{"id":26325,"date":"2025-01-16T09:12:54","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T09:12:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=26325"},"modified":"2025-01-16T09:12:54","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T09:12:54","slug":"update-chiefs-announcement-casts-doubt-on-status-of-key-player-for-playoff-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=26325","title":{"rendered":"UPDATE: Chiefs Announcement Casts Doubt on Status of Key Player for Playoff Game"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ac_96703401\" class=\"article_chunk type_50\">\n<div class=\"froala-view custom-theme first_text_block\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/t_share\/MjExMjM0ODkzMzc4NjI3NTQz\/usatsi_19288933.jpg\" alt=\"Chiefs Announcement Casts Doubt on Status of Key Player for Playoff Game -  Athlon Sports\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Kansas City Chiefs could be missing a key player when they take the field in the divisional round.<\/p>\n<p>The Chiefs locked up the No. 1 seed in the AFC after a 15-2 season, earning a chance to rest during the wild-card round and get healthier for this weekend\u2019s game against the Houston Texans.<\/p>\n<p>While the Chiefs have been largely healthy this week, with everyone on their 53-man roster able to practice in full, one player returning from injured reserve could still be at risk of missing the game. The\u00a0team announced\u00a0on Wednesday that wide receiver and return specialist Mecole Hardman was limited at practice, making it unclear whether he would be ready in time for this weekend\u2019s game.<\/p>\n<p>The Chiefs placed Hardman on injured reserve in December after suffering a knee injury. He has been a versatile weapon for quarterback Patrick Mahomes, catching 12 passes for 90 yards and rushing for 64 yards with a touchdown. He is also the team\u2019s primary punt returner, averaging 10.2 yards on 20 returns this season.<\/p>\n<p>Hardman has been able to return to practice since early January, but not yet rejoined the roster. The Chiefs would still need to activate Hardman to the 53-man roster if he is to play in Saturday\u2019s game against the Houston Texans.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A welcome sign for the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Chiefs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Chiefs<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>Jaylen Watson &amp; Mecole Hardman back in practice<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ChiefsKingdom?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ChiefsKingdom<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/5uW8IzN67r\">pic.twitter.com\/5uW8IzN67r<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Matt Foster (@MattFosterTV) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MattFosterTV\/status\/1875241026954359265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 3, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"ac_96703403\" class=\"article_chunk type_50\">\n<div class=\"froala-view custom-theme \">\n<p>While no other players had limitations in practice, the Chiefs noted injuries for several players including a nagging ankle injury for Mahomes and rib injury for\u00a0running back\u00a0Isiah Pacheco.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Kansas City Chiefs could be missing a key player when they take the field in the divisional round. The Chiefs locked up the No. 1 seed&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":26326,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>UPDATE: Chiefs Announcement Casts Doubt on Status of Key Player for Playoff Game - News 365<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/new365.azontree.com\/?p=26325\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UPDATE: Chiefs Announcement Casts Doubt on Status of Key Player for Playoff Game - News 365\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Kansas City Chiefs could be missing a key player when they take the field in the divisional round. 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