Chiefs Add Surprising Name to Injury Report

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Colin Miller | Last updated Nov 26, 2024 5:00 PM ET

The Kansas City Chiefs will look to stay undefeated against AFC West opponents when they host the Las Vegas Raiders on Friday.

When the Chiefs placed star kicker Harrison Butker on injured reserve weeks ago, many were concerned about how it would impact the team's special teams success.

However, since joining the team two weeks ago, rookie Spencer Shrader has yet to miss a kick, even nailing a 31-yard game-winning field goal against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

But now, Shrader's status against the Raiders is uncertain. He missed practice on Tuesday with a hamstring injury. Obviously, as a kicker, any lower body injury will have a massive impact on his performance.

Following the news of Shrader's injury, the Chiefs announced that they signed kicker Matthew Wright to their practice squad. Wright has spent time with eight different NFL franchises, including the Chiefs, in his six-year career.

Wright has made 43 of his 50 field goal attempts and 38 of his 40 extra point attempts, so he is a serviceable backup. He even started two games for the Chiefs in 2022, where he went three-for-four on field goal attempts and eight-for-eight on extra point attempts.

With Wright just being signed to the practice squad, the move is more precautionary than anything, but if Shrader misses another day of practice on Wednesday, the likelihood that he'll be able to start Friday becomes very slim.

Shrader's injury is just another setback for a Kansas City team that has struggled with injured starters all season.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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