Donald Stephenson Is (Almost) Back

After what seemed like a two years, Donald Stephenson’s four-game suspension has been completed and he is now back at the facilities at Arrowhead preparing for the Chiefs week five matchup against the San Francisco 49ers. However, that preparation will not be as a starter.

Andy Reid told reporters yesterday that he is going to give Stephenson some time to get back into the swing of things before he reinserts him back into the starting lineup. Here’s what Andy Reid told reporters:

"He’s just going to get himself back into the swing of things. He’ll rotate in there during practice, hadn’t done any football for a month. We’ll let him kind of get acclimated here again."

With the bye week coming after the 49ers game, it makes sense for the Chiefs to give Stephenson a chance to get back into football shape. Stephenson has not played a game since the preseason finale in Green Bay and has not been allowed to practice with the team during his four-week suspension. Three full weeks of practicing before the Chiefs head to San Diego to play the Chargers should be enough to get him back and ready to go.

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The downside of this is it means another game where Ryan Harris is your starting right tackle. While Harris played a solid game against the New England Patriots, a game where he did not allow a single quarterback pressure and posted a 3.1 PFF grade, he is still not the best of options going up against the highly physical, highly talented defensive front seven of the 49ers.

Reid has found ways the last three weeks to lessen the severity of the problem the offensive line proposes, so it shouldn’t be counted out that he has a few more tricks up his sleeve for Sunday afternoon. Still, if the Chiefs are going to try to deploy their full array of offensive plays then they are going to need Stephenson back on the field as soon as possible. Stephenson’s athleticism and size make him very valuable on the outside in the running and screen game, which could really help diversify the Chiefs play calling and make them less predictable.

The good news is Stephenson is back and working with the team, even if we do have to wait through one more game without him on the field as a starter.