Chiefs Injuries: Updates on Smith-Schuster, Jones, Hardman

KC provides updates on some of its injured players ahead of Monday afternoon's practice.

The Kansas City Chiefs are getting back to practice on Monday afternoon in advance of their final preseason game on Thursday against the Green Bay Packers, and the team is also dealing with quite a few injuries. Ahead of practice, the club issued updates on a multitude of players: 

Mecole Hardman Jr. and Chris Jones will return to practice. TE Blake Bell (hip), DE Carlos Dunlap (n/a), CB Rashad Fenton (groin), RB Derrick Gore (thumb), RT Lucas Niang (knee) and WR JuJu Smith-Schuster (knee) won’t practice.

- Tod Palmer (@todpalmer) on Monday, August 22, 2022 at 12:10 p.m. CST

The immediate good news is in regards to defensive tackle Chris Jones and wide receiver Mecole Hardman. Both players left practice early via cart last Wednesday and both players were inactive for the Chiefs on Saturday in the club's preseason contest against the Washington Commanders. Jones and Hardman have been dealing with respective back and groin ailments, although neither injury is deemed to be serious and both players returning to practice in some capacity is undoubtedly a plus for Kansas City.

Smith-Schuster is perhaps the most alarming name amongst those who aren't practicing on Monday, as he's already missed a decent chunk of time due to a nagging knee injury. Last week, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid expressed some optimism that his 25-year-old wideout would possibly be able to return to practice at some point this week. Blake Bell is another notable name, as he suffered a hip injury in the first quarter of the Chiefs' preseason opener against the Chicago Bears and Kansas City put in a waiver claim on now Commanders tight end Kendall Blanton when he was going through the process. It remains to be seen what the timeline for Bell's return will be.

Elsewhere, Dunlap didn't play on Saturday and his injury is now being described as an Achilles issue. Gore suffered his thumb injury during Saturday's game, as did Fenton. During and after the game, I wrote about Fenton's injury and added a clarification from Reid on what may have transpired on the field in the second quarter. His groin injury doesn't appear to be too serious. 

Finally, Niang continues to rehab from a torn patellar tendon injury he suffered in January. The 24-year-old offensive tackle was placed on the injured reserve list thereafter and also remains on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list right now. Niang has yet to be activated off of PUP and won't be eligible to play until he does.