Kansas City Chiefs make surprise addition to injury list before Patriots game

After each week of practice, every team in the National Football League, including the Kansas City Chiefs, provides the media with an extensive report of every injury issue and injury with any player and how it relates to the upcoming game. For some players, it matters nothing concerning their availability, while others are given a designation proportional to their probability of taking the field.

The Chiefs already provided this week's injury report and stated that running back Isiah Pacheco and left tackle Donovan Smith would both be out due to shoulder and neck issues, respectively. Early Sunday morning, however, they added another name to the list.

The Chiefs announced on Sunday via Twitter that cornerback Joshua Williams is dealing with an illness and he's been termed as "questionable" for Sunday's game.

The Chiefs have added another name to the injury report before taking the field in Foxborough.

It should be noted that the Chiefs are playing a full day and a half earlier than expected originally due to the league's flexing of the Week 15 schedule. The Patriots were originally supposed to host the Chiefs on Monday Night Football in a primetime AFC showdown. Instead, the Pats have looked flat all season long on their way to a mere three wins in 14 weeks and the league moved the game to an early Sunday afternoon kickoff.

Williams is an impressive young cornerback for the Chiefs who was their fourth-round pick in the 2022 draft—a class that also netted them several other defensive backs like Trent McDuffie and Bryan Cook along with Jaylen Watson. The draft class completely overhauled the back half of the defense and gave them a bright young core going forward.

If the Chiefs are forced to go without Williams, it's likely that Ekow Boye-Doe or Nic Jones will step up into those rotational spots on the boundary.

As for Williams, he's only playing in 26 percent of snaps this year as a rotational piece, but he could play a much larger role in the future as a young lengthy corner with bright potential and plus athleticism. That said, he only has 14 total tackles and 1 pass deflection this season.