Tight end Travis Kelce and his fellow sidelined KC Chiefs return from NFL’s COVID list
The Chiefs practiced Wednesday without running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who is dealing with the effects of a shoulder injury he suffered during Sunday’s game.
The discouraging news ends there. Everyone on the Chiefs’ active roster who had previously been on the NFL’s reserve/COVID-19 list has cleared the league’s protocols ahead of Sunday’s road game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
That includes star tight end Travis Kelce and others who missed last weekend’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Everybody passed their COVID (testing) that’s on the active roster,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said.
That means that, in addition to Kelce, cornerback Rashad Fenton, kicker Harrison Butker, punter Tommy Townsend and safety Armani Watts were all back at work.
“They were all out there today,” Reid said. “They’re all off (the list).”
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said Kelce was happy to return to the practice field Wednesday after being absent the previous week.
“He was excited,” Mahomes said. “He was annoyed he couldn’t be back in the building. I mean, even the day after when we came back and we really have an off day, the guys coming in to watch film, he couldn’t be in the building. He was still annoyed about it.
“He loves this game, and he loves being out there with the guys and being able to play, so it crushed him not being able to play with us.”
Kelce’s absence in the Chiefs’ 36-10 win over the Steelers opened the door for Blake Bell, rookie Noah Gray and Nakia Griffin-Stewart to have more playing time in Week 16.
“I thought the guys stepped up,” Mahomes said. “I thought the tight ends did a good job of blocking and catching the football.”
The Chiefs hinted Tuesday at the return of Butker and Townsend by releasing kicker Elliott Fry, who started in place of Butker against Pittsburgh, and Johnny Townsend, Tommy’s older brother.
On Monday, the Chiefs activated rookie linebacker Nick Bolton, rookie tackle Lucas Niang and backup offensive lineman Kyle Long from the league’s protocol.
With Bolton’s return, the Chiefs have their leading tackler available for Week 17’s showdown against the Bengals. Niang’s presence should mean he’s back in the starting lineup at right tackle, while Fenton provides depth to the Chiefs’ cornerbacks group.
Reid also had good news on safety Tyrann Mathieu, who suffered a quad injury in the second half of last weekend’s blowout victory and didn’t finish the game.
“He feels great,” Reid said. “We ended up taking him out of the game at that point, took him out and the trainers started working on him right away. He came back the next day and it was great.
“We all know he’s a tough kid and loves to play, but at that point in the game we had enough of a lead there where we could do that and just kind of get (treatment) started, and it made a huge difference.”
The Chiefs later in the afternoon designated Mathieu, linebacker Willie Gay Jr. (hip), defensive tackle Jarran Reed (foot), defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi (shoulder) and linebacker Ben Niemann (ankle) as full participants in Wednesday’s practice.
Cornerback Mike Hughes didn’t practice for personal reasons.
This story was originally published December 29, 2021 at 3:01 PM.
