Arrowhead Pride - Dontari Poe's injury: Chiefs NT undergoes surgery, out for a whileKansas City Chiefs news, rumors, roster updates and more.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/46893/arrowheadpride_f.png2015-09-07T12:32:09-05:00http://www.arrowheadpride.com/rss/stream/88301522015-09-07T12:32:09-05:002015-09-07T12:32:09-05:00Andy Reid: Poe has a shot to play Week 1
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/srJRV6wxxB4vbmuW7pyUD94Xfu4=/0x150:4618x3229/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47109826/usa-today-8342192.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I really didn't think that <span>Dontari Poe</span>, who had surgery to repair a herniated disc in mid-July, would be back until sometime in October. According to KC <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.arrowheadpride.com/">Chiefs</a> coach Andy Reid, THERE IS A CHANCE DONTARI POE COULD PLAY IN WEEK 1.</p>
<p>ALL CAPS IS THE ONLY WAY I CAN SHOW YOU HOW I EXCITED I AM ABOUT THIS NEWS.</p>
<p>One doctor said after Poe's back surgery that <a href="http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/7/30/9072573/the-road-to-recovery-for-kansas-city-chiefs-dontari-poe">a normal timeline would be three months</a>. So I figured after the July 15 surgery that Poe would be back sometime in mid-October. Yet here we sit just a few days before the season opener and Poe is getting back to practice.</p>
<p>"He's on schedule to possibly have an opportunity to play" in Week 1 against the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.battleredblog.com/">Texans</a>, Reid said. Perhaps if he does play, it's not on a full-time basis because Poe is used to playing almost every snap in games.</p>
<p>He will be limited in practice, according to Reid. It was said that at this point in his recovery Poe really needed to get his strength back and get into football shape. Apparently he is some sort of freak because he's close enough to playing that the Chiefs are acknowledging it's possible.</p>
<p>If he can't go, <span>Jaye Howard</span> is the man. But if he can? Hoo boy...</p>
https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/9/7/9272835/chiefs-dontari-poe-has-a-shot-to-play-week-1-vs-texansJoel Thorman2015-08-24T10:48:37-05:002015-08-24T10:48:37-05:00Poe doing well in his rehab
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/bGBsapNGQ-_B29-1eR9kYz0NEOc=/0x637:3280x2824/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/47019206/usa-today-8346337.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Seems that Dontari Poe's injury rehab is going well. He remains on the PUP list and isn't likely to play during the preseason but <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.arrowheadpride.com/">Kansas City Chiefs</a> head coach Andy Reid said he is doing well.</p>
<blockquote lang="en" class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">"He's doing great. He's making big strides," <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chiefs?src=hash">#Chiefs</a> Andy Reid on Dontari Poe. He said Poe wants to play in first game, but "we'll see."</p>
— BJ Kissel (@ChiefsReporter) <a href="https://twitter.com/ChiefsReporter/status/635838392584966144">August 24, 2015</a>
</blockquote>
<p>
<script charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
Good to hear. We don't really know what this means or when a realistic return date would be. Others have been about three months, <a href="http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/7/30/9072573/the-road-to-recovery-for-kansas-city-chiefs-dontari-poe">which would be mid-October</a>. I am guessing the Chiefs probably don't know the exact date either. It all depends on how Poe responds to everything. The first phase of the rehab is recovering from surgery and<a href="http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/7/30/9072573/the-road-to-recovery-for-kansas-city-chiefs-dontari-poe"> the next phase is regaining his strength and getting in football shape</a>.</p>
<p>It's more difficult for 350 pounders like Poe but I'm sure the Chiefs wouldn't mind if he returned earlier than they had planned. Meanwhile, <span>Jaye Howard</span> and <span>Mike DeVito</span> will take the bulk of the work in replacing him.</p>
https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/8/24/9198021/chiefs-dontari-poe-doing-well-in-his-injury-rehabJoel Thorman2015-08-01T09:05:02-05:002015-08-01T09:05:02-05:00DJ says Dontari Poe is doing well
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6chBTafCT3e9FT9YA0zTiFmOM8I=/0x66:3807x2604/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46877844/usa-today-7588934.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We haven't heard anything from <span>Dontari Poe</span> since the <a href="https://www.arrowheadpride.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Kansas City Chiefs</a> surprised us all and <a href="http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/7/28/9061137/dontari-poe-injury-surgery-for-herniated-disc-will-miss-all-of-chiefs">announced that he had surgery for a herniated disc earlier in July</a>.</p>
