On Wednesday, head coach Romeo Crennel announced that Chiefs center Rodney Hudson was done for the year after suffering a broken bone in his leg against the Saints.
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Lots of questions on Rodney Hudson's season-ending injury for the Kansas City chiefs so here's the transcript of the Hudson-related questions from Romeo Crennel's meeting with the media on Wednesday.
Q: Does Ryan Lilja enter the week as your starting center now?
CRENNEL: "Yes, and [Jeff] Allen is the starting guard."
Q: Does either Hudson or Reeves have a recall designation?
CRENNEL: "With Jacques, there's a possibility depending on what they choose to do. You've got five days to reach an injury settlement, and if there's not an injury settlement with Reeves, then he's on IR and he remains on IR. Hudson will remain on IR right now because the way it looks, it's going to be several weeks with him."
Q: So there's not a tear there? Not an ACL or anything like that?
CRENNEL: "There's a broken bone, but it doesn't require surgery and he's got to be off of it for several weeks and then several weeks on crutches, so it's going to be most of the season. It's going to be most of the season, so that's why he's not going to be able to come back."
Q: So the new rule about putting a guy on IR and them coming back later in the season, that doesn't apply to Rodney?
CRENNEL: "It could, but by the time he gets back, the season's going to be over. So I don't know that we'd want to use that on him."
The Kansas City Chiefs confirmed on Wednesday the news we were fearing: center Rodney Hudson is done for the year. Losing a starter is never a good thing, especially an offensive lineman. But this is not a disaster for the Chiefs. They have players in place that will make this a little easier to swallow.
There are three things that will happen because of Hudson's move to IR:
1. Ryan Lilja will move to center. I was surprised that he played so well last weekend so I'm encouraged that he can do OK for the Chiefs moving forward. He's not as good as Hudson, we know that. But the drop-off is not as big as I once thought it would be.
2. Jeff Allen will move to Lilja's guard spot. He's a rookie so expect some hiccups but he's a second round pick. He should be ready for this. He had his issues last weekend but the line didn't fall apart. Plus, he should, in theory, get better since he's only a rookie. The Chiefs can survive this.
3. The Chiefs signed two players -- Russ Hochstein and Bryan Mattison. They'll both be depth guys. Ideally, neither of them play because, if they do, it means a starter is hurt or playing very poorly.
Losing a start is never a good thing but this is not a worst-case-scenario situation for the Chiefs. San Diego and Baltimore will be rough because those are good defensive lines. But I'm surprisingly confident in the offensive line, despite the loss of Hudson.
