KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs expect to have All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones, starting right guard Jawaan Taylor and All-Pro left guard Joe Thuney on the field when they open the regular season against the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 5.
Jones and Taylor have been dealing with shoulder injuries and Thuney is coming back from a torn pectoral muscle.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Monday none of those players will play in the preseason finale Thursday night against Chicago, but all of them should be ready for Week 1. Reid also said long snapper James Winchester, who sprained his AC joint in their loss to Detroit on Saturday, should be OK for the start of the regular season.
The Chiefs brought a different long snapper into camp this week to handle practice and their preseason finale.
“I’ll probably sit the starters (against the Bears) the way it looks right now,” Reid said before Monday’s practice, “and we’ll have the other guys get out there and play. We’ll just see how that goes rep-wise.”
The Chiefs played many of their starters for the first half against Detroit, and there have been years in the past where Reid has given some of them a couple of snaps in their preseason finale. But he said the number of plays that the first team ran in training camp was more than in the past, and that would compensate for getting fewer reps in preseason games.
The reason for more practice reps? It never rained.
Leave a Reply