Blake Bell injury update: Chiefs tight end has ‘unusual’ hip flexor

Head coach Andy Reid says that Kansas City Chiefs tight end Blake Bell suffered an “unusual” hip injury on Saturday against Chicago.

The Kansas City Chiefs came out of Saturday’s preseason game against the Chicago Bears relatively unscathed for the most part—considering that they avoided any injuries to starting players despite giving them their first playing time against very real (and motivated) competition. However, that doesn’t mean that they’re not concerned about the injuries that did take place, including an unfortunate injury for tight end Blake Bell.

Bell has been an underrated performer for the Chiefs as the best blocking tight end on the roster who can also provide an important presence on short-yardage situations (in which he’s often called the team’s “Belldozer”). On Sunday, he even caught Patrick Mahomes’ first touchdown of the preseason on the opening drive against the Bears.

Unfortunately, that touchdown score was also when Bell was first injured, according to Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. Reid spoke to reporters today at training camp in St. Joseph and gave an update on Bell, but it’s clear that so much is yet unknown about his status going forward.

Reid termed Bell’s injury as an “unusual” one, per Charles Goldman, and is officially noted as a hip flexor.

In the past, the Chiefs have had players dealing with a hip flexor, from linebacker Josh Mauga to cornerback Marcus Peters. In Peters’ instance, it was back in 2016 and he missed a single game at midseason for the Chiefs due to the injury before coming back to play for the stretch run.

The Chiefs have experienced a switch at tight ends with the news that Jody Fortson was back in practice for the Chiefs after sitting out a number of practices with a quad injury. Now Bell is on the mend as the Chiefs turn their eyes to the second preseason game against the Washington Commanders.