Chiefs Release Injury Designations for Week 1 vs. Lions

The Kansas City Chiefs open the 2023 NFL regular season on Thursday evening against the Detroit Lions, and there is mostly positive news to share on the injury front ahead of that matchup.

Per the team's Wednesday afternoon injury report, the only player who wasn't a full participant in Wednesday's practice was tight end Travis Kelce. Kelce, a non-participant, has an official status designation for the game; Kansas City is listing him as questionable for Week 1.

Travis Kelce is questionable for tomorrow's game.
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) September 6, 2023

Kelce, the Chiefs' best pass-catcher, suffered a hyperextended knee during a red zone drill in Tuesday's practice. Head coach Andy Reid broke the news about the injury and indicated that additional testing would add more context, which is precisely what took place. Kelce's ACL was initially believed to be intact and the knee reportedly had no structural damage, although a significant amount of swelling required somewhat of a wait-and-see approach in regards to his chances of playing.

Joshua Brisco of Arrowhead Report pulled a quote from Kelce's older brother Jason, and he seemed to be adopting a positive mindset as well. Here's some of what the elder Kelce said to the WIP Morning Show in Philadelphia:

"I know he's got some swelling going on, but it sounds like as long as they can get that down, he's gonna have a chance to go," Jason said. "The ligaments and everything are intact, structurally, from what we know right now, his knee's fine. So really it's about getting that swelling down and then seeing how bruised that bone is."

While Kelce's status for the Lions game remains in question, everyone else listed on the injury report should be good to go. Four other players nursing knee designations — wideouts Richie James and Kadarius Toney, as well as cornerback L'Jarius Sneed and defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton — were all full participants in practice on Wednesday. Elsewhere, backup interior offensive lineman Nick Allegretti (pec), rookie cornerback Nic Jones (hand) and rookie defensive end BJ Thompson (hamstring) were full participants all throughout the week. All in all, this is a good final injury report as Kansas City gets ready to start its title defense.

Read More: Three Important Questions for the Chiefs Entering 2023 Season