Chiefs’ Sammy Watkins, Mitchell Schwartz among quartet not practicing Wednesday
The Chiefs were without four players for the first day of practice ahead of Sunday’s game against the Broncos in Denver.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid announced Wednesday morning that right tackle Mitchell Schwartz (back), wide receiver Sammy Watkins (hamstring), defensive end Alex Okafor (hamstring) and defensive end Taco Charlton (knee) won’t do on-field work.
Schwartz popped up on late on Week 6’s injury report with the back injury and attempted to play against the Buffalo Bills. He left, however, in the first quarter and didn’t return after playing just eight offensive snaps.
The Chiefs then shuffled the offensive line by moving Mike Remmers from left guard to right tackle and inserting second-year pro Nick Allegretti at left guard. If Schwartz is unavailable in Week 7, it wouldn’t surprise if the Chiefs stick with Remmers and Allegretti.
Watkins suffered the hamstring injury in Week 5 and didn’t play against the Bills after missing an entire week of practice. Demarcus Robinson stepped up in Watkins’ place and produced five catches for a team-high 69 yards on six targets.
Okafor, who previously dealt with a hamstring injury suffered in Week 1, injured his other hamstring against the Bills.
Reid later revealed the extent of Charlton’s injury.
“It happened later in the game and it just started bothering him,” Reid said. “We’ll just see how it goes.”
The injuries to Okafor and Charlton signals the Chiefs’ remaining healthy edge rushers on the active 53-player roster are Frank Clark, Tanoh Kpassagnon and Demone Harris.
Meanwhile, offensive lineman Martinas Rankin’s window to potentially begin practicing after spending six weeks on the physically unable to perform list opens this week.
If Rankin returns to practice, the Chiefs will then have a three-week window to make on decision on activating him to the roster or keep him on the PUP list to close the season.
The Chiefs, however, don’t appear in any rush to get Rankin on the practice field as he continues to recover from a knee injury suffered in Week 10 of the 2019 regular season.
“He hasn’t done anything, so we’ll just see how it works out for him,” Reid said. “We’ll kind of take that day by day, too. We just have to see.
“That’s why they have this in here for us. We got a three-week period that you can work with and let’s just see how he does and where he’s at right now.”
The Chiefs listed defensive tackle Chris Jones (groin), defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi (ankle), cornerback Charvarius Ward (hand), left tackle Eric Fisher (shoulder), running back Darrel Williams (shoulder), center Austin Reiter (knee) and tight end Nick Keizer as full participants in Wednesday’s practice.
For the Broncos, tight end Noah Fant (ankle), outside linebacker Bradley Chubb (ankle), nose tackle Mike Purcell (knee) and wide receiver KJ Hamler (hamstring) were limited.
Guard Dalton Risner (shoulder), wide receiver Diontae Spencer (shoulder), outside linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu (quadricip), tight end Andrew Beck (hamstring) and tackle Demar Dotson (not injury related) did not practice.
This story was originally published October 21, 2020 at 1:18 PM.
