The Kansas City Chiefs will be without defender Nazeeh Johnson for the remainder of their contest with the Las Vegas Raiders. He suffered a concussion and has been ruled out for the game.
Johnson had taken over for the injured Jaylen Watson so this injury was a buzz kill for Kansas City. It was his first career start and he was looking forward to showing what he could do on the field.
The injury occurred after Johnson tackled Raiders tight end Brock Browers. He appeared to suffer an upper-body injury and pulled himself out of the game. Johnson then went into the blue tent and spent a significant amount of time there before heading to the locker room.
He was shortly ruled out for the remainder of the game. With NFL teams taking concussions more seriously than ever in this modern era, Johnson will have to pass multiple tests to be cleared moving forward.
The team is already thin at the cornerback spot so this injury is a massive loss. Kansas City was confident that Johnson could step up and help them on defense heading into this game.
Head coach Andy Reid spoke about his confidence level this week.
“Every week, he’s gotten better and stronger and so that’s the main thing,” Reid said regarding Johnson. “He’s a good player. Just that he has the confidence in his leg and the leg’s strong and that just happens by playing. Every week it’s been a positive going forward, and he’s ready for the spot. [Williams has] also been in there, he’s done it, so he knows what it takes. Two different body types, and we’ll need both of them and they both need to step up. Watson was having a heck of a year. Now these guys have an opportunity here to step in and do the same.”
Johnson was selected in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Marshall University. So far this year, he had registered nine total tackles, with one of them coming for a loss.
Kansas City will now go forward without their defender and will have to make due. The Chiefs remained as the only undefeated team left in the league heading into Sunday.
The hope is that Johnson can recover quickly and get himself back onto the field sooner rather than later.
