Everything you need to know about KC Chiefs COVID situation

It’s been a rollercoaster of a week for the Kansas City Chiefs.

In Week 15, the Chiefs earned a tough road victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in overtime on a short week of rest to put some distance between them and every other division rival in the AFC West. With the win, the Chiefs not only essentially locked up their sixth AFC West title but they also stepped into the No. 1 seed in the AFC—at least for the time being.

Then COVID happened.

The early signs were there, even in Week 15, but the Chargers’ game loomed larger. At the time, wide receiver Josh Gordon, defensive tackle Chris Jones, and linebacker Willie Gay Jr. were all ruled out due to testing positive for the coronavirus. Things would get much worse from there.

Here’s everything you need to know about COVID 19 and the current state of things with the Kansas City Chiefs.

In recent days, Chiefs Kingdom has done nothing but refresh their social media feeds and check news outlets over and over again for any updates on the situation. It felt as if every day to start the week brought more bad news—meaning more infected players—which only further clouded the picture as to whether the team would even play their scheduled game against the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 16. In the last couple of days, however, things seem a bit brighter.

With so many moving parts, we thought we’d put together an explainer (which we will keep updated) to update exactly what we know, what we don’t yet know, and when we will likely find things out.

Just how bad is/was it?

The situation is not as bad as it was at its zenith, which at one point had 16 total players involved—three from the practice squad and 13 from the active roster. If you do the math, that’s just under one-quarter of the active roster! At present, however, things have definitely gotten better as the Chiefs have failed to report any new cases on both Wednesday and Thursday of this week, which means they’ve stopped the bleeding.

How did it get so bad?

The first three—Jones, Gay, Gordon—were already on the list as the Chiefs played the Chargers. From there, Gehrig Dieter was the first person placed on the team’s COVID list from the practice squad, which came last Sunday. That was the first of a wave that featured two players on Monday—tight end Travis Kelce and kicker Harrison Butker—and then a whopping nine more players on Tuesday—seven from the active roster, including Pro Bowl wide receiver Tyreek Hill. On Wednesday, lineman Mike Remmers was added (while also on IR).

So who is in/out at this point?

On Wednesday, the Chiefs got back Gordon and Gay in practice, which was a good sign for eventually getting Jones back as well. Having Gay in the heart of the defense will make a big difference, so there was some reason to breathe deep and realize things could really get better for the Chiefs even if just a few more names cleared.

On Thursday, Jones and Charvarius Ward returned, which further bolstered the defense. The Chiefs should be at or near full strength defensively on Sunday, which bodes well for their ability to get after Ben Roethlisberger and try to stymie Pittsburgh’s offense, especially up front. The real concern remains on the offensive side, although as long as Patrick Mahomes is able to deal the cards, the Chiefs have reason to hope.

The Chiefs got Tyreek Hill back, but Travis Kelce has been ruled out.

Here’s a look at the list of active players still on the team’s COVID reserve list:

• Travis Kelce, TE
• Lucas Niang, OL
• Mike Remmers, OL
• Kyle Long, OL
• Harrison Butker, K
• Rashad Fenton, CB
• Nick Bolton, LB
• Armani Watts, DB
• Tommy Townsend, P

Here are the players on the practice squad who are also on the list:

• Daurice Fountain, WR
• Darius Harris, LB
• Gehrig Dieter, WR

The only player who has already been declared out for Week 16 is Butker at this point. The Chiefs have already signed Elliott Fry to replace him.

So will the game be played as normal?

At this point, the league has yet to have any preliminary discussion with teams about any postponement and that was before the Chiefs got a couple more starters back in practice. While things could still change, it seems like everything should be set to go at this point, even if that means some players are out of luck.

What’s the wild card here?

The Steelers just placed three new players on their own COVID reserve list on Thursday, including former first-round linebacker Devin Bush. It will be something to watch going forward if this is part of a wave or just a standalone trio.

Stay tuned here for more news about the Chiefs, the Steelers, and how COVID is affecting their ability to play on Sunday.