KC Chiefs TE Travis Kelce Suffers Apparent Injury, Returns vs. Minnesota Vikings

The Chiefs' star tight end came up limping late in the first half of KC's Sunday afternoon matchup in Minnesota.

The Kansas City Chiefs entered the halftime break of their Week 5 matchup against the Minnesota Vikings with the score tied, but there was something even more important looming as the first half slowly came to a close. 

After catching a second-and-2 pass from quarterback Patrick Mahomes with over a minute left in the quarter, Kelce appeared to suffer a lower body injury when he tried to plant his foot into the field. Kelce then came up limping and exited the game after getting off to the sideline for preliminary evaluation, later heading back to the locker room for further testing. At halftime, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported that Kelce was questionable to return to the game.

Travis Kelce hurt his right foot/leg on this play, a non-contact injury, and then headed to the locker room: pic.twitter.com/ogfEu6iIOB

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 8, 2023

During the in-game broadcast on CBS, sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson initially described the injury as a potential right foot ailment. She later confirmed that X-rays were set to be conducted on the foot area during the break. The verbiage was later shifted to an ankle injury in the early third quarter. 

"I've been watching him since he hobbled off and I can tell you he immediately just threw his helmet down in frustration," Wolfson said. "He tried to walk it off, he went to the bench, he spoke with head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder, tried to walk it off again [and] could not. He was pointing to that right foot and as you saw, he's headed into the locker room..." 

Kelce came out of the halftime locker room looking to test his right foot/ankle, putting his helmet on and also having a chat with head coach Andy Reid. On the Chiefs' first offensive possession of the second half, he remained on the sideline. James Palmer of NFL Network reported that the superstar tight end "avoided any injury that is cause of concern" for the team. With 9:12 left in the third quarter, to kick off Kansas City's second possession of the half, Kelce was back on the field with his teammates. He finished the game with 10 receptions. 

In the immediate aftermath of Kelce's injury, medical professionals took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to share their early opinions on what the nature of the injury could be. Jesse Morse lists a "lateral ankle sprain" as the most likely case in his opinion, with David J. Chao (ProFootballDoc) taking to Sports Injury Central to provide some insight:

Questionable with a foot injury, which hopefully does not signal a Jones fracture - by video, likely suffered a minor inversion lateral right ankle sprain when he planted to turn upfield - if just an ankle sprain he will get it taped and try to return to game - same side as right knee bone bruise - went to locker room early before halftime.

This isn't the first time the 34-year-old Kelce has dealt with an injury this season, as he suffered a hyperextended knee in the days leading up to the team's opener. That forced him to sit out of Week 1's game due to a bone bruise, although he was able to make his return for Week 2 and has started every subsequent outing. At the time of his injury, Kelce had five receptions on six targets for 22 yards. This will be a situation to monitor moving forward, as the Chiefs' offense needs a healthy Kelce in order to function at a high capacity and the club's Week 6 matchup against the Denver Broncos will come on a short week.