After Thursday's morning walkthrough, Kansas City Chiefs head athletic trainer Rick Burkholder spoke with the media regarding kicker Cairo Santos' injury situation.
Santos was placed on Injured Reserve earlier this week.
"As you know from us putting [Santos] on Injured Reserved that he was injured on Sunday," Burkholder opened. "He injured his right groin Sunday. He was injured back in training camp with the same groin, but that had healed up. He was doing fine. In the last warm-up kick on Sunday, he felt a pull in his groin. This did not happen on the roughing the kicker penalty. He took a few more kicks, field goals, he was doing fine with that, but he struggled to kick off during the game. We got him through that game and then brought him in on Monday here and he was a little bit worse.
"We did some studies and realized that he has a fairly significant groin injury that will eliminate him from playing in the next few weeks, so as the process goes they decide what to do with him on the roster and that's why he's on Injured Reserve now."
After Burkholder was finished speaking with the media, head coach Andy Reid was asked about the potential of Santos returning this year.
"There's that chance, yeah," Reid said. "But right now, Harrison [Butker] will be doing the kicking."
By rule, Santos could return in eight weeks, but for the present moment, the Chiefs went out and signed rookie Harrison Butker off the Carolina Panthers' practice squad. Butker was one of only three kickers selected in the draft last spring, and he was a coveted player by special team's coordinator Dave Toub.
Butker will make his NFL debut Monday night against the Washington Redskins at Arrowhead Stadium.
Reid also mentioned that fourth-year outside linebacker Dee Ford, who left last Sunday's game against the Chargers early because of an injury, won't practice Thursday for the Chiefs because of lower back soreness.
Center Mitch Morse, who missed last week's game with a foot injury suffered against the Philadelphia Eagles two weeks ago, will also remain out of practice.
