As the Kansas City Chiefs come into another week of practice, head coach Andy Reid had a fresh round of injury updates for reporters on Wednesday. And while the Chiefs still have a few players missing for various reasons, the news was mostly positive.
Specifically, Reid said three players weren't going to be at practice. Rookie left tackle Josh Simmons remains out while attending to a personal matter, so that was no surprise. Running back Isiah Pacheco was already known to be on the shelf while he's week-to-week with an MCL sprain. Wide receiver Hollywood Brown is also set to miss practice while dealing with an illness. While that's not good news, it's also likely a short-term hurdle.
That Reid's list ends there is heartening for Chiefs Kingdom as they prepare to face the Buffalo Bills on the road in Week 9.
Andy Reid had a very positive report for Chiefs Kingdom when detailing who could practice on Wednesday.
First, linebacker Nick Bolton was dealing with a knee concern coming out of the team's win over the Washington Commanders in Week 8. That he's not even mentioned by Reid is important, because the Chiefs are going to need all the help they can get with James Cook and the rest of the Bills' offense. Bolton is the captain at the heart of everything Steve Spagnuolo wants his defense to do, so the fact that he can get back into practice at the start of a week of prep is noteworthy.
Reid also mentioned right guard Trey Smith, who sat in Week 8 due to back spasms, as a participant in practice, although he admitted that Chiefs' trainers would be watching his progress. "Trey's going to give it a whirl. He did the walkthrough this morning, so we'll just see how he does," said Reid.
Mike Caliendo filled in for Smith on Sunday and struggled to handle Javon Kinlaw and others at times, making it clear that Patrick Mahomes felt the results of losing his Pro Bowl guard for a week. That said, the Chiefs are going to want Smith healthy when it matters most, so the fact that they're playing one more game before the bye might prompt K.C. to take it easy with him to give him extended rest before starting the season's second half.
Nothing is official on the playing status for either Bolton or Smith going into Week 9, but the first practice session of the week held good news for Kansas City. That's about as positive of an update as fans could have hoped for at this stage.