Chiefs protect two practice squad players in advance of Ravens game

According to the NFL’s official transactions report, the Kansas City Chiefs protected two players squad players on Tuesday: defensive back Chris Lammons and running back DeAndre Washington.

Under the practice-squad rules in place for the 2020 season, protected practice squad players may not be poached by another team. These protections last only through the current NFL week — and must be made by 3 p.m. (Arrowhead Time) each Tuesday.

Does this mean that running back Darrel Williams or cornerback Antonio Hamilton — both of whom were injured in Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers — will not be able to play against the Baltimore Ravens in Week 3’s highly-anticipated Monday Night Football matchup?

It might. Or... it might not.

On Monday, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid provided little in the way of updates on the status of players injured during Sunday’s game. Normally the first injury report of the week would be issued on Wednesday — but since the next game is on a Monday, that means we won’t hear from the Chiefs again until Thursday. At that time, either the injury report — or Reid himself — will give us some more information.

Until then, we’ll have to assume one of two things: that one (or both) might be unavailable to play — or that the Chiefs are concerned enough about that possibility to ensure these two practice squad players will be available in the event of a “break glass” kind of emergency.