Were you in a boot? I spent 6-8 weeks in the boot after my ankle surgery and my calf most assuredly went away like that in that period of time.

Like I said - surprised the hell out of me. I went into my first PT appointment thinking things were in pretty good shape and then he had me do THAT exercise and I was pretty floored.

As far as day to day activity went, I'd have never noticed. But once he showed me how to isolate it I realized that there was just no explosion in that right calf at all.

They way he was able to identify that it was starting to recover was actually watching my knee. When I could do a toe raise on the right leg, that was obviously step one. But then when I had to hold it, if my right knee bent it meant that my leg was compensating with a different muscle to make up for the little 'interior' muscle in the calf not being able to do the work on its own. That knee bending was somehow activating a different muscle group in my calf/leg to make things kinda sorta keep working.

It wasn't until I could do a toe raise and hold it for about 10 seconds on a straight right leg that we were back to near normal.

Yup.

The Steven Nelson signing is the backup plan for the playoffs, likely nothing else. It's gonna take a few games to get him up to speed.

And the hope is if we can secure the Bye, we might have Watson back for the first playoff game at Arrowhead. If not, Nelson will likely be starting opposite Williams with McDuffie moving back into the slot.

Thank u! Very nice of u!

Just saw Xavier Worthy's "mic'd up" on youtube and who was on the sidelines standing next to Clyde game? Yep it Jaylen. Think this might have been the first game he's done that since he got injured. Couple this with the recent picture of him getting treatment at the Chiefs facility and it certainly looks like he's back with the team a lot more now.

Does anyone in-the-know have an answer here?

It seems really weird that injured players wouldn’t still be required to be in the facility every day. They’re still under contract, still getting paid. If a dude tears his ACL and is out indefinitely, are teams really just like “Alright, welp, see ya when we see ya!”? I feel like there’s no way that’s the case.

He’s rehabbing. He is probably doing PT at the facility and wants to be with the team. This means nothing.

We saw Rashee in the pool doing rehab. Doesn’t mean he’s coming back this year.

They spend most of the time doing rehab, I'm assuming at the facility but I know I've heard guys say they felt really isolated when injured and rehabbing

He wasn't there before. So clearly it indicates that progress has been made imo.

I think they've loosened the IR rules with the expansion. Used to IR guys couldn't have contact with coaches or players in the facility and said it was depressing.

I was not in a boot. I guess totally isolating it would make a huge difference.

Josh Williams has already been a pretty decent improvement. We’ll take what we can get, but the secondary isn’t quite the same tire fire from a few games ago

Yeah - just moving onto the thing that always seemed to make the most sense has made a difference.

I really don't understand how Williams got himself THAT deep in the doghouse. But I'm glad he's out.

He's a definite step-up from Johnson.

Williams has been a considerable upgrade and I think that showed the last two games. Once we get Watson back this secondary is gonna be lethal

Lol clowns on twitter was roasting Josh yesterday just because Jeudy caught a few passes on him smh.

Anyway this is huge news about Watson. Still has a month to go until the playoffs so to be working out already is a great sign. Saw on twitter Doctor Jesse Morse said this was very good news too.

IF we have Watson, Trent, Nelson and Williams available for the playoffs that would be epic.

Williams isn't likely to lock anyone up - I just can't see him getting spammed the way Johnson was.

You can't just drop back and find Williams the way you could drop back and find Johnson. Williams is erratic, but has really good plays mixed in there. That's enough to at LEAST make QBs actually run an offense and make reads.

In those last few games with Johnson out there, the read was just "Find 13 and throw at him..."

Nelson will likely not see the field much if at all. No different than Cam Thomas, Josh Uche. Spags little comment made it pretty clear he was not part of the bring in Steven Nelson conversation.

Thomas and Uche were guys who are not as proven as Nelson has been in the league. Nelson was one of the top rated cover guys last year. Noway you put Johnson out there and see the guy get burned over and over but can't find snaps for Nelson. No chance.

Thomas and Uche are or were on rosters and have played significant snaps this year on defenses that have a better pass rush than we do. Yet they didn't make it here.....Nelson was at home sitting on the couch.
Did you see Spags comments about the signing of Nelson?

Don't care about Spags comments. Nelson isn't coming out of retirement to be on the practice squad imo. Plus as I said if woeful guys like Johnson is getting snaps, then there's noway Nelson doesn't get snaps. It would be utterly dumb.

