KC Chiefs get Tyreek Hill, Juan Thornhill back in practice

The K.C. Chiefs were very happy to see a couple important faces back in practice resumed on Thursday at the team’s training camp resumed at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri. Both wide receivers Tyreek Hill and safety Juan Thornhill returned to action after missing recent days due to injury.

Hill has been sitting the last couple days with tendinitis in his knee, while Thornhill has been nursing a groin injury. Both players are essential to what the team wants to do on their specific sides of the ball, and the Chiefs will likely continue to be cautious with both players even as they’ve made themselves available for some level of participation in practice and team drills.

Fortunately so far, Hill looks good per Matt Derrick.

Hill originally left practice and sought medical attention due to the knee injury on Tuesday of this week. He was lifting weights but removed his pads and it was clear there was an issue there. The Chiefs are blessed to have Hill as one of the single best wide receivers in football and the greatest overall deep threat. Given how much Andy Reid likes to stretch the field vertically, there’s little chance of Hill being back in practice unless he was truly ready.

The Chiefs were glad to see Juan Thornhill and Tyreek Hill back in practice on Thursday.

Thornhill’s story is an interesting one as a player hoping to put together a fully healthy season for the Chiefs. His rookie season had him positioned as a future Pro Bowler given the way he looked by season’s end, but he also tore his ACL in the final regular season game. That hampered his development and he returned to a much heavier workload than he should have in 2020. The Chiefs backed him off, but the early results were not good. It took him the majority of the season just to start to look like his old self.

Reporter Herbie Teope also noted that the Chiefs got a couple other players back in linebacker Ben Niemann and tight end Nick Keizer. The latter had been out with back spasms while Noah Gray was generating considerable buzz. It will be interesting to see if the Chiefs want to carry four tight ends or if there’s a real competition here. As for Niemann, his hamstring injury has allowed fans to see more of Nick Bolton (and Darius Harris) than perhaps expected.