The Kansas City Chiefs could be without one of their best offensive players when they open the 2023 NFL season against the Detroit Lions on Thursday night. Head coach Andy Reid told reporters on Tuesday that tight end Travis Kelce hyperextended his knee at practice today and is uncertain to be available for Thursday night.
UPDATE (Sept. 7, 5:41 p.m. ET): Kelce will not play in the Chiefs’ Week 1 game, according to Jordan Schultz of The Score.
Travis Kelce’s Knee Injury Threatens Week 1 Status
Even the possibility of a Kelce absence has already moved the spread for Thursday’s game. While the Chiefs had been 6.5-point favorites against the Lions, that number has since dropped to 6 points following the Kelce news.
Kelce was utterly dominant again in 2022, posting 110 receptions for 1,338 yards and 12 touchdowns en route to winning his second Super Bowl title with Kansas City.
His 21.2% target shared paced the Chiefs and ranked second among all NFL tight ends, behind only Mark Andrews. Kelce ranked first in yards per route run (2.23) among TEs with at least 50 targets last season. No other tight end was above two yards per route run.
Blake Bell indicated that Travis Kelce’s injury occurred during a red zone period, a usual part to the week’s final practice. https://t.co/5W6DtO07dv
— Nate Taylor (@ByNateTaylor) September 5, 2023
Although Kelce is entering his age-34 campaign, he’s been remarkably durable in recent years. If Kelce is forced to miss Thursday night’s game, it will mark his first injury-related absence since 2013.
Not only could the Chiefs be without Kelce, but they’re likely to miss Chris Jones, who’s still holding out for a contract extension. While Kansas City could work out a new deal for Jones before this week’s contest, the gap between the two sides seems too wide for a resolution to come in the next two days.
Kelce would be replaced by fellow tight end Noah Gray if he can’t play against the Lions. Meanwhile, Patrick Mahomes would likely need to rely on a group of wideouts that includes Kadarius Toney (who should play following summer knee surgery), Skyy Moore, Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and Rashee Rice.
Fantasy Football Impact of Kelce’s Injury
At this point, fantasy managers should prepare as if Kelce is not playing. If there is any silver lining to this, it’s that the game is on Thursday, so fantasy managers have every other available TE at their disposal to replace Kelce.
Given the Chiefs’ very weak WR corps, it is not the worst idea to look in-house and just go with Noah Gray as his replacement. Gray caught 28 passes for 299 yards last season and has shown enough for fantasy managers to believe he could post low-TE1 numbers in an every-down role.
If fantasy managers understandably don’t want to force anyone from Thursday into lineups, there are a handful of options available in more than 50% of Yahoo leagues. Fantasy managers can look to Gerald Everett (41% rostered), Juwan Johnson (38%), Jake Ferguson (32%), and Luke Musgrave (15%) as short-term fill-ins.
