The Kansas City Chiefs are relatively healthy as they get closer to Week 1 of the NFL season, but a few lingering questions persist.
Often the story of the NFL season is which teams are able to stay (relatively) healthy and some teams are bitten by the proverbial injury bug. And, sometimes those big injuries happen during the offseason, either in training camp or in the preseason. It feels like most of the NFL has come away from the preseason relatively unscathed – that might explain why players who were almost certain to be traded like San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. And, fortunately, the Kansas City Chiefs seem relatively unscathed heading into Week 1.
While the Chiefs certainly have some bumps and bruises, they certainly must be amongst the healthiest teams league-wide, which is fortunate and promising as they aim to win their seventh consecutive AFC West Championship.
Let’s take a look at what we know now ahead of the first official injury report next Monday.
Out for the season
Justyn Ross, wide receiver
The Kansas City Chiefs enter the 2022 season with only one player on season-ending injury reserve, and it is rookie wide receiver Justyn Ross. After originally joining the Chiefs as a (highly coveted) undrafted rookie free agent in May, Ross gave practice a go through rookie minicamp, OTAs, and the start of training camp. Unfortunately, it became obvious that the foot injury that kept him from being drafted in the first place was still not healed correctly. As a result, Ross had (another) foot surgery in July and Kansas City placed him on Injured Reserve, ending his rookie season before it officially started. He’ll get a full year to recover, and remain in the Chiefs facility learning and growing as a receiver, before giving it a go next summer.
Matt Bushman, tight end
Kansas City waived tight end Matt Bushman with an injury designation after the third preseason game in which he scored two touchdowns but also broke his collar bone. Now, Kansas City has moved him to injured reserve. One would assume that they’ll let him sit there the entire season, as the tight end spot is jam-packed on the Chiefs offense right now with three active players plus Blake Bell (next injury discussed).