Raiders vs. Chiefs in Kansas City KC makes a move at running back and loses Jerick McKinnon.
Before their Christmas game against the Las Vegas Raiders, the Kansas City Chiefs made their last roster changes. There’s more bad news for KC at running back.
The Chiefs say that offensive back Jerick McKinnon will be put on injury reserve. If McKinnon’s injury isn’t too bad, he could come back during the playoff run for the Chiefs. He will be out for at least four weeks.
McKinnon was out for the game towards the Raiders because he hurt his hip. During the week, the team didn’t say anything else about McKinnon’s illness.
In the same move, the Chiefs added running back La’Mical Perine onto their active roster. He had been on the practice squad for the first 15 weeks and was now one of the 53 players on the team’s roster.
After making an impression during the preseason, Perine was put on the practice squad after being let go during the preseason roster cuts.
A Twitter user named Matt Derrick from Chiefs Digest said, “McKinnon’s groin injury will keep him out further than originally anticipated.”
It will be the rest of the season before the Kansas City Chiefs can use a key offensive player again.
Running back Jerick McKinnon has been placed on injured reserve because he hurt his hip. In McKinnon’s place, La’Mical Perine was added to the active squad.
On Saturday, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid ruled out running back Jerick McKinnon, wide receiver Kadarius Toney, as well as left tackle Donovan Smith.
This means that the Chiefs will be a little short on players when they play the Las Vegas Raiders on Christmas.
According to Reid’s medical report, running back Isiah Pacheco missed two games this week because of a shoulder problem that was fixed by removing “floaters” in his shoulder. He then took part in all of practice this week.
On December 18, Reid said that Pacheco had been given permission to play against the New England Patriots, however that the Chiefs were being careful with his comeback.
Without McKinnon, Pacheco or Clyde Edwards-Helaire will have to do most of the work at running back.
The Chiefs put wide receiver Skyy Moore in injured reserve on December 18. Without Hardman, Toney, and Moore on Christmas, wide receiver Richie James will get more playing time on Monday.
After being limited on Thursday, Smith was first reported as not participating in Friday’s practice.
However, after the injury update on Saturday afternoon, he was changed to only participate in all three practices this week.
The Chiefs were already utilizing all three of their standard practice squad raises on Perine and Deneric Prince, another running back on the practice squad.
Perine has only played five offensive snaps, and he has only gained one yard on a run and had one pass incomplete. Prince never played a defensive snap.
If things keep going the way they are, Perine probably won’t play much unless Isiah Pacheco and Clyde Edwards-Helaire get hurt late in the game. In the end, the team also ruled out Mecole Hardman, a wide receiver.
But because Pacheco just had surgery on his shoulder and Edwards-Helaire has been hurt in a dangerous position before, the Chiefs need a third running back.
Perine has been picked to be the team’s tertiary back for the duration about the regular season.
It’s not a good sign that the team plans to place McKinnon on injured reserve with only three games left in the regular season. He will also miss the entire Wild Card weekend to start the NFL playoffs.
Because of the four-week requirement and the 21-day practice window for taking a player off of injured reserve, shorter stays on IR often turn into longer ones.
The Chiefs had to make room on their roster to add Perine, but they would have liked to have McKinnon on the active list as a weekly reserve if they thought he’d be able to come back in a matter of weeks. It will be hard for McKinnon to come back even later in a possible playoff run.