The Kansas City Chiefs will continue to ease back rookie first-round draft pick Trent McDuffie from an early-season hamstring injury that landed him on injured reserve.
McDuffie was designated to return from injured reserve last week, which opens up his 21-day practice window. He was not, however, activated to the 53-man roster ahead of the Week 6 game against the Buffalo Bills.
Asked about his optimism level on McDuffie’s availability for the upcoming Week 7 contest against the San Francisco 49ers, Reid said the practice week will again determine his status.
“Yeah, no, if he can go this we’ll get him in there playing,” Reid said. “I just want to see how he does during the week of practice and see how it feels. If he can get back in, we’ll let him play.”
Reid elaborated a bit on the team’s philosophy when it comes to bringing a player along in practice after they’ve been on injured reserve. A lot of what they’re looking for is feedback from the player on how they feel, but there is also an element of whether they appear able to practice at game speed.
“Yeah, that was kind of the idea last week to test it out and see where he’s at,” Reid said. “We’ll do the same thing this week. We’ll see. We’re not going to put him in a bad situation where he’s not comfortable. But it’s a good — normally, you want to get them back up to speed. You can do a lot in rehab. Rick (Burkholder) does a great job with his people with that, but there’s nothing like being on the field, and Rick will be the first one to tell you that. There is nothing like being on the field and practicing and getting the game speed down — as close as you can to a game — to see how it feels.”
For McDuffie, the last thing the team wants to do is put him in a situation where he risks reinjury. They’ll monitor him closely in practice this week and do what’s best for the player moving forward.
“As long as he feels good this week, coming up, we’ll give him a chance to play,” Reid said. “If not, we’ll back off it.”
