Three Chiefs to have surgery Tuesday, including Speaks for knee and Henne for ankle

Three Chiefs players will have surgery Tuesday, including edge rusher Breeland Speaks and backup quarterback Chad Henne.

Chiefs vice president of sports medicine Rick Burkholder said Monday that Speaks injured his right knee and meniscus and sprained the medial collateral ligament in the Chiefs’ preseason game a week ago at Pittsburgh, and Henne fractured his right ankle against San Francisco on Saturday night.

Henne, who will have surgery performed by Robert Anderson in Green Bay, appeared to injure the ankle when he was sacked Saturday night on the final play of his lone series. Both Arik Armstead and Damontre Moore landed on Henne’s ankle as they pulled him down from behind.

With Henne unavailable for the immediate future, the Chiefs agreed to terms with veteran quarterback Matt Moore, a source told The Star.

Moore spent seven seasons with the Dolphins as a backup and was the team’s starter in 2011. Before that, he was with the Panthers for four seasons.

The Chiefs brought both Moore and Henne in two years ago when they were evaluating veteran backup quarterbacks, a source told The Star. When Moore stepped away, Henne signed. Because of that history, Moore was the Chiefs’ first call Sunday.

In addition to Moore, the Chiefs will also have two young quarterbacks in rookie Kyle Shurmur and second-year quarterback Chase Litton vying for a spot on the roster or the practice squad in the fourth preseason game, which is Thursday at Green Bay.

Speaks, who will have surgery performed by Dr. Walter Lowe in Houston, was injured as both he and fellow defensive end Tanoh Kpassagnon beat their men and pursued Steelers quarterback Josh Dobbs. Kpassagnon dove to make a play on Dobbs and collided with Speaks, who immediately grabbed his right knee.

Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said Speaks was doing well on first and second downs on the edge, and he was a natural when moved inside the line on third downs for passing situations.

“We were hopeful there,” Spagnuolo said. “Unfortunately it will be a little bit different now. I’m hopeful for him that he bounces back.”

With Speaks out, Spagnuolo will look to other players like Emmanuel Ogbah to provide depth on the defensive line.

“He battled an injury early,” Spagnuolo said of Ogbah. “He’s fighting his way back. The other three guys have done a nice job, just need to get some reps underneath everybody’s belt. And away we go. We’ll have to make up for it somehow.”

Also having surgery, Burkholder said, is wide receiver Marcus Kemp, who tore his left anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments and meniscus at Pittsburgh. His surgery will be performed by Dr. Dan Cooper in Dallas.

Burkholder didn’t provide a timetable for any of the injuries, though Kemp has been placed on injured reserve.

This story was originally published August 26, 2019 at 10:56 AM.