Chiefs Injury Report: Alex Smith Battling A Shoulder Sprain, Donnie Avery Progressing

Oct 26, 2014; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith (11) throws a pass during the first half against the St. Louis Rams at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

“You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone” is a 10 on the cliche scale, but it’s the truth, which is exactly why my eyes became saucers after seeing “Alex Smith” and “injured shoulder” in the same sentence.

Dating back to Week 2, among quarterbacks with a minimum of 100 completions, Smith has had the fifth-highest completion percentage (69.3) and ranks No. 8 in passer rating (102.5).

If you want to belabor the “He can’t heave it 65 yards downfield!” point, be my guest. But the man has been an eagle-eyed sniper, and the Chiefs are 4-1 in their last five contests.

In his opening comments on Monday, Andy Reid relayed, “Alex (Smith) actually has a shoulder sprain that happened in the game and he was able to obviously go through the game and everything worked out okay but a bit sore today, but should be fine.”

Said shoulder was confirmed to be his right (throwing arm).

When asked if the injury stemmed from a late hit in the second half, Kansas City’s coach added, “No, I believe it was right before halftime actually where it happened. He just kind of landed on it. Probably more of a bruise than anything, but it was tender.”

Will Smith be fine? Probably. But in some fans’ book, “tender” translates to “one step closer to Chase Daniel.”

“He’s tender today but he’s upbeat about it and we did all of the precautionary things looking at it so just need a little time to get the soreness out of there,” Reid noted.

Again, it’s nothing to drum the panic button over, and Smith was still able to pen a laudable second-half performance. However, when a team is entering the early stages of a playoff race, “tender” and “quarterback” are about as reassuring as “Game 7” and “Bumgarner.”

In other news, Reid said that Eric Berry is “feeling good,” and the team will continue to monitor him throughout the week. He also claimed that Donnie Avery is “making progress” after surgery for his sports hernia.

Chris Owens’ knee sprain would have prevented him from practicing today, Reid claimed, but he’s improving.

Finally, Jamell Fleming and Josh Martin were both victimized by strained hamstrings on Sunday.