Chiefs expect starters Chris Jones, Joe Thuney and others back for opener vs Ravens on Sept. 5
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs expect to have All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones, starting right guard Jawaan Taylor and All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney on the field when they open the regular season against the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 5.
Jones and Taylor have been dealing with shoulder injuries and Thuney is coming back from a torn pectoral muscle.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Monday none of those players will play in the preseason finale Thursday night against Chicago, but all of them should be ready for Week 1. Reid also said long snapper James Winchester, who sprained his AC joint in their loss to Detroit on Saturday, should be OK for the start of the regular season.
The Chiefs brought a different long snapper into camp this week to handle practice and their preseason finale.
“I’ll probably sit the starters (against the Bears) the way it looks right now,” Reid said before Monday’s practice, “and we’ll have the other guys get out there and play. We’ll just see how that goes rep-wise.”
The Chiefs played many of their starters for the first half against Detroit, and there have been years in the past where Reid has given some of them a couple of snaps in their preseason finale. But he said the number of plays that the first team ran in training camp was more than in the past, and that would compensate for getting fewer reps in preseason games.
The reason for more practice reps? It never rained.
The Chiefs, who hold most of their training camp at Missouri Western State University, are usually forced to use the Division II school’s indoor facility because of inclement weather at least a few times, and the size of the building forces them to cut back on the number of plays they run. But that never happened over the past three-plus weeks of camp.
“I looked at the number of plays between camp and preseason games and we were up some 50 plays from the year before in camp,” Reid said, “so I was able to monitor that and work it in with the preseason games.”
The only starter that Reid was uncertain about for the opener against Baltimore was wide receiver Marquise Brown.
One of the Chiefs’ top free-agent signings, “Hollywood” Brown dislocated the sternoclavicular joint in his shoulder after making a catch in their preseason opener against Jacksonville. He got the shoulder set without surgery, though, and that should speed up his recovery time and perhaps get him on the field quicker than the initial 4-to-6-week estimate.
In the meantime, the Chiefs will rely on second-year pro Rashee Rice and first-round draft pick Xavier Worthy along with Justin Watson, who has developed from a journeyman signed for depth two years ago into a valuable part of the team.
“At this point in the year we’re all just focused on improving a ton each day. That’s been the goal since we got here,” Watson said. “It was good seeing Hollywood in the building this week. Seems like he’s doing everything he can to get back here.”
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL