Injury Report: Donald Stephenson Misses Practice, Dwayne Bowe Returns

The Kansas City Chiefs got some good and bad news this morning with their injury report.

Dwayne Bowe, who left practice early Sunday with cramps, is back on the field and in pads, and Joe Mays is back on the field after missing some time.

Getting a healthy Bowe and Mays back is key for the Chiefs because those are both positions where the Chiefs lack depth. This is especially true at wide receiver where Bowe is the only proven high-end threat. Kansas City’s depth proved to be an issue in the second half of last season so staying as healthy as possible through the preseason will be key. Otherwise we’re going to have to rely on depth very early.

In the bad news department, and relate to the Chiefs depth problems, Donald Stephenson is missing practice this morning with an ankle injury.

Stephenson is penciled in to be the starting right tackle, replacing Eric Fisher who is moving to the left side. Kansas City really doesn’t have a proven guy on the offensive line who can step up and fill the right tackle position for a long period of time. Jeff Linkenbach and Ryan Harris are two guys currently on the roster who have NFL experience but neither have been particularly successful as starters. Their is also sixth round pick Laurence Duvernay-Tardiff but he is probably too raw to start immediately at right tackle.

Simply, Kansas City cannot afford for Stephenson to be out for an extended period of time. Hopefully his injury is not too serious. Here’s the rest of the Chiefs who will be missing practice this morning:

Add backup center Eric Kush to the list of players who will not be practicing today, too.

Commings injury is supposedly not serious, but it is yet another practice that he is missing. A lot of what the Chiefs did this offseason was based on Commings being healthy and ready to fill the free safety role, but Commings has spent more time on the trainers table than he has on the field over the last year. Now isn’t the time to freak out but we may be getting close to said time. Daniel Sorensen and Jerron McMillian are the two players most likely to benefit from Commings absence.