Kansas City Chiefs TE Blake Bell out after surgery for ‘unusual’ hip flexor suspend.

end Blake Bell of the Chiefs will not be able to play as the team’s primary backup to Travis Kelce at least until the start of the regular season.

On August 13, in Chicago, during the Chiefs’ preseason opener, Bell suffered a hip injury after a touchdown catch. The seasoned tight end attempted to play through it but eventually exited the game; he hasn’t practiced or played since.

In response to a question on Bell’s potential comeback date, Reid stated on Wednesday, “I don’t think it’s going to be real quick.”

Reid did not specify whether Bell would be placed on injured reserve the following week, when teams must cut down to the 53 players allotted for the regular season. He did concede, though, that “we’re kind of throwing some things around.”

Perhaps more than any other position group, the Chiefs are more prepared to handle a tight end injury when they play Green Bay on Thursday night in their preseason finale. Over the previous few seasons, Kelce has been among the best in the league, and the Chiefs have competent backups in Josh Gray, a second-year veteran, and Jason Fortson.

Recovering from an Achilles tendon injury that ended the season, Fortson caught two touchdown passes in the preseason game against Washington last weekend. As a rookie last season, Gray played in every one of the 16 games.

Regarding Bell’s injury, Reid stated, “You don’t want it to happen to anybody, but we have some capable guys in there at that position.” Noah has put a lot of effort into it and done a good job.”

As downfield threats in their wide-open passing approach and as blocks in the run game, the Chiefs rely heavily on their tight ends. Only a few teams employed three tight ends more frequently than them last season, when they used two tight ends on 22% of possessions. Meanwhile, Kelce caught nine touchdown passes and went over 1,000 yards receiving for the sixth straight year.

For the last two of the previous three seasons, Bell, 31, has served as his main backup. After spending a season with Dallas and helping them win the Super Bowl in February 2020 to end a 50-year championship drought, he returned to Kansas City for the 2020–21 season, starting five games and making appearances in all sixteen while concentrating in blocking.