I assume he needs to learn the d. We have complex coverage d I think

I do think it's funny that back in the Bob Sutton days everyone was furious that "Sutton's Scheme takes too long to learn!"

Now we just hand-waive it.

I'll say the same thing now that I said then -- if your system takes a year to learn, it's too damn complicated.

More likely, we use it as an excuse to justify poor performance and/or coaching intransigence. Too many coaches roll with the guys they 'know' and then use the difficulty of learning the scheme as a justification to not try anyone else out.

We have smart secondary allowing us to run more complex coverages to fool the opposite team.

How would you think that a complicated defense is without its positives?

I don't think asking a veteran like Nelson to understand zone coverages is complicated.

We don't have any super secret hybrid coverages out there. Tape is tape. What we could do that many teams couldn't in the past was use guys interchangeably to allow us to disguise what those coverages were.

The coverages weren't a bunch of wildly complicated things - it was the disguises. And those only work when you have 5 guys out there who could come down in the box or get back into coverage or show man and play zone, etc...

We don't have that. What you need to do that sort of thing isn't more experience in the system as much as it's more ability and versatility in your personnel.

With the loss of Sneed/Watson, where we've struggled is our ability to ask guys to do more than just one thing. It's why Connor gets ripped in the Nickel - he can't really do it. It's why McDuffie has struggled more being used exclusively out wide. Its why the safeties are getting exposed more.

It's not "Spags Complicated Coverage Packages" that made it go. It was his ability to utilize really versatile personnel groups.

If you don't have 'em (and we don't) then there's no amount of exotic whiteboard work that will change any of that.

And Nelson would add some ability and versatility given his history both as a boundary corner and previous years in the slot.

We need the ability more than we need the experience right now. Even if only as depth.

Hmm. I wonder..

Key games let McDuffie wear 13.

I think that’s why they didn’t draft Joey Porter Jr. They’ve been good getting solid or good play from outside boundary corners. Williams is the most recent example and he’s been solid.

Josh Williams has been quite a successful pick for a late 4th rd selection and Jaylen Watson has been a grand slam for a 7th rd selection.

If they draft a corner early I’d think he’d have to be versatile and good in the slot like McDuffie

Any new updates on Jaylen Watson?

Any chance he’s back for the divisional??

Hopefully we'll see an update within a week or two. For him to come back his practice window will need to open whilst we're on the bye I'd imagine. The positive signs have been there. Just need the sprinkles of hope to bloom into reality now.

If he returns and is close to 100%, just go ahead and print the shirts.

I don’t think he’s coming back. We’d have heard something by now.

He will play in the AFC Championship game.

Bet.

Would be pretty wild if he did come back. If not, hopefully Williams can hold down the fort.

I'll take that bet. $100 you took from me over Frank Clark's sack total (which would've been surpassed had we included the postseason, mind you).

I will accept under the condition that if we do not make the AFC Championship game the bet is null and void. If he plays in the AFC Championship game you owe me $100, if we make it and he does not I owe you $100. If we make the Super Bowl and he plays you owe me $50 regardless of if he played or not in the AFC Championship game. I do not want to be sad if he plays in the SB.

Pacheco broke his fibula on Sep 15th. He returned on Nov 29th.

Watson broke his ankle on Oct 20th. The AFC Championship is Jan 26th.

Google AI says that if surgery is required it can take up to 12 weeks to heal.

Please advise if you agree to these terms. I must warn you betting with BWillie is like betting with the devil and I am undefeated in Chiefsplanet bets.

Bwillie & KC Connection are the 2 biggest dumbasses on here lol that's free money

Done.

I’m very confident we win the SB if he plays again so this is a right-way bet for my emotional state.

May god have mercy on your soul.

I have never, ever lost a Chiefsplanet bet. Don't have a great feeling about this one, but I already beat Twisted in a bet before so free rolling his ass.

BWillie is mean when he wins a bet. :D

Matt Derrick seemed to think he's be ready for the Super Bowl at earliest, which is a weird time to come back. He usually has a little insider info. But who knows.

I allowed you to win the other on a technicality. I won't be so gracious this time, chump.

Jaylen is already in cleats doing field work. I asked one of those sports doctors on twitter about it and he agreed that it's a very good sign for Watson returning for the playoffs.

Hes got like 30 days to be ready. Then what? 45 days or so until the Super Bowl?

I’m just iffy. Remembering how rusty he was to start the year from a shoulder injury, he’s going to look worse off of an ankle.

