KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Chiefs head coach Andy Reid confirmed that wide receiver Sammy Watkins is in the league’s concussion protocol and won’t practice Thursday as the Chiefs prepare to battle the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night.
“More neck right now than the other part,” Reid said after Watkins took a hit to the helmet from Chargers linebacker Denzel Perryman in team’s 23-20 win in Week 2. “He’s working through it, tough kid.”
If Watkins can’t play Monday night, Mecole Hardman and Demarcus Robinson expect to assume larger roles in the offense. Backups Byron Pringle and Marcus Kemp could also see additional work. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes said all the wide receivers mix in with the first team to get them reps and make sure they are ready to go if called upon on game day.
“That’s a good thing about having depth at that position is we hope that we have Sammy back,” Mahomes said. “Everything is hopefully trending the right way, but at the same time it’s good to have guys you can trust to be in there and do what they can to try and replace what he gives us.”
Defensive end Alex Okafor also won’t practice for the Chiefs on Thursday, although Reid said he is progressing well in his return from a hamstring injury.
Cornerback Charvarius Ward does expect to work with the club on Thursday. He suffered a fractured hand in the team’s Week 1 victory over Houston and did not play Sunday against the Chargers. Reid, however, did not commit to whether Ward could play Monday night against the Ravens.
“He’s going to get out there and move around,” Reid said. “We’ll see how he does. But he’ll be out there and moving around a little bit.”
