Chiefs Injuries: With 2 games circled, Charles Omenihu is working back

One of the question marks for the Kansas City Chiefs’ 2024 season continues to be the timetable for the return of defensive end Charles Omenhu, who suffered a torn ACL in the AFC Championship against the Baltimore Ravens in January.

“You don’t replace that height and that length that he has,” defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo told reporters before Super Bowl LVIII. “We’ll get guys to step in there. Felix [Anudike-Uzomah] will probably have to step in there.“

The rookie did play during the team’s 25-22 win over the San Francisco 49ers — even getting a key first-quarter stop against running back Christian McCaffrey. But it was the first time Anudike-Uzomah had been on the field during the postseason.

Before then — aside from the Week 18 game against the Los Angeles Chargers, when many of the team’s reserve players got extended playing time — two-thirds of the rookie’s defensive snaps had come in the first six weeks of the season, while Omenihu was serving an NFL suspension.

So while Omenihu’s absence during the season’s opening weeks is almost certain to give Anudike-Uzomah more playing time, the Chiefs will want Omenihu back in the lineup as soon as possible. Through his 11 regular-season games last year, he collected 28 tackles (18 solo and five for loss), along with seven sacks, two forced fumbles and two passes defensed. Before leaving the AFC Championship, he had registered a strip-sack of Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson.

“It’s going good,” Omenihu told KPRC-TV reporter Aaron Wilson of his injury recovery during NFL trainer Jeremy Hills’ youth football camp at Crump Stadium in suburban Houston. “[It’s been a] slow process — everybody told me it was going to be like that — but it’s been decent.”

Omenihu noted that one of the biggest challenges in recovering from such a significant injury is to remain patient.

“Honestly, right now, I’m steady.” he said. “I’m cool. I’ve got to be like this. I kind of keep myself like that. [If I] just stay plain, we’ll get to the point where I ramp it up like that.”

While the defensive end still isn’t giving a timetable for his return, we can be sure he’d love to be back on the field for the Week 7 road game against the San Francisco 49ers, who let him walk after the 2022 season. He was hoping to play against his former team in the Super Bowl.

“It wasn’t a good feeling,” Omenihu told Kay Adams in early April. “I wanted to be out there so bad, especially with it being my former team. I felt like it was my opportunity to show like, ‘Oh. you guys didn’t want to pay me. You let me go.’

“It was my opportunity to show [them] that [they made] a horrible decision.”

Omenihu also wants to settle a debt to the Houston Texans, who acquired him in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft — but traded him to San Francisco midway through the 2021 season.

“You know when the business shows itself early in your career, you keep that backlogged in your memory,” explained Omenihu in April. “I was part of the group of guys that didn’t fit the mold of what the top thought was going to help them succeed.”

The Chiefs will face the Texans on GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday, December 21.