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Your draft is done. Your lineup is set. The 2023 football season is just around the corner when disaster strikes: Your tight end Travis Kelce’s injury has his season—at the very least, the opener against the Lions—in doubt.
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Kelce is the star tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs and is considered one of the greatest NFL players of all time. He’s an eight-time Pro Bowler and four-time first-team All-Pro selection. He holds the NFL record for seven of the most consecutive and most overall seasons with 1,000 yards receiving by a tight end. In 2022, he and his brother Jason—center for the Philadelphia Eagles—made NFL history as being the first brothers to face off against each other in a Super Bowl.
Each had won a Super Bowl before—Travis in 2020 with the Chiefs and Jason for the Eagles in 2018—but at Super Bowl LVII, there was a heightened sense of sibling rivalry. “We started thinking that reality is just never going to happen. Then this year started out of nowhere and it just took off on its own almost. It’s just amazing,” their mother Donna told CBS two days before kickoff. “Since Travis was a little kid trying to prove he’s as good as his brother. And Jason, since he was a little kid, he’s been trying to make sure his brother knows he’s not as good as he is,” their father Ed said.
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Now, his injury at practice has fans worried for the beginning of his 2023 football season. Here’s what we know.
What happened with Travis Kelce’s injury?
What happened with Travis Kelce’s injury? The champion tight end suffered a hyperextended knee, head coach Andy Reid told reporters on September 5, 2023. “Kelc hyperextended his knee today, so we’ll see how he does going forward,” he said during a post-practice press conference. “They’re looking at it now,” Reid said when asked what the status of Kelce’s injury was.
“I was in on that play, so I was running a route,” teammate Skyy Moore said when asked about Kelce’s knee injury after practice, via The Athletic. “I was talking to somebody, and [Kelce] was limping, just walking off the field. It was a good sign to see him get up by himself and get off the field.”
How long is hyperextended knee recovery?
Hyperextended knee recovery varies greatly on how severe the injury is, starting from two weeks to the worst-case scenario of six to nine months.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, a severe hyperextended knee can lead to an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tear, which is generally a season-ending injury for football players: “A hyperextended knee is an injury that happens when your knee is bent backward beyond its usual limit. … It’s possible that an injury can damage one or multiple ligaments in your knee, including during a hyperextension. Severe hyperextensions are common causes of ACL and MCL tears. … Knee hyperextensions range from mild cases that you can treat at home to more severe injuries that will need surgery to repair.”
Luckily, it doesn’t sound like Kelce’s injury is quite that serious: his ACL is intact, but there is swelling that the docs are keeping an eye on. While it may not be a season-ender, it does have fantasy football owners worried, as they would’ve spent high on the TE in drafts, who has an ADP (average draft position) of 5.
“#Chiefs star TE Travis Kelce’s status is in doubt for Thursday night’s opener vs. the #Lions because of his knee injury, but sources tell me and @TomPelissero it’s not believed to be a long-term injury. They’ll wait for swelling to go down and go from there,” respected NFL insider Ian Rapoport tweeted on September 6, 2023.
ESPN Senior NFL Insider Adam Schefter echoed this assessment, tweeting: “After tests today, the Chiefs believe Travis Kelce’s ACL is intact, per source. There is inflammation in his knee, and they will test it again Wednesday to determine his availability for Thursday night vs. the Lions.”
Will Travis Kelce play tonight?
Of course, everyone wants to know if Travis Kelce will play in week 1 against the Detroit Lions on Thursday, September 7, 2023, and it doesn’t appear so but it still could be a game-time decision.
NFL Insider Ian Rapoport tweeted just hours before kickoff: “Sources: #Chiefs star TE Travis Kelce is out tonight against the #Lions. He may give it another try before kickoff. Either way, the bone bruise should not keep him out long-term.”
“Cheifs owner Clark Hunt on @GMFB, on Travis Kelce: We hope that he’ll be able to go tonight. He’ll be a game-time decision, but he’s somebody who loves to compete, so I wouldn’t bet against him being on the field tonight.’ Still up in the air. But some optimism…” he tweeted earlier on Thursday.
Another NFL Insider Tom Pelissero tweeted: “The #Chiefs plan to put star TE Travis Kelce through a workout this morning to test his injured knee, per source. Just two days after hyperextending the knee and suffering a bone bruise in practice, Kelce is a true game-day decision for tonight’s opener vs. the #Lions.”
According to the official Kanas City Chiefs injury report, Kelce was listed as Limited in practice on September 5, 2023.
Travis’s brother Jason went on the WIP Morning Show in Philadelphia on the morning of September 6 to say that he was optimistic his brother would be active for the season opener against the Lions. “Travis, this was out on the field, and I know he’s got some swelling going on, but it sounds like as long as they can get that down, he’s going to have a chance to go [play],” Jason said.
“The ligaments and everything are intact structurally from what we know right now. His knee is fine. It’s about getting the swelling down and then seeing how bruised the bone is because… they can be pretty painful if it’s in a spot that’s rubbing all the time… I think he’s going to be good to go. I really do.”
Remarkably, Travis Kelce hasn’t missed a game due to injury in a decade. In his rookie season in 2013, he played just one professional snap before a knee injury forced him to miss the remainder of the year.
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