Andy Reid says Thornhill and Rankin “making good progress” toward return

Saying the Kansas City Chiefs had turned in a “good practice” on Sunday morning, head coach Andy Reid then met with reporters through a Zoom conference call — first fielding a question about when injured second-year safety Juan Thornhill would be ready to play.

“We’ll have to see how and when that he’s there,” replied Reid. “He is doing well at this time. Once we get into that phase where we’re moving him around — the trainers are moving him around a little bit more — we’ll be able to tell. But he’s not ready — obviously — right now.”

Reid said he would “say the same thing” about offensive lineman Martinas Rankin, who is on the preseason physically-unable-to-perform list with Thornhill.

“They’re all making good progress,” said Reid. “It’s just a matter of when they can come back. As we ramp them up — the trainers — we’ll see. But neither one is ready to go right now.”

But with regard to Rankin, Reid appears to be unconcerned — at least for now.

“I thought Brett Veach did a nice job of bringing a couple of veteran guys,” said the head coach. “So we’ve got numbers there. We’ve got some young guys [and] these couple of veteran guys that are added into the mix. So I think we’ll be OK — number-wise — as we go forward.”

Besides, Reid said, there are 14 padded practices yet to come (beginning this Friday) where the team will be able to evaluate how the line fits together.

“You know how [offensive line coach] Andy Heck does, anyways: he rotates everybody. They all play the different positions inside and outside.”

So Thornhill’s status remains up in the air — and us we have come to expect from the Chiefs during Reid’s tenure, the precise makeup of the line may remain unknown until the team lines up for the first offensive snap against the Houston Texans on Thursday, September 10.