Report: Tyreek Hill expected to miss 4-6 weeks; Chiefs calling it “week to week”

Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill is expected to miss four to six weeks, according to a report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Hill left the Chiefs’ Week 1 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars early with a sternoclavicular joint injury. Our in-house injury expert, Aaron Borgmann, provided rapid analysis of the injury here.

The Chiefs would rather not place Hill on injured reserve because that would mean at least eight games out of action.

For reference, here are the Chiefs’ next six games:

• Week 2: at Oakland Raiders
• Week 3: vs. Baltimore Ravens
• Week 4: at Detroit Lions
• Week 5: vs. Indianapolis Colts
• Week 6: vs. Houston Texans
• Week 7: at Denver Broncos

Overreacting based upon Week 1’s games, the opponents on the Chiefs’ upcoming schedule that stick out are Baltimore and Houston. The good news for the Chiefs is that Sammy Watkins is coming off the best game of his career — a 198-yard effort in which he found the end zone three times.

Hill accounted for 1,630 yards (from scrimmage) and 13 touchdowns worth of production in 2018, so filling the void will be no easy task. But with Watkins, Travis Kelce, rookie Mecole Hardman and the running back tandem of Damien Williams and LeSean McCoy, the Chiefs should feel comfortable that they can manage until his return.

Chiefs head trainer and VP Rick Burkholder spoke to the media in an official capacity regarding the injury on Wednesday.

“The last time I met with you guys, I told you I’d give you an update on Tyreek Hill,” Burkholder said. “At that time, he was in Baptist Medical Center under Dr. (Brett) Frykberg’s care. Before we left Jacksonville, he had the dislocated sternoclavicular joint reduced. He had that reduced without surgery and had it reduced under anesthesia. All went well there. There was no damage to his vital to any of his vital organs or his vessels. He spent the night in Jacksonville at the hospital. My assistant, David Glover, was with him. They flew back here Monday. He started the rehab process Monday night and is going through that now. He’ll be monitored throughout this period where he goes through the phases of rehab like any other injury. We’ll do some testing with him to make sure that joint stays in the proper anatomical position. I know there is speculation out there about how long, but he’s truly a week-to-week injury. He will be listed as out this week.”