Chiefs’ Chris Jones dealing with ‘day-to-day’ calf injury, Andy Reid says
The Kansas City Chiefs played the AFC Divisional Round without defensive tackle Chris Jones, who is nursing a calf injury.
Now, it remains to be seen if Jones will be available for Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Tennessee Titans at Arrowhead Stadium.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Jones is dealing with a “day to day thing” after the defensive tackle was hurt during last Thursday’s practice, and Reid was non-committal on Jones’ playing status for the upcoming weekend.
“I don’t know that right now,” Reid said. “We’ll just have to see how he does.”
The Chiefs held out Jones from last Friday’s practice and listed as questionable on the injury report ahead of the the postseason game against the Houston Texans.
Jones was on the field before kickoff wearing a protective sleeve and brace on his lower right leg. He attempted to warm-up under the watchful eye of members of the Chiefs’ coaching and training staff, but the team erred on the side of caution by designating Jones as inactive.
“He was struggling,” Reid said. “He couldn’t push off and go, so it was an easy decision.”
With Jones down, the Chiefs relied on an interior rotation with Derrick Nnadi, Mike Pennel, rookie Khalen Saunders and Xavier Williams en route to a 51-31 win over the Texans.
The Chiefs practice Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before hosting the Titans, so the team has time to evaluate Jones’ progress.
In other injury news, Reid said the Chiefs came out of Sunday’s game “fairly healthy.”
Tight end Travis Kelce dealt with a hamstring issue midway through the game, but was able to finish the game with 10 catches for 134 yards and three touchdowns on 12 targets. All three of Kelce’s touchdowns came in the second quarter.
