Kansas City’s head coach says cornerback Jaylen Watson and wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster will miss Week 8.
During the fourth quarter of the Kansas City Chiefs’ 28-18 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday afternoon, starting outside cornerback Jaylen Watson limped off the field with what appeared to be an ankle injury; later, after the game, he was observed using crutches. That was after wide receiver JuJu Smith-Shuster left the game in the first quarter after appearing to aggravate the hamstring injury that had been troubling him last week — and had made him questionable to play.
Asked about both injuries on Sunday evening, Reid chose only to address Watson’s injury, saying it wasn’t going to be “great news” after he had an MRI. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport had an update on Watson Monday morning, confirming his injury to be a fractured ankle.
On Monday, Reid shut the door on Smith-Schuster’s availability in Las Vegas.
“I would tell you [that] for Watson, it’s not going to be good,” he told reporters. “He won’t be ready this week. JuJu won’t be ready this week.”
Reid wasn’t willing to be pinned down on the possibility of elevating (or even activating) practice squad wideouts like Nikko Remigio, Justyn Ross or Montrell Washington — but insisted that wide receivers coach Connor Embree has been making sure that all of his players are getting enough practice time to be ready; he just hasn’t yet spoken with general manager Brett Veach about it.
“All those guys on the practice squad? We got a lot of trust [in them] — and feel good about [them],” he declared. “We’ve talked about it a little bit. I’m gonna get with Veach here after we’re done, and we’ll go through everything — [and] I just came out of an offensive meeting [where] I had a chance to talk to those guys and see what their thoughts were. You know, we’ll just see.”
Reid also expressed confidence in cornerback Nazeeh Johnson, who fought his way back from a leg injury during the summer. He appears to have the inside track to step into Watson’s role across from cornerback Trent McDuffie.
“Every week, he’s gotten better and stronger — and so that’s the main thing,” noted Reid. “He’s a good player. He said he has confidence in his [injured] leg; the leg’s strong — and that just happens by playing. So every week it’s been a positive going forward. He’s ready for the spot.
“And you know, [Joshua Williams] has also been in there; he’s done it. So he knows what it takes. [So we] have two different body types. We’ll need both of them — and they both need to step up; Watson was having a heck of a year. So now these guys have an opportunity here to step in and do the same.”
