Chiefs Release Injury Report with Chris Jones Update, KC Makes Multiple Roster Moves

For their Christmas Day game against the Steelers, the Chiefs have injury designations for Chris Jones, D.J. Humphries and others with additional moves made.

Oct 7, 2024; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones (95) removes his helmet during a timeout against the New Orleans Saints during the game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images / Denny Medley-Imagn Images

With the Kansas City Chiefs hitting the road for their Week 17 game against the Steelers, time is running low for the back-to-back Super Bowl champions to decide who will play.

Kansas City made some strides in that department on Tuesday, releasing its latest injury report with some designations while also making a few small roster moves.

Chris Jones, Jawaan Taylor both questionable for Week 17

In Week 16's win over the Houston Texans, star defensive tackle Chris Jones left in the second half with a calf injury. The team subsequently held him out for the remainder of the contest out of caution, also keeping him out of practice recently. The overwhelming sentiment is that Jones suffered a grade 1 calf strain. He was listed as a limited participant in Tuesday's estimated injury report and is officially questionable for Christmas Day's outing in Pittsburgh.

Also questionable for Wednesday afternoon is right tackle Jawaan Taylor, who's been battling a knee injury for a while now. The high-dollar offensive lineman had to exit Saturday's win over Houston because of a knee ailment as well, seeing him be replaced by second-year man Wanya Morris. Taylor, contrary to Jones, was described as a limited participant on the practice report all week.

If Taylor can't suit up in Week 17, offensive coordinator Matt Nagy seems confident in Morris's ability.

"He's done a good job with that," Nagy said. "It's important that these guys, as they go through the ebbs and flows of the season game-by-game, they stay locked in and they stay focused. I think most importantly, more than anything, they understand that we always are supporting them. We need to be coaching them and still be tough on them, but also have that 'one play away' mentality, and you saw that yesterday. Wanya has done that this whole time. He came in and played well. He just needs to keep growing, and he will. He's young, and I think we all just need to keep that perspective. I like where he's at right now. We've just got to continue to stay true to what he's doing well and continue to teach him what he's not doing great, and we can keep working at that."

D.J. Humphries, Chamarri Conner both out against Steelers

Unfortunately for Kansas City, left tackle D.J. Humphries is officially out after not practicing all week. Despite seeming to make a bit of progress late last week (and according to head coach Andy Reid on Monday), he'll sit out his third game in a row. That means Joe Thuney will likely get another start on the left side, where he's done well. The Chiefs' hope for Humphries, a November signing, will now turn to either a Week 18 return or getting fully healthy for the playoffs.

Safety Chamarri Conner is also ruled out after not practicing this week. The second-year safety suffered a concussion in Week 15 and is set to miss his second consecutive week of football. Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, similar to Nagy with Morris, is confident in rookie Christian Roland-Wallace being able to pick up the slack on Wednesday.

"I thought he did a great job," Spagnuolo said. "He's been one of those guys that I've been really hopeful for all season long. The more reps he gets, the better he gets. He's a really smart, intelligent football player with some instincts. He's played special teams for Dave (Toub). I'm happy for him. He'll probably tell you that he made one key mistake that we could fix because that's all he could think about at the end of the game. I told him, 'Look, think about the other good plays that you made because you played 30-something plays for us.' I thought he did a solid job going in there and filling in for Chamarri."

Peyton Hendershot activated, others called up from practice squad

In an official announcement on their X account, the Chiefs shared that tight end Peyton Hendershot is being activated from the injured reserve list. Late last month, Hendershot left a win over the Carolina Panthers with a calf ailment and subsequently went on IR. The August trade acquisition will presumably take the place of Anthony Firkser, who played 23 combined snaps on Saturday.

There's also a bit of help coming from the practice squad. Per the team, linebacker Swayze Bozeman and safety Deon Bush are being called up via standard elevation. Bozeman has played 39 special teams snaps in two games this year, whereas Bush is a longtime NFL veteran with plenty of experience in Kansas City but just 16 reps in 2024-25.

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