As the great Ric Flair always said, “To be the man, you’ve got to beat the man.”
The Kansas City Chiefs are still the man. For the third straight year and fourth time in the last five years, the Chiefs are playing in the Super Bowl. They have a chance to be the first team ever to win three straight Super Bowls.
Interestingly, Sunday marks the second Super Bowl rematch for the Chiefs during that stretch, with those having come in consecutive years. After winning Super Bowls 54 and 58 over the San Francisco 49ers, the Chiefs are now looking to prevail in Super Bowl 59 over the Philadelphia Eagles after already having defeated them in Super Bowl 57.
One of several factors working in the Chiefs’ favor is how healthy they are entering Sunday. Let’s dive into the latest injury news for Kansas City.
Chiefs Injury Report News and Updates
Official Inactives:
- OT Wanya Morris
- OL C.J. Hanson
- OT Ethan Driskell
- DE Malik Herring
- DE Joshua Uche
- CB Steven Nelson
- CB Keith Taylor
The Chiefs only had four players on their entire injury report this week. It doesn’t get much better than that for a team in the Super Bowl. In contrast, the Eagles had 11 players on their injury report this week but had only two players not practice in full on Friday.
Three of those four players did not receive a game designation. Those were quarterback Patrick Mahomes (ankle), offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor (knee) and punter Matt Araiza (illness). All are good to go for Sunday.
Mahomes has been listed on the injury report since suffering his ankle sprain back in December against the Cleveland Browns but still played the next two weeks against the Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers. He was able to rest in Week 18 against the Denver Broncos, as the Chiefs had wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the AFC on Christmas Day.
All three players were full practice participants at least twice this week — Araiza missed practice Wednesday but was a full go the rest of the week.
Wide receiver Skyy Moore, who is still on injured reserve with an abdominal injury suffered back in October, is listed as doubtful for Sunday after being limited all week in practice. He was the only Chiefs player that has a chance to play Sunday to not practice in full Friday. Given Moore was still in his practice window and couldn’t put in a full practice, it seemed very unlikely the third-year pro would be available for the Chiefs in the Super Bowl.
The Chiefs ultimately did not activate Moore from injured reserve Saturday, meaning he is officially out Sunday.
What Is the Chiefs’ Projected Starting Lineup?
Here is the projected starting lineup for the Chiefs based on their current depth chart.
- Quarterback: Patrick Mahomes
- Running back: Isiah Pacheco
- Wide receiver: DeAndre Hopkins, Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy
- Tight end: Travis Kelce
- Left tackle: Joe Thuney
- Left guard: Mike Caliendo
- Center: Creed Humphrey
- Right guard: Trey Smith
- Right tackle: Jawaan Taylor
- Defensive end: George Karlaftis, Mike Danna
- Defensive tackles: Chris Jones, Tershawn Wharton
- Middle linebacker: Nick Bolton
- Weakside linebacker: Drue Tranquill
- Strongside linebacker: Leo Chenal
- Cornerbacks: Jaylen Watson, Trent McDuffie
- Safeties: Justin Reid, Bryan Cook
- Kicker: Harrison Butker
- Punter: Matt Araiza
- Long snapper: James Winchester
- Kick returner: Nikko Remigio
- Punt returner: Nikko Remigio