Martinas Rankin rejoins Kansas City Chiefs active roster

The Chiefs have activated Martinas Rankin from the reserve/COVID list.

The Kansas City Chiefs offensive line is in line for reinforcements to be added in the coming weeks, and the first such player to be added back to the active roster is Martinas Rankin, who was activated off of the team’s reserve/COVID list on Monday.

The Chiefs had placed Rankin on the reserve list less than two weeks after activating him from the Physically Unable to Perform list. Rankin’s time on the roster was short lived after needing to be quarantined but now the team will finally get the chance to see what he can add in the 2020 season.

Rankin has faced a long journey back from a patella injury that ended his first season with team last November. Even after several months of rest and rehab, Rankin was still not ready to rejoin the active roster coming into the 2020 regular season, so the front office placed him on the PUP list, which kept him out for six games. From there, the Chiefs had three weeks of practice within which to either place him on IR, which would end his season, or deem him healthy enough to play.

The Chiefs originally traded for Rankin before the 2019 season in a swap with the Houston Texans. Bill O’Brien received running back Carlos Hyde in exchange for Rankin, a former third-round pick who brought versatility to the Chiefs line. Rankin played in six games and started five of them at left guard before he was lost for the year.

Nick Allegretti has been holding things down at the left guard position since Mike Remmers was forced to move outside to right tackle in the wake of Mitchell Schwartz‘s back injury. If healthy and ready, Rankin will likely take over there until Schwartz is back, which will force the Chiefs to make some key decisions. Either way, these are good problems to have for a line that has dealt with one injury after another.