Chiefs Injury Updates Ahead of Week 7 Game Against 49ers
On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs will face off with the San Francisco 49ers in California, but they'll be facing Kyle Shanahan's offense without all of KC's usual defensive pieces along with one major return.
On Saturday, the team officially activated linebacker Willie Gay Jr. to the 53-man roster after the conclusion of his four-game suspension. However, they did not activate cornerback Trent McDuffie off the injured reserve list, meaning he will not return until after the bye week and will miss Sunday's matchup in San Francisco.
The Chiefs also activated cornerback Dicaprio Bootle and wide receiver Marcus Kemp from the practice squad.
Injury Updates from Week 7
Following Kansas City's Week 6 loss to the Buffalo Bills, the team had plenty of question marks regarding its injury report. Rookie cornerback Trent McDuffie (hamstring) was still not activated from the injured reserve list, and the trio of defensive end Mike Danna (calf), cornerback Rashad Fenton (hamstring) and left guard Joe Thuney (ankle) all missed Wednesday's practice. Additionally, rookie safety Bryan Cook was limited on Wednesday as he continued to rehab from being in the league's concussion protocol.
On Thursday, however, the Chiefs got mostly good news. Danna and Thuney progressed from non-participants on Wednesday to limited participants on Thursday, and Cook joined the likes of kicker Harrison Butker (ankle), wideout Mecole Hardman (heel), guard Trey Smith (pectoral) and cornerback L'Jarius Sneed (knee) as full participants. Fenton was the only member of the active roster who didn't participate in practice on Friday.
After Friday's practice, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid took the podium to provide some updates on his injured players. A final call has been made on one defensive back, with another still being less than certain to play on Sunday:
Andy Reid said that Rashad Fenton (hamstring) is out for Sunday's game against the 49ers.
Reid said Willie Gay took all his usual practice reps this week.
"We'll see," Reid said of Trent McDuffie.- Nate Taylor (@ByNateTaylor) on Friday, October 21, 2022 at 1:05 p.m.
When asked earlier this week about McDuffie, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo deferred to Vice President of Sports Medicine and Performance, Rick Burkholder, for an answer as to whether he'd ultimately get activated from IR. McDuffie returned to practice last week for the Chiefs and has reportedly been trending in the right direction, but it appears that he will be more of a Saturday or Sunday decision at this juncture. With Fenton being out, getting McDuffie back would be a hypothetical boost for Kansas City's secondary.
Per an announcement by the Chiefs on their official Twitter account, Danna and Thuney are officially questionable heading into Week 7. While Gay isn't injured, Reid saying there's a "pretty good chance" that he'll make his return from suspension against the 49ers is more positive news for the Chiefs. With San Francisco's injury report hosting plenty of big names this week, neither team projects to be 100% heading into a marquee interconference outing. Although Kansas City is missing Fenton for sure, the rest of Reid's updates provide a good deal of hope — even if McDuffie ends up not playing.
