Several injured players for the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers are expected to be healthy for Super Bowl LV.
Chiefs running back Le’Veon Bell (knee) and wide receiver Sammy Watkins (calf), as well as the Bucs duo of wide receiver Antonio Brown (knee) and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. (single) are all expected to be ready by Feb. 7, sources told ESPN’s Dianna Russini.
Each of them missed the victories of their team’s championship games on Sunday.
Watkins played in 10 games for the Chiefs in the regular season. He was out earlier in the season with a painful hamstring and later with a calf injury, and he didn’t play in any of the Chiefs’ previous postseason games. Watkins finished the regular season fifth over the Chiefs with 37 catches for 421 yards and two touchdowns.
Bell joined the Chiefs in October after being released from the New York Jets. Since his arrival, he has had less of an impact on the Chiefs than expected. After the Chiefs lost Clyde Edwards-Helaire for a while, they passed Bell and made Darrel Williams their lead in a week 16 game against the Falcons and in the division round playoff game against the Browns. During the regular season, Bell rushed to 254 yards in nine games for the Chiefs.
Winfield sustained an ankle injury in practice on Thursday and missed Friday’s practice. He still flew with the team to Green Bay, but after testing his ankle during warm-ups, sitting out the game was considered the best course of action.
Brown, who led the Bucs in goals for the last five weeks of the regular season, sustained a knee injury in the divisional game against the New Orleans Saints. He neither practiced nor made the trip to Green Bay last week, as the team felt he was not as far as they hoped in his recovery, and they thought a plane ride could cause further swelling. Brown caught a 36-yard touchdown in the wildcard game against Washington.
The Bucs’ other starting safety Jordan Whitehead, who forced two fumbles, left Sunday’s win over the Packers with a shoulder injury and didn’t return. Whitehead underwent an MRI on Monday, but sources told ESPN’s Jenna Laine that it’s too early to say whether or not he’ll be able to play in the Super Bowl, and that they’ll be using it one day at a time to see how it goes. .
This report uses information from ESPN’s Adam Teicher and Jenna Laine.