Getty Kansas City Chiefs cornerback L'Jarius Sneed.
Kansas City Chiefs fourth-year cornerback L’Jarius Sneed has been sidelined since July 29 due to knee swelling. Though concern has grown within Chiefs Kingdom every day he’s been sidelined, Chiefs general manager Brett Veach gave a promising update on Sneed, as well as teammates Kadarius Toney and Tershawn Wharton.
“They will be on the 53 (man roster),” Veach said on August 31 on whether Toney and Sneed are injured reserve (IR) candidates. “Again, I don’t want to speak for the coaches or for (Vice President of Sports Medicine and Performance) Rick (Burkholder), but they have a good chance to be where they need to be week one, we’ll see. I’ll let Rick make those decisions, him in conjunction with the players, they have a great relationship with all our players but especially those two (Kadarius Toney and L’Jarius Sneed).
“Credit to Kadarius and LJ and Turk Wharton – really all of the guys. You think about Kadarius and LJ and Turk Wharton right off the bat, (I) just give them so much credit and Rick and (Assistant Athletic Trainer) Julie (Frymyer) and (Assistant Athletic Trainer David) Glove (Glover) and (Assistant Athletic Trainer) Evan (Craft), (Assistant Athletic Trainer) Tiff (Tiffany Morton) the whole staff down there, those guys have worked their tail off around the clock to put themselves in a position to play Thursday. I think they certainly have a chance, and we’ll see how it goes.”
Chiefs Getting Great News Ahead of Season Opener
The positive updates that Brett Veach gave on the three aforementioned players are great news for the Chiefs, who are entering the season overall very healthy.
As it stands, the defending Super Bowl champions have just two players on injured reserve: tight end Jody Fortson (shoulder) and defensive back Nazeeh Johnson (ACL). Outside of L’Jarius Sneed, Kadarius Toney, Tershawn Wharton, backup offensive lineman Nick Allegretti (shoulder) and starting linebacker Leo Chenal (hip pointer) are the only other players on the active roster that are tending to injuries at the start of the regular season.
Kansas City’s regular season opener will be against the Detroit Lions on Thursday, September 9. Kickoff is at 7:20 p.m. Central Time, and the game can be watched on Amazon.
Brett Veach ‘Hopeful’ Chris Jones Will be Back for Week 1
Two key roster moves the Chiefs made after roster cutdown day in the NFL were trading for former Las Vegas Raiders defensive tackle Neil Ferrell Jr. and placing All-Pro Chris Jones on the Reserve/Did Not Report list. Placing Jones on that list frees up a roster spot, which will presumably be filled by Ferrell during Jones’ extended absence.
As expected, the first question Brett Veach was asked during his Wednesday press conference was about Jones and whether the team expects him to be back in time to play in Week 1.
“Listen, we’re certainly hopeful for that. We have been in communication, and actually just the last few days, we’ve been in more communication. We’re going to continue to press on and work hard,” Veach said. “(There is) a lot of respect on both sides of this thing. It’s been obviously well stated how we feel about Chris (Jones), and he feels the same way. Again, we’re just going to keep working on this thing, and we’re looking forward to next Thursday and hopefully he’s in the lineup and he’s ready to go.”
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Chiefs GM Brett Veach Reveals CB L’Jarius Sneed’s Status for Week 1