Chiefs at Colts Inactives: Who's In, Who's Out?
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After a huge win in Week 1 over the Arizona Cardinals and a comeback thriller against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 2, the Kansas City Chiefs are 2-0 on the year. On Sunday, Andy Reid's team will be looking to make that record 3-0 with a win over the Indianapolis Colts.
While the Chiefs come riding into Indianapolis with plenty of momentum on their side, the Colts' home opener at Lucas Oil Stadium is an extremely important game for them as well. Frank Reich's bunch looking to secure its first win of the 2022 season, and dropping to 0-2-1 with three AFC losses (and two AFC South losses) would be a catastrophic start to the year. Neither team enters Sunday's game with a clean bill of health, however, which will pose different challenges to each club.
Ahead of their Week 3 game on the road, the Chiefs' list of inactive players has been released:
The good news for Kansas City is that in addition to receivers Justin Watson, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling, Mecole Hardman was a full participant in practice on Friday and is active for the Chiefs on Sunday against the Colts. Hardman injured his heel in Week 2's win over the Chargers but returned to the game and progressed from being a limited participant in practice earlier in the week to being deemed good to go as this week's matchup drew nearer. On Friday, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid ruled out kicker Harrison Butker (ankle) and defensive lineman Mike Danna (calf) due to their respective injuries.
Elsewhere on the Chiefs' inactives, there are plenty of returners to the list. The likes of quarterback Shane Buechele, running back Ronald Jones and offensive lineman Darian Kinnard have been routine healthy scratches thus far in the season. New acquisition Benton Whitley, a defensive end who was recently signed off the Los Angeles Rams' practice squad, is also inactive on Sunday. Defensive end Joshua Kaindoh was expected by some to possibly get some work in without Danna in the picture, but Malik Herring is instead the Chiefs' pass-rusher of choice on Sunday. Kaindoh is inactive.
The Colts' inactives have also been released:
Indianapolis had a spotty injury report throughout the week, as the status of both wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. (quad) and linebacker Shaquille Leonard (back) loomed large over the team's week of practice. On Friday, Reich delivered a mixed bag of news when he ruled Leonard and offensive lineman Bernhard Raimann (ankle) out but added that Pittman would be good to go.
Defensive end Yannick Ngakoue (back) carried a questionable status into Sunday's pregame warmups with him and after giving it a go, on Sunday morning, Indianapolis is going to let him carry that into the afternoon as he is officially active. That's a major plus for the Colts' pass rush, as it was going to need as much help as possible going up against Patrick Mahomes and company.
