The Kansas City Chiefs are just days away from their Week 11 matchup against the Buffalo Bills and while the entire team may not be healthy for Sunday’s game, multiple players are making positive strides on the road to recovery. In fact, there’s a new development for one key piece on each side of the ball as the week rolls on.
Per a Tuesday morning report from insider Jordan Schultz of FOX Sports, Kansas City is “planning to” designate running back Isiah Pacheco and defensive end Charles Omenihu to return to practice this week.
This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise from the Chiefs. While head coach Andy Reid didn’t reveal an exact timeline when he spoke on Monday afternoon, he did indicate that both players (as well as wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster) were close to coming back.
“Listen, I think they’re all close,” Reid said. “I would probably tell you that JuJu [is] closer than the other two, but I would tell you that we might have them out there. We’ll just see how it goes here today and tomorrow. They’re very close, all three of them.”
These anticipated designations will be big-time boosts for Kansas City moving forward. Pacheco, attempting to come off the injured reserve list, suffered a fractured fibula late in Week 2’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals and has been out of the lineup ever since. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reported earlier this month that a “late-November” return to the lineup was expected, so this tracks well as the third-year halfback will have a 21-day practice eligibility window before the Chiefs are required to make a decision on him. He can be activated to the 53-man roster at any point.
Schultz reports that Omenihu is coming off IR, but it’s actually the reserve/physically unable to perform list. The veteran pass rusher suffered a torn ACL in January’s AFC Championship Game and opened the regular season on PUP as he continued his recovery. Like Pacheco, his potential return-to-play timeline always seemed to be November when reading the tea leaves of reports. Omenihu, in the final year of his contract with Kansas City, recorded a career-high seven sacks in just 11 regular-season games a year ago for the Chiefs. He, too, will have a practice window for the team to weigh his readiness to eventually return to the active roster.
The NFL’s best club through 10 weeks has some help on the way, even if it may not be for Sunday’s game in Orchard Park.
