Kansas City Chiefs

Jaye Howard placed on IR, Justin Houston misses practice

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

The Kansas City Chiefs appeared to be getting healthier, only to take a massive step (or two) back with the news that Jaye Howard is out for the season.

After only having Jaye Howard and Dontari Poe on the Did Not Participate section of their Wednesday injury report, the Cheifs made sure to beef that up on Thursday. Poe once again missed because of back problems, while fellow defensive lineman Kendall Reyes is also on the sideline after being limited the day prior.

The big news, though, is that Howard has been lost for the year due to his hip flexor. Howard was supposed to be a big part of the defensive front after signing a two-year deal with Kansas City in the offseason. Unfortunately, he never got going and now leaves his spot for second-year man Rakeem Nunez-Roches, who has played very well.

With both Howard and Allen Bailey on Injured Reserve, Kansas City will be relying heavily on Nunez-Roches and Chris Jones to shoulder the load, with Jarvis Jenkins and Reyes mixing in.

In other news, we saw Justin Houston go from a full participant to not practicing at all. The injury listed is the shoulder, so at least it doesn’t have to do with his knee. Still the Chiefs just can’t get healthy, and if Houston misses this weekend, it would be a crushing blow.

Finally, we saw a couple of fresh faces on the injury report with Mitchell Schwartz (ankle) and Chris Conley (Achilles) added. On the plus side (finally), Derrick Johnson was not listed at all for the first time in weeks.