Getty Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.
Two days prior to the Kansas City Chiefs Monday Night Football matchup against the divisional-rival Las Vegas Raiders, wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster was a limited participant in practice due to a new injury.
Smith-Schuster’s hamstring tightened up on him which is why he logged limited participation at Saturday’s practice, according to head coach Andy Reid on October 8.
Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Harrison Butker did not practice, but didn’t rule him out for Monday night.
Reid said WR JuJu Smith-Schuster’s hamstring bothered him today, so he was limited. DE Mike Danna (calf), RG Trey Smith (pectoral) also limited.
Defensive end Mike Danna, who missed the team’s Week 4 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was limited for the first time on Saturday as well after logging two-straight full sessions. Starting right guard Trey Smith, who has been limited all week with a pectoral injury, was also limited on Saturday.
Kicker Harrison Butker, who hasn’t played since Week 1 due to an ankle injury, missed his third-straight practice on Saturday, which puts him on track to miss Monday night’s game against the Raiders.
**UPDATE** JuJu Smith-Schuster, Trey Smith, and Mike Danna are questionable for the Chiefs-Raiders gave, per the final injury report of Week 5. Harrison Butker has been ruled out.
Prior to suffering the hamstring tightness, Smith-Schuster was listed on the Week 5 injury report with a quad injury. Yet, he still practiced in full on Thursday and Friday. Although Reid didn’t seem overly concerned with Smith-Schuster’s hamstring tightness, hamstrings can be tricky and there are only two days remaining before Kansas City takes the field for Week 5 action.
How Smith-Schuster feels during his pregame warmup on Monday night will be something to monitor.
Coach Toub on When Butker Will Return
Speaking to the media on October 7, Chiefs special-teams coordinator and assistant coach, Dave Toub, was asked about Butker’s injury timeline.
“Yeah, (Harrison Butker) tried to go (last week), but he was working on one‐steps and it’s not – he’s a two(‐step), he wants to have his full approach,” Toub said. “He doesn’t want to use a half approach. I don’t blame him. And he still has a lot of pain. He’s got swelling in that ankle. It was evidently a little bit worse than what you think.
“Everybody heals differently, so it’s just going to take time to get him back. But we want, obviously, we want a full, 100% Butker. And like I said before, we got a long season to go. We’ll be happy when he’s 100%. We don’t want to try to force him back and all (of) a sudden (he) gets a regression. We definitely don’t want that. He’s got a lot of weeks in the bank now healing. We just got to get him over the top now.”
Toub ‘Really Pleased’ With Matthew Wright
During Kansas City’s Week 4 win over the Buccaneers, kicker Matthew Wright, who joined the Chiefs on September 27 to replace Butker temporarily, made 2-of-2 field goal attempts and all 5 point-after attempts.
When Toub was asked about Wright’s efforts in his Chiefs debut, he spoke glowingly of the 26-year-old.
“Yeah, we had a little bit more time to work with Matt (Wright) this week than the first week with the other Matt (Ammendola) which was good,” Toub said. “And then, I was really pleased (with) the way he handled it. He’s got a really good mental aspect – that’s where you find out. He kicked well in practice and stuff, but in the games being able to make really seven field goals is what it comes down to – extra point is a field goal (just) as much. Being able to make all seven in that last game, that was big on a Sunday Night Football game.”
With Butker likely out in Week 5, Wright will get at least one more opportunity Monday night to kick for the defending AFC West champions before Butker potentially returns.