Chargers vs. Chiefs: Trent McDuffie looks doubtful
By Matt Conner
If there was a single team on the schedule that the Kansas City Chiefs were hoping that Trent McDuffie could help with, it was undoubtedly the Los Angeles Chargers. It’s hard enough for any team to defend Justin Herbert, one of the game’s best 3 or 4 quarterbacks, but the Chiefs play him twice each season given their position in the AFC West.
Unfortunately for Kansas City, McDuffie looks like he’s going to be sitting out the first of the two meetings between the rivals when Thursday night rolls around.
Head coach Andy Reid spoke to the media on Tuesday during the team’s only scheduled regular day of practice and gave injury updates on a number of players. The good news is that others seem a bit more hopeful, but McDuffie “will struggle to make it to the game.”
The Kansas City Chiefs look like they will be without their top cornerback when they face the L.A. Chargers on Thursday.
The Chiefs traded up in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft to earn the right to draft McDuffie. They offered the New England Patriots additional picks in the third and fourth rounds to make it happen, and the result was a move up the draft board eight slots to secure McDuffie. McDuffie was the third cornerback taken in the draft.
Coming into the NFL, McDuffie earned rave reviews from scouts for his body of work at the University of Washington, a school with a penchant for coaching up pro defensive backs. The Chiefs made the same choice of a first-round DB from Washington when they selected Marcus Peters in 2015.
Through his first 30-ish snaps in the NFL, McDuffie looked the part as a corner to avoid in Week 1 against the Arizona Cardinals and Kyler Murray. Unfortunately, McDuffie was forced to leave with a hamstring injury and the Chiefs were quick to declare him out for the game. Given the nature of the injury, it makes sense to rest McDuffie for a short week since he will have another 10 days thereafter to rest before Week 3. Even then, hamstring injuries can linger for weeks.
