Alex Okafor is healthy for Kansas City Chiefs stretch run

Alex Okafor is returning at the right time for the Kansas City Chiefs stretch run.

Alex Okafor has struggled to stay healthy for this season so far for the Kansas City Chiefs, but he’s getting healthy at the right time as head coach Andy Reid announced that the defensive end was back at practice on Wednesday.

Okafor has played sparingly this season—with only 79 total defensive snaps spaced out over four games—and multiple injuries have limited his impact. Most recently a hamstring kept him out of every game since Week 6, the team’s win over the Buffalo Bills, and the injury kept him out through the team’s bye week.

Fortunately, Okafor is now ready to practice, which means it’s likely he’ll suit up and be active for the team’s upcoming game against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 11. Going forward, the Chiefs are now entering the stretch run which will determine whether or not they will earn the top overall seed in the AFC—and the coveted lone first round bye in the conference.

Before he signed with the Chiefs, Okafor was a 16-game starter for the New Orleans Saints defensive front. He’d also averaged 13.4 games played per season for the previous five years. Last year, however, multiple injuries took their toll on him and kept him out of six games, including a torn pectoral muscle that ended his season. This year, it’s been even worse and that’s after the Chiefs restructured his deal which will make him a free agent in 2021.

If Okafor wants to re-enter the free agent market next spring with any sort of momentum, he’ll need to prove he can stay healthy when it matters most for the Chiefs. If he can provide discernible impact on the rotational snaps he’s given, he’ll certainly be playing on a big enough platform for someone to notice.