Rookie first-round pick Trent McDuffie exited the Kansas City Chiefs’ Week 1 win over the Arizona Cardinals in the third quarter due to a hamstring injury. He sat out for the remainder of the game, and head coach Andy Reid didn’t provide any update on the young corner during his postgame press conference.
McDuffie was one of two players that sat out of Monday’s practice, with the other player being kicker Harrison Butker, who suffered an ankle injury in the regular season opener.
The Chiefs then placed McDuffie on injured reserve on Tuesday, September 13, according to NFL Media’s Mike Garafolo.
#Chiefs placed CB Trent McDuffie on IR. The rookie first-rounder is out at least four weeks with a hamstring injury.
Being placed on injured reserve means that McDuffie will have to miss at least four weeks before he is eligible to return. With McDuffie unavailable for Thursday night’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers, Kansas City will likely give a larger role to Rashad Fenton as well as rookies Jaylen Watson and Joshua Williams.
In McDuffie’s first NFL regular season game, he was targeted 0 times in 21 coverage snaps, per PFF.
Reid said during his press conference on Tuesday that Butker is day-to-day. Kansas City signed kicker Matt Ammendola to its practice squad ahead of the Week 2 divisional matchup in case Butker isn’t healthy enough to play.
Spags Praises McDuffie for Week 1 Performance
Speaking to the media on Monday, September 12, Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo gave his assessment of McDuffie’s play during his first NFL regular season game.
“Well, I thought he was real solid,” Spags said. “What was challenging for us a little bit was because they did some tempo, was getting the calls and I think that was a little bit new to Trent (McDuffie). That was a little bit of a struggle early, but once we got that calmed down, I thought he did a nice job.
“It was unfortunate, you know the play he got hurt on was kind of the grass gave – the turf was a little bit loose there and he pulled a hamstring. We’ll find out where he’s at with that. But (I) was really happy with how Jaylen (Watson) went in there and did what he did. They challenged him right away, which is what real good teams do. And he made that play down the sideline, which was good to see.”
Spags Names Rookie that ‘Stuck Out’
Spags also named a rookie that stuck out to him on the Week 1 film, as well as how he felt the other rookies played against the Cardinals.
“Yeah, again, I zipped through the film on the plane to be quite honest with everybody and then moved on to the Chargers – and I was looking at things more as a unit and a group and how we function. But Bryan Cook stuck out. A couple of things that he did, made some tackles,” Spags explained.
“Certainly Jaylen going in and Josh (Williams) having to go in a little bit. I thought they all did a nice job. George (Karlaftis) was solid. He came right up to me after and gave me two or three things that he did wrong, which is George. He’s always going to try to get better, but I thought he helped us a little bit. Leo (Chenal) got in there and got a couple of snaps in our base defense and then some at the end when we got ahead. I think more than anything it was just good that they got first-game jitters out of their system. They got a couple of reps under their belt and hopefully that’ll help us in a quick turnaround to playing on Thursday.”
The Chiefs enter the Week 2 matchup against the Chargers with a 1-0 record. Los Angeles is also 1-0 after beating the division-rival Las Vegas Raiders 24-19 in Week 1.
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Chiefs Place Rookie Standout on Injured Reserve: Report