<p>Poe is set to come to St. Joe for training camp but he won't be practicing. It's unclear if we (the media) will get a chance to speak with him during his rehab but if not we'll have to rely on <span>Derrick Johnson</span>, who said he has talked to Poe since all this went down.</p>
<p>"Yeah, I talked to him," DJ told reporters on Friday, via quotes from the Chiefs. "He's doing well. He has to go through this process and get better. When he gets ready to get back out there on the field, we'll be ready for him. He doesn't need any words of encouragement, he's very self-motivated and he can't wait to get back out there with us."</p>
<p>Mike DeVito also said he texted him after hearing of the surgery.</p>
<p>It's good Poe doesn't need any encouragement because life can be lonely when you're injured. Poe will face his most <a href="http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/7/30/9072573/the-road-to-recovery-for-kansas-city-chiefs-dontari-poe">difficult task in the next few months</a> as he tries to return from a mid-July surgery. Experts have said this is a three month injury and DJ says they'll be holding it down until he returns.</p>
<p>"This is an NFL team so you're going to have people to plug in that's pretty good, that's going to help out," DJ said. "We're going to get the job done until Poe gets ready to come back. Until then, he is a big piece missing, and he's one of the guys that I rely on the most, but at the same time he knows we can get the job done and hold it down until he comes back."</p>
https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/8/1/9083585/derrick-johnson-says-dontari-poe-is-doing-well-hes-very-self-motivatedJoel Thorman2015-07-30T08:54:36-05:002015-07-30T08:54:36-05:00The road to recovery for Dontari Poe
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/BR-34lPPnonI7yAv41if81yka7k=/0x0:5184x3456/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46864390/usa-today-8260235.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I spoke with Dr. David Chao about <a href="http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/7/28/9061137/dontari-poe-injury-surgery-for-herniated-disc-will-miss-all-of-chiefs">Dontari Poe's surgery for a herniated disc</a> and the recovery associated with that. Dr. Chao is a former NFL team physician for 17 years and has made a name for himself as <a href="https://twitter.com/profootballdoc">@ProFootballDoc</a> where he discusses sports injuries in real time.</p>
<p>Chao claims to have insider <i>knowledge</i> about sports injuries -- not insider <i>information</i>. He is not Poe's doctor nor has he seen him so he's not dealing with inside information -- only the Chiefs would know that -- but he has worked in the business for nearly 20 years so he has knowledge of how these things work.</p>
<p>With that said, I asked Dr. Chao a few questions about what a typical recovery for a surgery on a herniated disc entails.</p>
<p>The first month of rehab will see the patient very sore and going through pain management after a surgery that goes finger length deep in the back. That's where Poe is right now after having his surgery on July 15.</p>
<p>
<link href="http://cdn3.sbnation.com/assets/3608425/mustreads.css" rel="stylesheet">
</p>
<p>"The best news about the surgery is that you're not waiting for anything to truly heal," Dr. Chao said. "You're just waiting for recovery from soreness. The bad news is the disk is really deep down in your back ... it's really deep and you need to affect a lot of muscle to get there."</p>
<p><a href="https://www.arrowheadpride.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Chiefs</a> trainer Rick Burkholder said this week that Poe was in Memphis but not doing much rehab or treatment right now, which lines up with the first month of recovery.</p>
<p>The second month is rehabbing the core muscles while the third month is getting into game shape.</p>
<p>Rehab could go much better or much worse than expected but three months sounds like a <i>typical </i>recovery period for a player. That would put Poe's return around October 15 or between Week 5 and 6, which matches up with the timeline that Andy Reid hinted at with him returning "in the early part" of the season.</p>
<p>What's potentially working <i>against </i>Poe is his size. He's around 350 pounds and needs every bit of leverage when he's in the trenches. Dr. Chao said that since big guys carry a lot of weight it puts more force onto the area.</p>
<p>What's potentially working<i> for </i>Poe, in my non-medical opinion, is that he's a freak of nature. Men his size aren't supposed to move the way he does or have his endurance so I'm interested to see how his recovery goes.</p>
https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/7/30/9072573/the-road-to-recovery-for-kansas-city-chiefs-dontari-poeJoel Thorman2015-07-29T08:09:02-05:002015-07-29T08:09:02-05:00How long will Poe be out?
