It turns out the Browns won’t have Odell Beckham Jr. to start the season. And the Chiefs will be playing without a pair of their key defenders.
Beckham, safety Tyrann Mathieu, and defensive end Frank Clark are all among the players on the inactives list for Cleveland and Kansas City.
Beckham tore his ACL in Week Seven of last season. He was questionable entering the weekend after being a limited participant in practice all week. But he’ll be on the sideline for today’s game.
Mathieu came off the reserve/COVID-19 list on Saturday, but was still listed as questionable. He did not practice all week after testing positive for the virus, so it’s not too much of a surprise that he’s out for Sunday’s game.
However, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid seemed optimistic on Friday that Clark would be able to play. He was limited in all three of the week’s practices.
The Browns won’t have to use Chris Naggar at kicker after Chase McLaughlin was added to the injury report with a right hamstring injury.
Safety Grant Delpit, linebacker Tony Fields, offensive tackle James Hudson, guard Michael Dunn, and defensive tackle Tommy Togiai round out Cleveland’s list of inactives.
Offensive lineman Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, offensive lineman Austin Blythe, receiver Daurice Fountain, and cornerback Deandre Baker are the rest of Kansas City’s inactives.