The Kansas City Chiefs will be missing one of their interior defensive linemen for about a month according to a new report.
Chiefs DT Khalen Saunders suffered a dislocated elbow during the Week 1 game against the Houston Texans. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Saunders won’t require surgery on his elbow, as there were no fractures or accompanying ligament damage. Andy Reid described the injury as “clean” after the game and any follow-up has revealed that to be the case.
According to Rapoport, Saunders is expected to be out for about a month. If that holds, his return should be expected somewhere around Week 7, when the Chiefs visit the Denver Broncos at Mile High Stadium.
#Chiefs DT Khalen Saunders, who left their opener early after a dislocated elbow, is expected to be out about a month, source said. There were no fractures and he does not need surgery. Considering the injury, Saunders was pretty fortunate.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 16, 2020
The question remains whether the team will keep Saunders on the active roster or send him to injured reserve. In 2020, teams may return an unlimited number of players from injured reserve as opposed to two. They also only need to be on the list for three weeks as opposed to eight weeks. It would stand to reason that a move to send Saunders to injured reserve is forthcoming.
Saunders, a third-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft, appeared in 12 games in 2019, starting in four contests. He recorded 22 tackles, a ball batted and a sack on the season. He was expected to take on a larger role early in the season with Mike Pennel suspended for the first two weeks. Instead, it has been UDFA DT Tershawn Wharton who stepped up, earning a top 3 grade from Pro Football Focus in Week 1 against the Texans.
Kansas City signaled that this news was coming yesterday when they protected practice squad DT Braxton Hoyett. We’ll see if they end up sending him to injured reserve when the transaction report comes out later today.
