Travis Kelce and Chris Jones were missed on Thursday Night Football by Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Mahomes was unable to rely on his receiving core, especially amid the struggles of Kadarius Toney, and KC was upset 21-20 by the Detroit Lions. Kelce missed the contest due to a knee injury, while Jones is continuing to hold out amid his contract dilemma. Although the Jones situation remains uncertain, Kelce received a promising injury update Monday.
“Trav is getting better, he’s progressing, we’ll see how he does the rest of today and tomorrow and we’ll go from there,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said of Kelce, per Matt Derrick of ChiefsDigest.com.
This update doesn’t guarantee that Kelce will return in Week 2. It does provide optimism though. Barring any setbacks, Kelce seems to be trending in a positive direction.
The offense never found much of a rhythm Thursday. Mahomes went 21-39 through the air with a pair of touchdowns and one interception. The interception wasn’t his fault though, and there were a number of dropped passes. Mahomes didn’t play his best game by any means, but his numbers should have been much better.
Kansas City’s struggles without Kelce on offense were alarming. The Chiefs are a talented team, but it would have been difficult to predict that one player’s absence would have led to such a forgettable performance. Kansas City will perform better down the road one would imagine even if Kelce is forced to miss more time, but there’s no denying the Chiefs’ Week 1 struggles.
We will continue to monitor and provide updates on Kelce’s injury status as they are made available.
