The defending AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs look to stretch their winning streak to three games and raise their record to 5-3, after getting off to a slow start this season, when they face the struggling Washington Commanders in a Monday Night Football matchup to close out the NFL’s Week 8.
But they may have to face Washington without nine-year veteran running back Kareem Hunt, who continues to deal with an ankle injury incurred in last Sunday’s 31-0 drubbing of the Las Vegas Raiders.
On the other hand, the Chiefs received some good news on Hunt Friday and more on Saturday that raises his chances of participating in the Monday clash against 3-4 Washington at Arrowhead Stadium. According to Kansas City Star beat reporter Pete Sweeney, Hunt was “working” during Saturday’s practice, and though the injury report had yet to be issued, Sweeney said he would “expect” Hunt to “go.”
Hunt was blocking on an opening-drive two-yard touchdown pass caught by Rashee Rice, when his leg got rolled up on the play.
Hunt Suffered Leg Injury vs. Raiders
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes came to the aid of his teammate who was a third-round draft pick by the Chiefs in 2017 â the same year the team took Mahomes 10th overall. Mahomes helped Rice off the field, but even though Hunt was later revealed to have suffered both an injury to his ankle and toe bruise to his knee, Hunt later re-entered the game, finishing with 18 yards on four carries.
But the injuries were severe enough for Hunt to sit out of Chiefs’ practice on Thursday.
According to the Chiefs’ injury report, however, Hunt returned to practice on Friday, taking part in “limited” fashion. While his status for Monday’s game remains listed as “unspecified,” historical data shows that by simply participating in Friday’s practice as well as Saturday’s, Hunt increased his probability of playing in Monday’s game significantly.
Data Shows 7/10 Chance Hunt Plays Monday
The chances that Hunt will be available for Monday’s game will become more clear when the Chiefs release their final injury report, but by upgrading his practice status from “Did Not Practice” (DNP) to “Limited Participation” (LP), the team signaled that Hunt would be listed as at least “Questionable” for the Monday night game.
According to a a study of more than 2,000 injuries to NFL players from 2017 to 2023, a “Questionable” listing resulted in a player’s actually taking part in that week’s game in 71 percent of cases. In other words, only approximately three of every 10 players listed as “Questionable” to play failed to answer that question in the affirmative.
Not everyone agrees with the data from that study, however. Mike Ryan, a former head trainer for the Jacksonvlle Jaguars, who retired in 2013 and has since served as a medical analyst for NBC network NFL telecasts, claimed in a recent article that, presumably based on his own experience, players listed as “questionable” will play in that week’s game only 50 percent of the time.
Hunt Playing on 1-Year Contract
Either way, as of Saturday morning it appeared that Hunt had at least a 50-50 shot of playing on Monday but likely much better than that.
After gaining a league-leading 1,327 rushing yards in his rookie season, Hunt’s sophomore campaign was cut short after 11 games when he was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list and subsequently released by the Chiefs over an alleged domestic violence incident that was caught on video.
But the Chiefs brought him back last year after five seasons with the Cleveland Browns. Hunt is playing this season on a one-year, $1.5 million contract, with only $850,000 of that money fully guaranteed.
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