Week 1. The backup center for Kansas City, Austin Blythe, is the lone player that Reid deemed a non-participant ahead of practice on Wednesday.
“Austin Blythe is making progress,” Reid said. “He’ll get a little work in this week, but he’s not practicing today.”
Nick Allegretti will likely fill in as a backup center this week if Blythe’s unable to return to action.
Reid also confirmed that Frank Clark, who missed the majority of the preseason with a hamstring injury, would practice today.
The Chiefs’ official injury report is due out later this afternoon. It should give us a better idea of any other injuries the team might be dealing with ahead of Week 1.
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