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The KC Chiefs have yet to get all that much from their 2013 draft class, and that includes TE Travis Kelce, a third round pick. Kelce has been injured with what Andy Reid has been calling a "bone bruise". He got into specifics of his injury for the first time on Thursday.
Looks like Travis Kelce will be out a couple more weeks. He has a microscopic stress fracture on a bone in his knee. Just needs to heal.
— Nick Jacobs (@Jacobs71) September 26, 2013
Via Nick Jacobs, I heard the audio from Kelce's media session on Thursday. A few quotes and highlights below...
- The injury: Microscopic stress fracture on a bone in his knee.
- The recovery: "A lot of treatment, get the spasms out of the legs and make sure my leg doesn't give out on me. Just get the legs as strong as possible."
- The return: He is hoping to get back out there in a couple of weeks. He said whichever comes first -- he's healed or the team needs him.
- It came from doing a lot of work and "loading" on the leg. He's never dealt with it before. "It was one of those things where the doctors told me they've dealt with this injury before and it's something I had to fight through. As the MRI shows, it 's something I couldn't get rid of. At this point in time it's feeling better than what it was, I'm just not there yet."
- "You wait your entire life to play in the NFL and then get banged up in the preseason."
- Kelce said there is another college season ahead of him now with 13 games remaining.
You can pretty much rule Kelce out of Sunday's game against the Giants. His words here indicate he's likely out a little longer. At this point you almost wonder if Kelce should've been a candidate for the IR-designated to return. The Chiefs used that on Sanders Commings, who has a broken collarbone. Kelce, if healthy, likely makes a bigger impact than Commings. That designation, which you can only use on one player, would've kept him out for eight regular season weeks.
With Anthony Fasano missing last week and perhaps this week with an ankle sprain, the Chiefs tight ends this offseason went from strength to weakness very quickly.