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/VzRsQu7eBKNnGcCmEIvNGMiNIVw=/0x324:3456x2628/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46857242/GettyImages-453389308.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Jamie Squire/Getty Images</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Three months seems like a good guess.</p> <p>With <a href="http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/7/28/9061137/dontari-poe-injury-surgery-for-herniated-disc-will-miss-all-of-chiefs">the news that Dontari Poe had surgery for a herniated disc</a>, I have been looking at how long others have been out with a herniated disc surgery to get an idea of how long Poe could be out. Keeping in mind that every player and their recovery is different, roughly three months is the timeline I keep seeing from others.</p>
<p>A former NFL team doctor responded to our Poe tweet with this:</p>
<blockquote lang="en" data-cards="hidden" class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Poe has surgery, out for all of camp <a href="http://t.co/pfDY3HJR3X">http://t.co/pfDY3HJR3X</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/ArrowheadPride">@ArrowheadPride</a> > reserve/PUP candidate. Typically 3 month recovery.</p>
— David J. Chao, MD (@ProFootballDoc) <a href="https://twitter.com/ProFootballDoc/status/626158651540025344">July 28, 2015</a>
</blockquote>
<p>
<script charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
</p>
<p>Obviously he's not Poe's doctor and is just speculating but three months gives you a rough idea of what we're looking at here, barring any setbacks or amazing <a href="http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/7/29/9066047/eric-berry-is-back-chiefs-safety-cleared-to-practice-will-return">Eric Berry-like recovery times</a>.</p>
<p>Poe will presumably be going on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list. Players have to be put on the PUP list <i>before </i>taking a snap in training camp so Poe qualifies. The active / PUP list refers to those who are missing time in training camp while the reserve / PUP refers to those players who will miss the first six weeks of the regular season. You put him on PUP so that you can free up a roster spot in his absence.</p>
<p>Three months after Poe's surgery would be about <a href="http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/4/21/8461129/kansas-city-chiefs-2015-nfl-schedule-game-times-strength-of-schedule">Week 6 in the season</a>. That seems like a good ballpark date for those wondering -- depending on how his rehab goes, of course.</p>
https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/7/29/9066071/dontari-poe-injury-recovery-updates-surgery-kansas-city-chiefsJoel Thorman2015-07-29T06:34:43-05:002015-07-29T06:34:43-05:005 reasons why this Poe injury really sucks
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dCBozbtGzTmgxnJXWoXQnxnkocg=/0x230:4618x3309/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46857190/usa-today-8342192.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I don't want to say that <span>Dontari Poe</span> is irreplaceable but it's damn close. Big men of his size are very unique, especially ones with the endurance that he has. That's why the news of his surgery for a herniated disc is so disheartening for <a href="https://www.arrowheadpride.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Kansas City Chiefs</a> fans. Poe is expected to return sometime early in the season.</p>
<p>Let me count the ways that Poe's injury sucks...</p>
<p>1. This sucks because <span>Jaye Howard</span>, <a href="http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/7/28/9061137/dontari-poe-injury-surgery-for-herniated-disc-will-miss-all-of-chiefs">who will replace him</a>, doesn't have much experience at nose tackle. Howard lined up at end last year when DeVito was injured. Other nose tackle options would be DeVito and rookie <span>Rakeem Nunez-Roches</span>, who probably has a little ways to go. Andy Reid didn't mention him but <span>Nick Williams</span> is also on the roster. Either way, the Chiefs are losing depth on the d-line because someone (probably two people) will have to be taken to replace Poe.</p>
<p>2. This sucks because there just aren't that many big men out there. America may be a fat country but it's not easy to find 350 pound dudes who can move as well as Poe. It's hard to replace him, especially the first week of training camp.</p>
<p>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://cdn3.sbnation.com/assets/3608425/mustreads.css">
</p>
