The Kansas City Chiefs began Phase I of their offseason workout program on Monday.
Players are officially allowed to be in the building to lift weights and injured players are permitted to be in the building and do more rehabilitation. Chiefs HC Andy Reid provided updates on just two injured players, beginning with offensive tackle Lucas Niang.
Niang suffered a torn patellar tendon in Week 17 against the Cincinnati Bengals. The expectation has been that Niang wouldn’t be ready to start the season, but Reid isn’t quite ready to put a timeline on his injury. He expected to know more in the coming weeks as the team progresses through the offseason program.
“Lucas (Niang) has done a nice job rehabbing,” Reid said. “Rick (Burkholder) has stayed on top of that part. We’ll just see. I don’t want to put a date on it, we’ll just see where it goes once we get back into these next two phases after Phase I and see where his progress is as we go forward there.”
The second injury update Reid provided was on Chiefs DT Chris Jones, who battled through torn ligaments in his wrist all season. Jones previously suggested he could get offseason surgery to help correct the issue with his wrist. Reid seemed to suggest that Jones did, in fact, have offseason surgery. The good news is that Reid expects he’ll be ready to go for the offseason program and the start of the season.
“Yeah, he’s been in the whole time here, lifting,” Reid said. “I think he’s feeling pretty good. He’ll be ready to go.”
Unfortunately, no updates from Reid on TE Jody Fortson, who is coming off of a ruptured Achilles. Still, it’s good news to hear that both Niang and Jones are doing well in their rehab. Reid will likely provide some more substantial injury updates when Organized Team Activities begin in late May.
