KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
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Kansas City’s season of offensive-line woes continued Sunday when right guard Trey Smith was ruled out with an ankle injury at halftime.
Smith, who missed the Washington Commanders game with a back injury, appeared to suffer the injury early in the second quarter.
He limped to the sideline and was replaced by Mike Caliendo for the rest of the drive, but Smith, who signed the richest contract for a guard in NFL history after being franchise-tagged this offseason, returned to finish the half.
Caliendo took the field to start the third quarter before Kansas City announced he was shut down for the day.
“We’ll see how he does as days go forward,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said after the game.
Kansas City had two other veteran players, cornerback Chris Roland-Wallace and tight end Noah Gray, knocked from the game.
But the offensive line concerns could be particularly pressing with a short week before facing a Dallas defensive line that added game-wrecking defensive tackle Quinnen Williams at the NFL trade deadline.
The Chiefs were without rookie left tackle Josh Simmons — who was dealing with a family issue, according to the team — for a month.
Left guard Kingsley Suamataia left last week’s loss in Denver with a concussion, but he was cleared to return and started against the Colts.
Roland-Wallace was ruled out in the fourth quarter with a back injury. He was tied for second on the Chiefs with five tackles at the time.
Reid called it a lower back injury after the game, but the scariest injury came in the closing minutes when Gray made a soaring third-down catch, which set up a critical fourth-down conversion as Kansas City rallied to force overtime.
Gray, who was tackled by cornerback Kenny Moore II, remained down after the play. He was taken directly to the locker room after walking off slowly under his own power.
The Chiefs later confirmed that Gray, who finished the game with three catches for 25 yards, was in concussion protocol after appearing to hit his head on the ground while making the catch.
“He’ll go through evaluations, so we’ll see how that goes,” Reid said.
Fellow tight end Robert Tonyan said Gray was doing well after the game, but all three injured players are likely to be questionable with only four days until Kansas City suits up again on Thanksgiving against the Cowboys.
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