<p>3. This sucks because it will take two players to replace him. Poe was a freak of nature who played sooo many snaps. Normal humans can't do that. So the Chiefs will probably need two people to replace him -- someone playing full time and someone to spell that person.</p>
<p>4. This sucks because the Chiefs, <a href="http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/7/24/9031635/chiefs-sean-smith-suspension-espn-three-games">who have already lost Sean Smith for three games</a>, will face the <a href="https://www.milehighreport.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Broncos</a> and <a href="https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Packers</a> without their best defensive lineman. If the injury spills into October, which seems reasonable that it would, we're talking about games against the <a href="https://www.cincyjungle.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Bengals</a>, <a href="https://www.windycitygridiron.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Bears</a>, <a href="https://www.dailynorseman.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Vikings</a> and <a href="https://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Steelers</a>.</p>
<p>5. This sucks because it's such bad news on a day that <a href="http://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/7/29/9066047/eric-berry-is-back-chiefs-safety-cleared-to-practice-will-return">we should be celebrating that Eric Berry is back</a>.</p>
https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/7/29/9066061/dontari-poe-injury-sucks-kansas-city-chiefsJoel Thorman2015-07-28T15:35:18-05:002015-07-28T15:35:18-05:00Poe has surgery, out for all of camp
<figure>
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/YLmWMNe27BvTy_40DWrcArUJf6E=/0x254:2471x1901/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/46853114/usa-today-8319739.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The start to the season is in doubt for NT <span>Dontari Poe</span>, who underwent surgery for a herniated disc. <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.arrowheadpride.com/">Chiefs</a> trainer Rick Burkholder told reporters at Chiefs camp on Wednesday that Poe had back problems during camp and then hurt his back again the first week of July.</p>
<p>He will miss all of training camp and it seems like a good possibility he misses part of the season, too.</p>
<p>"I think he stands a reasonable chance [to return] the early part of the season," Chiefs coach Andy Reid said, "whether it's the beginning or somewhere early in the season for his return. You just have to see how things recover."</p>
<p><span>Jaye Howard</span> will replace Poe, according to Reid. He also mentioned Mike DeVito.</p>
<p>Here's what Chiefs trainer Rick Burkholder said about the injury:</p>
<p>
<link href="http://cdn3.sbnation.com/assets/3608425/mustreads.css" rel="stylesheet">
</p>
<p>"If you guys remember back in the minicamp Dontari hurt his back. That was back on the 2nd of June. We shut him down for a few days. He went and was referred to KU Med [doctor] who then got him to have an epidural injection in his back. He had one on the 5th of June. We rested him. He made it through the end of minicamp. He was fine and asymptomatic. We got him a second epidural injection right on the 19th of June right before he left.</p>
<p>"He was home training and doing great and then he hurt his back again. So we brought him back to KC and he saw the doctor and got another MRI. At that time it was determined he had a herniated disc in his back.</p>
<p>"Our team and his people decided to send him back to Memphis to Dr. Kevin Foley who operated on his back on the 15th of July. He hurt his back on the 8th the second time that he hurt it. He had a successful surgery. He had that disc removed. He's in Memphis right now. He's not doing a whole lot of rehab or treatment. He's resting but he's doing great.</p>
<p>"He's going to be up here with us on Friday. He'll have extensive treatment and rehab and I've told the coaches that we won't talk about anymore activity with Dontari until <i>after</i> we get out of training camp. For training camp purposes, he'll be with me. But he'll be in meetings and all that kind of stuff. He's recovering fine."</p>
<p>Here is the full Poe timeline:</p>
<p><b>June 2:</b> Poe initially hurts his back</p>
<p><b>June 5</b>: First epidural injection</p>
<p><b>June 19:</b> Second epidural injection</p>
<p><b>July 8</b>: Poe hurts his back again</p>
<p><b>July 15:</b> Poe undergoes surgery</p>
https://www.arrowheadpride.com/2015/7/28/9061137/dontari-poe-injury-surgery-for-herniated-disc-will-miss-all-of-chiefsJoel Thorman