The Kansas City Chiefs are now 6-0 after defeating the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday afternoon. However, KC saw two impact starters exit their eventual 28-18 victory, never returning to the field.
In the first quarter, veteran wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster left due to a hamstring injury after being listed as questionable for Sunday’s game due to “hamstring spasms” he experienced during Thursday’s practice. Later, starting No. 2 cornerback Jaylen Watson exited with what the team called “an ankle injury” and was later downgraded to out.
After the game, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid provided a brief update regarding the status of both injured starters. Asked if he feared that Smith-Schuster or Watson’s injuries would lead to long-term absences, Reid acknowledged that he expects Watson to miss some time.
“Yeah, I think Jaylen will be, yeah,” Reid said. “I think. I mean, we’ll see what the MRI says, but I don’t think that’s going to be great news.”
Just before Reid spoke, Nate Taylor of The Athletic posted on Twitter/X that Watson was “on crutches with his left ankle [and] foot in a cast.”
Reid did not expand on Smith-Schuster’s hamstring injury during his postgame press conference.
Either player missing significant time would be a major blow to the Chiefs. Smith-Schuster’s role had increased nearly by default following the well-known injuries to wide receivers Rashee Rice and Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. After Smith-Schuster’s exit, the Chiefs’ only remaining active wide receivers were Xavier Worthy, Justin Watson, Mecole Hardman and Skyy Moore. None of the wide receivers exceeded 20 receiving yards in the game, though Hardman rushed for 38 yards in addition to his one catch for 17 yards. Worthy finished the day with 24 total yards from scrimmage.
Watson has been an underrated star of the Chiefs’ excellent defense in 2024, playing all but a handful of KC’s defensive snaps this season. Nazeeh Johnson, Chris Roland-Wallace and Joshua Williams saw the field following Watson’s exit. Despite an interception for Roland-Wallace, there’s a reason Watson established a stranglehold on KC’s No. 2 cornerback job behind Trent McDuffie. As the rest of the cornerback room struggled during training camp and the preseason, Watson hit his stride when the season arrived and has been a worthy running mate opposite McDuffie, forming one of the most formidable cornerback duos through the first seven weeks of the NFL season.
