Team news: Kansas City Chiefs | Page 37

Chiefs WR Mecole Hardman was limited in practice Wednesday according to Adam Teicher of ESPN.

Related Players: Byron Pringle, Demarcus Robinson

The last thing Hardman needs is an injury to allow Pringle and Robinson the opportunity to get more practice reps and potential game reps. Friday's injury report will be important.

Colts QB Carson Wentz is a full participant at Wednesday's practice and will play Week 1 when the Colts host the Seattle Seahawks, according to Ian Rapaport of the NFL Network. Wentz was recovering from foot surgery and COVID-19.

This is an impressive turnaround for Wentz. Wentz is a QB2 at best Week 1 due to his busy training camp and with a shorter time to prepare for the arrival of Seattle. The good news for Wentz going forward is a healthy offensive line and numerous offensive talents to play with.

Chiefs’ HC Andy Reid said today that RBs Clyde Edwards-Helaire (ankle) and Darrell Williams (concussion) are expected to play in Sunday’s opener.

Schefter went on to tweet HC Andy Reid said it looked like both backs were moving around pretty good and expects both to be OK and ready to go against the Browns.

The Chiefs used a lot of multiple tight end formations during Reid's early seasons. From 2014 through 2017, they were in the NFL's top 10 every season in number of plays out with three tight end personnel groupings. They led the league in that category in 2016.

But the Chiefs since moved away from those formations as they improved at wide receiver, adding first Tyreek Hill and later Sammy Watkins and Mecole Hardman. They used no three tight end formations in either 2018 or 2019 and though they did use two tight ends on occasion, Travis Kelce was on his own a lot in terms of his position.

That will change this season.

Related players: Blake Bell, Noah Gray, Jody Fortson

The story said the Chiefs may not always use all four TEs at one time, but they have tinkered with it in practice and the preseason, especially close to the goal line. And, they've had success with it, scoring a TD against the Vikings in the preseason. Four TEs on the field would obviously be bad news for Hill owners because it would mean he's not on the field in those situations. Gray could be a player to keep an eye on as he's the team's fifth round pick from this year's NFL Draft.

The Chiefs have waived Darwin Thompson, a source tells The Star.

Related players: Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Jerick McKinnon, Darrel Williams

The Chiefs will run with CEH, McKinnon and Williams as their top-three backs. In the 10 games where CEH played at least 40 snaps (roughly 56% snap share), he averaged 19.1 touches for 97 yards and 0.30 touchdowns per game. That equates to 13.0 fantasy points per game, which are solid RB2 numbers. Le’Veon Bell was enough of a headache to make Edwards-Helaire a shaky start on a weekly basis, but he’s since been released, so CEH’s snap share should rise in his second season.

Marquise Brown’s absence from the field finally came to an end on Monday. He worked with the rest of the team and will presumably work to ramp his workload up to a point that he’s ready to go against the Raiders in Week 1.

Brown hurt his hamstring at a practice early in training camp and initial word was that it wouldn’t be an extended absence from the field. Brown’s outlook was downgraded a short time later and he wound up missing more than a month.

The Indianapolis Colts continue to be hit hard by COVID-19 issues.

The team announced Monday it has placed quarterback Carson Wentz, center Ryan Kelly and wide receiver Zach Pascal on the COVID-19 list. They will miss an undetermined amount of time depending on the reason they were placed on the list.

Wentz is in a race to get ready for the season opener on Sept. 12. We just head a beat writer report Monday it looked like Wentz should be ready to go for Week 1. But there was no word how being placed on the list could hinder Wentz's progress as he tries to recover from a foot injury.

It's my sense that you can reasonably expect Carson Wentz and Quenton Nelson to play on opening day.

The author admitted he's reading between the lines when tweeting what he did, and that can be dangerous. But reports say Wentz has looked good since his return to practice about a week ago. Other reports have been saying he was on track to play Week 1 after his foot injury, and this at least confirms he's still on that pace.

Four days before his potential preseason debut, nearly three weeks before the Ravens’ regular-season opener, Lamar Jackson was locked in. His passing was accurate. His timing was on. His mood was upbeat. Only a handful of presnap penalties on the Ravens’ offensive line and skill position players had soured coach John Harbaugh’s mood.

Related players: Marquise Brown, Miles Boykin, Deon Cain, Sammy Watkins, Rashod Batemon, James Proche II, Devin Duvernay, Tylan Wallace

The story went on to say now Jackson has to find people to throw to. Brown (hamstring), Boykin (hamstring) and Cain continued to rehabilitate from early-camp injuries. Watkins missed his third straight practice. Bateman (groin) remains out until at least September. Proche II sat out his first practice of camp after appearing to tweak his back Monday. That left just two draft picks at the position available — Duvernay (20 catches as a rookie) and Wallace, a rookie this season.

Carson Wentz asked if he'd still play at less than 100% in Week 1:

"It’s gonna be up to doctors, for sure. But as long as there’s nothing I can do to injure myself, (I'll do it)."

Wentz went on to say, "I know I’ve played through a lot worse, but it’s going to come down to what the doctors say." Wentz looked pretty good in videos posted to Twitter Monday. He's been trending in the right direction for a while now as far as Week 1 goes.