KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Travis Kelce and his Chiefs’ teammates didn’t practice Monday, but even had they taken the field the All-Pro tight end wouldn’t have been on the field as he nurses an ankle sprain suffered in the team’s 27-20 win over Minnesota in Week 5.
The Chiefs are required to file a Monday injury report ahead of their Thursday night clash against Denver, and Kelce was the lone player tagged as a non-participant. Linebacker Nick Bolton (ankle), defensive end George Karlaftis (hamstring) and defensive tackle Matt Dickerson (knee) were listed as limited.
Kansas City will conduct its lone full practice of the week on Tuesday, and that’s when the picture of Kelce’s availability should come into sharper focus. The team will conduct a walkthrough on Wednesday with another estimated injury report. But the club may still not know the availability of Kelce until just a few hours before Thursday night’s kickoff.
Regardless, the Chiefs must build a game plan for the Broncos without knowing the full status of Kelce, explained offensive coordinator Matt Nagy.
“Whenever you have any type of injuries with any player, you always have to kind of go through and say, ‘OK, this is what we think is going to happen,'” Nagy said. “And based off of Travis, or whoever the player is, we as a staff, just listening to (vice president of sports medicine and performance) Rick Burkholder and (general manager Brett) Veach, and coach Reid, and just listening to where they think things are, we have to be able to put together what we think is going to happen and in that contingency plan.”
When Kelce left Sunday’s game with his ankle injury, quarterback Patrick Mahomes said the team tinkered with personnel groups to use a wide receiver in Kelce’s spot on occasion or as a third tight end. Given three days of game planning, Nagy said the Chiefs can take advantage of that utility to create an alternate call sheet without Kelce.
“(These players), if you’re a certain position you have to also understand that if this guy can or cannot go, you have to know those circles and spots,” Nagy said. “I keep talking about the concept, and not just that one position that you’re playing right now. And I think the way that we teach this offense, it allows those guys to do that.”
That becomes more complicated with a player such as Kelce, who is often the focal point for opposing defenses.
“With guys like Travis, there’s going to be defensive coordinators that go into every game with a plan to stop Travis and we know that,” Nagy said. “So for us, it’s the first element of what we want to do with him, but then it’s the second element or what’s the defense going to do? And then I suppose you could say the third element of his health, so all of that is just a constant communication throughout the day of where guys are each week and then we always are prepared with him with a contingency plan or a backup plan.”
Chiefs injury report
Did not practice: TE Travis Kelce (ankle)
Limited participation: LB Nick Bolton (ankle), DE George Karlaftis (hamstring) and DT Matt Dickerson (knee)
Full participation: DE Mike Danna (rib), CB Trent McDuffie (quad), CB L’Jarius Sneed (knee), LB Drue Tranquill (knee) and WR Kadarius Toney (toe)
Broncos injury report
Did not practice: D.J. Jones (knee)
Limited participation: C Lloyd Cushenberry III (quad), RB Javonte Williams (quad), DT Mike Purcell (ribs), OLB Baron Browning (knee) and S Justin Simmons (hip)
Full participation: None listed
