The Denver Broncos are set to face off against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at 11:00 AM MT, and they'll be doing so with a mostly healthy roster.
The Broncos are poised to get starting safety PJ Locke back this week against the Chiefs, a bit of news that couldn't be coming at a better time, but they have also had a very clean injury report up to Friday where official designations have to be declared by each team.
And the Kansas City Chiefs have already declared one of their key weapons on offense to be out for this game. Patrick Mahomes has been dealing with injured offensive weapons all year, though, so this is nothing new...
Broncos-Chiefs injury report: JuJu Smith-Schuster OUT for Chiefs
Chiefs coach Andy Reid says WR JuJu Smith-Schuster will be only player on injury report that will be out vs. Broncos. DL Turk Wharton returned to practice and is expected to play.
— Jesse Newell (@jessenewell) November 8, 2024
Although Smith-Schuster was an abject disaster in his time with the New England Patriots last year, something just works for him as a member of the Chiefs. He only has 12 targets so far this season but nine catches among them for 167 yards and a touchdown.
Even with the injuries the Chiefs have suffered this year at the offensive skill positions -- no Hollywood Brown, Rashee Rice, Isiah Pacheco, or Smith-Schuster for this game against the Broncos -- they still don't seem to be short on guys who can make plays.
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Travis Kelce is obviously still healthy and leads the team with 64 total targets through eight games. The Chiefs have also tried to get 1st-round pick Xavier Worthy more and more involved this season and he's second on the team with 39 total targets.
Now, the Chiefs have added veteran DeAndre Hopkins via trade with the Tennessee Titans (thanks, Titans) and he caught a pair of touchdowns in Kansas City's Monday night win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It seems like things between he and Patrick Mahomes are working swell.
Kareem Hunt has been rather effective in his return to Kansas City as well, so nobody should really be feeling sorry for the undefeated Chiefs at this point. Even without so many guys in the lineup, they've found ways to add other players and get guys to step into bigger roles.
Not having JuJu Smith-Schuster for this game against Denver probably doesn't seem like the biggest deal, but it's one less playmaker for the Broncos to worry about and someone who was converting a high percentage of his opportunities this year in to big plays.
As for the Broncos, everyone on the injury report except linebacker Drew Sanders was listed as a "Full" participant in practice as the week went along. Sanders is working his way back from an Achilles injury and just had his 21-day practice window opened up, so it's unclear whether or not we'll see him on Sunday against Kansas City.