7th round draft pick.
Hasn't really made any money yet.
2025 is last year of his contract.
Those all go against trying to give it a go.
Hope the Chiefs give him some free bonus if he's cleared medically by the AFC Championship game or SB...if that is even allowed. Not a salary cap guy.

Entirely possible, but the Chiefs seem to have mostly corrected things in the secondary.

If he plays and struggles, just pull him and run with what we’ve been doing.

If nothing else, I’d love to have him as depth.

Per Verderame he checked in with a source last week. They aren’t expecting Watson back this year. Very unlikely

Matt Derrick's source disagrees.

Battle of the conflicting sources!!!!

This year as in calendar year 2024?

Derrick’s source is saying what I want to hear, so is obviously more credible.

There is really no reason he shouldn't be ready by the Super Bowl unless he had a setback, which is definitely possible. If I was his agent I would advise him not to play though. Next year is a contract year. Imagine him re-injuring himself and being screwed next year. Would cost him alot of money. Hopefully he is just a winner and wants to play. You grow up and your entire life you dream about playing in the Super Bowl.

Matt Derrick is a dumbass

He’s not playing till next season.. Get over it..

I’m pretty sure the Steven Nelson signing was our “break glass in case of emergency” CB signing that indicated JW has a less than 50% chance to return.

I highly doubt that the team docs and trainers will sign off on him playing this postseason unless we lose a couple guys to injury and are desperate, coupled with a lot of other pieces falling into place.

Team docs aren't signing off for him to play unless he's healthy. It has nothing to do with other players being injured.

:hmmm:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jaylen Watsons story on IG just now-<br><br>(omg [emoji1374]) <a href="https://t.co/KikczKEAjO">pic.twitter.com/KikczKEAjO</a></p>— Lexi (@lexiosborne) <a href="https://twitter.com/lexiosborne/status/1872792558465892528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

TwistedChief right now

<div class="tenor-gif-embed" data-postid="25346666" data-share-method="host" data-aspect-ratio="1" data-width="100%"><a href="https://tenor.com/view/sweats-gif-25346666">Sweats GIF</a>from <a href="https://tenor.com/search/sweats-gifs">Sweats GIFs</a></div> <script type="text/javascript" async src="https://tenor.com/embed.js"></script>

If he is running then it won't be long I wouldn't think

Jaylen himself has hinted at it. So who's more credible? :LOL:

Oh

Shit

There is absolutely no reason to post what he posted if the plan wasn't to play sometime in the postseason.

LFG

Exactly. The guy has been doing field work in cleats for around two weeks now. That running is just further proof of his progress. If the cutting, back peddling and side to side movements turn out fine then I'm very confident he can make it back.

The plot thickens…I certainly hope Verderame’s source is wrong. Looking good Jaylen

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jaylen Watsons story on IG just now-<br><br>(omg ����) <a href="https://t.co/KikczKEAjO">pic.twitter.com/KikczKEAjO</a></p>&mdash; Lexi (@lexiosborne) <a href="https://twitter.com/lexiosborne/status/1872792558465892528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

That looks as if he's almost ready to rumble!

Has anyone asked his girlfriend how his hump stroke is?

You always get that back first.

Ankle looks fine to this message board MD.

Doing his work half in the dark. My kind of guy.

Just saw Dr Jesse Morse on twitter say Watson is 2-3 weeks away from a full recovery. Let's hope his assessment is right.

It's great that Williams has returned to form from last year. If we can add Watson, this secondary will be lethal.

wo

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Gf2qDZVW...g&name=900x900

Ohhhhhh yeaaaah

People are calling Morse a quack but Watson himself seems to think he's gonna be back.

Get him back.

That’s all there is to it.

People questioning him running in a straight line are the same folks that were saying "Brown ain't catching the ball with his left hand" when that clip came out of Hollywood in the Chiefs facility catching a pass on his knees with his right hand.

Word is Watson has been sprinting for three weeks now. So I'm sure other lateral movements have been repped too. The fact is he's close to the twelve week mark which is usually the recovery date for his injury. He'll need to get cleared by his doctors and then that practice window can open. Hopefully we'll see progress on that front over the next two weeks.

And lastly how many injured players have posted hints and updates and not returned? Brown and Omenihu came back just like they said. So I'm inclined to believe Jaylen too.

Watson is running sprints. who said he's not gonna be back this season???

He's got 23 days to get it ready and get out there.