The Kansas City Chiefs have had a lot of issues at wide receiver in 2023, and the latest WR injury won’t help with that as Mecole Hardman suffered a thumb sprain against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid provided an update on Hardman’s Week 12 status on November 24, noting that the speedster will be labeled “out” versus the Las Vegas Raiders. To make matters worse, Big Red added that “there’s a chance” Hardman’s thumb injury could be a “longer term” ailment.
“We’re just getting that double checked,” Reid explained. Kansas City typically makes IR decisions on Saturday afternoon, so we could find out more about the potential length of Hardman’s recovery on November 25.
Chiefs Rule Out RB Jerick McKinnon, Hinting at La’Mical Perine or Deneric Prince Elevation
Along with Hardman, veteran running back Jerick McKinnon (groin) was ruled out by Coach Reid on the Friday of Week 12.
Practice squad RBs La’Mical Perine and Deneric Prince will be the candidates to replace McKinnon against the Raiders. When Clyde Edwards-Helaire missed a game earlier in November, it was Perine that got the call.
Could the Chiefs elevate Prince this time around?
“Yeah, we’ll see,” Reid responded when asked about a possible Prince debut. “I’m not sure about what we’re going to do right there.”
Perine ran the ball one time for one yard against the Miami Dolphins in Germany. He logged four snaps on offense and another four on special teams in the appearance.
Chiefs Could Utilize Richie James to Replace Mecole Hardman vs. Raiders
Hardman’s injury isn’t great news, but it does come at an opportune moment for veteran wide receiver Richie James.
After being activated off the injured reserve ahead of Week 11, James did not dress versus the Eagles. “He was up last Sunday,” Reid stated when asked about James’ availability against Las Vegas. “There’s a chance he’s up [in Week 12].”
It would make sense that the Chiefs replace Hardman with James. The two are very similar players, who operate in nearly identical roles on offense and special teams.
In fact, KC was supposedly shopping James at the trade deadline after reacquiring Hardman — which confirms that the Chiefs view the two in a similar light. Perhaps, it was a good thing there were no takers.
Now the Chiefs have a natural fill-in with Hardman injured. Expect James to make his official return to the field this weekend.
Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes Comments on Second Half Scoring Issues, Missed WR Connections
Earlier in the week on November 22, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes II addressed the media ahead of Raiders week.
“All you can do is go back to your fundamentals,” Mahomes said, when asked about the scoring issues during the second half of games in recent weeks.
“Obviously, we had some opportunities in the second half this last game, but we didn’t execute,” the Chiefs superstar went on. “Hopefully, with steady progress and steady work, we start putting points on the board.”
As for the missed connections with wide receivers downfield, Mahomes chalked it up as a “couple miscues here and there.”
“At the end of the day, you gotta continue to work at it and try to connect on those as the games continue to go on and the games get bigger and bigger,” he elaborated. “So, hopefully those mistakes don’t happen again, and we can learn from them and hit [on] them this next time.”
Mahomes added that he has “trust” that he and his receivers will “get [the offense] righted.”
“As much as everybody expects us to do it, we expect more of ourselves,” he followed up. “We just have a standard that we want to go out and play to.”
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Chiefs’ Andy Reid Says ‘There’s a Chance’ WR Could Miss Multiple Weeks