Patrick Mahomes and Frank Clark ruled out for Packers game

Saying that “he just wasn’t ready,” Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid told us something we probably already knew when he spoke to the press on Friday afternoon: quarterback Patrick Mahomes will not play against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night.

PROJECTED STARTERS (via Pete Sweeney): QB Matt Moore for Mahomes; NCB Rashad Fenton for Fuller; DT Khalen Saunders for Chris Jones; DEs Alex Okafor and Emmanuel Ogbah for Frank Clark; LT Cam Erving for Eric Fisher; LG Martinas Rankin for Andrew Wylie

While the news about Mahomes wasn’t surprising, Reid also dropped a bombshell: defensive end Frank Clark will also be out against the Packers — along with cornerback Kendall Fuller, left tackle Eric Fisher, defensive tackle Chris Jones and left guard Andrew Wylie.

We didn’t know that Clark had suffered any injury against Denver until he appeared on the Wednesday injury report with a neck injury. Now he will be out for the Week 8 game.

There is good news, however: it appears that wide receiver Sammy Watkins will be available to catch passes from backup quarterback Matt Moore.

Rookie cornerback Rashad Fenton — who performed well in last week’s 30-6 victory over the Denver Broncos — will take Fuller’s place as the nickel cornerback. Rookie defensive tackle Khalen Saunders — who also did well against the Broncos — will take Jones’ spot, while Alex Okafor and Emmanuel Ogbah will hold down the defensive end positions.

All told, six Chiefs currently on the active roster have now been ruled out for Sunday’s game. It looks like there could be few (if any) healthy scratches when the Chiefs’ inactive list is released late on Sunday afternoon.