Patrick Mahomes, Frank Clark, 4 others ruled out for Chiefs vs. Packers
By Matt Conner
The Kansas City Chiefs have ruled out six players for Sunday night’s game against the Green Bay Packers, including Frank Clark and Patrick Mahomes.
The official injury report has been released by the Kansas City Chiefs for Sunday’s home game against the visiting Green Bay Packers. Unfortunately it doesn’t look good as a few of the team’s six players who have been declared out rank among the very best talents overall on the team’s roster.
The Packers are coming into town for a primetime Sunday Night Football matchup on NBC, but unfortunately it won’t be the quarterback battle that so many were anticipating when the game was first announced. While Aaron Rodgers of the Packers is in fine form at midseason (with six touchdowns last week), the reality is that Patrick Mahomes is hurting and unable to play on Sunday due to a knee injury he suffered last week against the Denver Broncos.
Mahomes was last season’s NFL Most Valuable Player which means the Chiefs are without the league’s best player for the first time since installing him as a starter at the beginning of the 2018 regular season. To date he’s been nursing a sore ankle suffered against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1 and the aforementioned knee injury only made his overall condition worse.
While Mahomes returned to practice this week and was given a generally good prognosis, the rest he will receive on Sunday means that it will have been 17 days since he’d last played if he suits up for Week 9 against the Minnesota Vikings. That could be long enough for Mahomes to return to the field.
Here’s a rundown of the other players who have been declared out and what it means.
Clark has been dealing with a neck injury this season off and on and he was even included on the Week 2 injury report with the same issue. It’s weird that he hasn’t been able to play or practice since he put up such a tremendous effort last game against the Denver Broncos. Now the Chiefs must turn to Emmanuel Ogbah and ask for starter’s reps across from Alex Okafor. Tanoh Kpassagnon‘s presence also becomes a major factor here as well.
Next to Clark, Jones being out only further exacerbates the team’s concerns up front. Last week Khalen Saunders did an admirable job as a rookie in the middle, despite the lack of experience coming in. Saunders will need another week like he had last week, and the Chiefs are going to have to get something out of their newest import Mike Pennell. It’s just simply hard to replace a player like Jones, especially when the combo isn’t on the field with Clark.
The Chiefs primary slot defender will miss another game after suffering a thumb injury (and needing subsequent surgery). Fuller is a free agent after the season which means he’s got some catching up to do once he’s healthy and trying to cash in during a contract year. For now, the Chiefs will rely on sixth round pick Rashad Fenton.
Martinas Ranking is clearly pulling in another start for the Chiefs in what is turning into a nice mid-season audition for Rankin and his future potential with the Chiefs. If the team likes what it sees, Brett Veach has some real options at season’s end with Wylie, Rankin or another import.
For yet another week, despite word that he would return to practice, Eric Fisher remains out. That means Cam Erving continues to man the left side next to Rankin, which means that side the biggest pass rushing target. Here’s hoping the subs can hold their own one more game.
Next. How the Chiefs can go bargain shopping at the trade deadline. dark