Dontari Poe injury: How long will he be sidelined?

The Kansas City Chiefs will be without nose tackle Dontari Poe for at least the duration of training camp. However, the main question is will the injury keep him out into the season?

On Tuesday afternoon, head coach Andy Reid spoke to the media at training camp in St. Joseph, Mo. and discussed the situation, along with head trainer Rick Burkholder. This was what each man had to say, per Joel Thorman of Arrowhead Pride.

"“I think he stands a reasonable chance [to return] the early part of the season,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, “whether it’s the beginning or somewhere early in the season for his return. You just have to see how things recover.”"

This seems like Reid is expecting Poe to miss a few games at the minimum. Now for Burkholder:

"“If you guys remember back in the minicamp Dontari hurt his back. That was back on the 2nd of June. We shut him down for a few days. He went and was referred to KU Med [doctor] who then got him to have an epidural injection in his back. He had one on the 5th of June. We rested him. He made it through the end of minicamp. He was fine and asymptomatic. We got him a second epidural injection right on the 19th of June right before he left.“He was home training and doing great and then he hurt his back again. So we brought him back to KC and he saw the doctor and got another MRI. At that time it was determined he had a herniated disc in his back.“Our team and his people decided to send him back to Memphis to Dr. Kevin Foley who operated on his back on the 15th of July. He hurt his back on the 8th the second time that he hurt it. He had a successful surgery. He had that disc removed. He’s in Memphis right now. He’s not doing a whole lot of rehab or treatment. He’s resting but he’s doing great.“He’s going to be up here with us on Friday. He’ll have extensive treatment and rehab and I’ve told the coaches that we won’t talk about anymore activity with Dontari until after we get out of training camp. For training camp purposes, he’ll be with me. But he’ll be in meetings and all that kind of stuff. He’s recovering fine.”"

Poe had the disc removed, which makes it sound like a major surgery. This is not simply shaving down the disc because it is pressing on the spinal column and causing some discomfort. We are also talking about a professional football player who is listed at 346 pounds.

Can Poe make it back for Week 1 against the Houston Texans? I would be stunned. My guess – and that is all this is – will be Poe coming back after the Denver Broncos game. The Chiefs will have a week and a half before they face the Green Bay Packers, giving Poe time to get into the swing of things.

Let’s just hope the man comes back soon.