KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs opened training camp on Saturday by placing safety Armani Watts on the physically unable to perform list and moving rookie defensive end Malik Herring to the non-football injury list.
Both players will continue counting toward the 90-man active roster.
Watts suffered a fractured foot during offseason workouts and won’t be ready to practice when veterans report to training camp on Monday. Watts arrived at camp in St. Joseph on Friday according to head coach Andy Reid and is progressing well in his recovery. The coach didn’t put a timetable on Watts’ return to action.
Watts has emerged as a key special teams performer for the Chiefs, playing in all 16 regular-season games during the past two seasons. He saw action on 80.7% of the club’s special teams snaps last season and also played 101 snaps on defense while matching his career-high with 17 total tackles.
Herring, a 6-foot-3, 280-pound undrafted rookie free agent from Georgia suffered a torn ACL during practice for the Senior Bowl in January and was expected to miss the 2021 season.
The Chiefs hoped to have Herring rehab his injury and return to compete for a roster spot next season. The club used a similar strategy with defensive end Tim Ward and linebacker Darius Harris, who sat out the 2019 season rehabbing injuries and returned to see playing time with the club last season.
The 22-year-old rookie collected four sacks and 13 tackles for a loss during four seasons with Georgia where he was a two-year starter for the Bulldogs, playing in 52 games with 17 starts.
