Kyle Long designated to return to KC Chiefs roster

The Kansas City Chiefs have made it official: Kyle Long is now ready to return to the active roster after designating him as ready for practice following a long stint on the team’s Physically Unable to Perform List on Tuesday.

Long now has three weeks within which he must be placed on the active roster or placed back on IR (or released). As a player who began the season on the PUP list, Long has been allowed to attend all team meetings and work out but he’s not been able to practice at all with the team until he’s been medically cleared and designated for such activity. Now the Chiefs will ease him back into some team activities and practice sessions with the goal of having him ready.

The Chiefs knew it was going to be quite some time before Long could return to the roster after they placed him on the PUP list, given that players must sit the first six weeks of the regular season if they start the year there. However, the preseason leg injury suffered by Long was more significant than expected, which is why we’re just now seeing him designated to return,

Kyle Long is coming back to practice for Chiefs.

Long came out of retirement this offseason after stating he wanted to return after a year away from the game. He’d retired after seven seasons with the Chicago Bears, in which he made three Pro Bowls but also suffered a number of injuries that kept him off the field for much of the last few seasons. Long averaged only 7.5 games played in each of his last four seasons before sitting out 2020 completely.

Chiefs fans should expect to see Long practice for a bit before being activated and perhaps getting involved in competition at right tackle and/or serving as a versatile sub like Mike Remmers who can handle anything on the right side.