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After Travis Kelce & Chris Jones’ Injuries, Chief’s VP Shares His Insight Into “Comprehensive” Health Care System for Recovery

Published 09/17/2023, 5:03 PM EDT

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After Travis Kelce’s knee injury and defensive tackle Chris Jones’s unavailability, doubts were raised. However, they both finally made a comeback for Sunday’s game. Yet, amidst the spotlight on these star players, have fans ever pondered the meticulous collaboration between the Chiefs‘ athletic training staff and physicians?

Rick Burkholder, the Chiefs’ VP of Sports Medicine and Performance, unveils their comprehensive healthcare system for recovery, unveiling the often-hidden backstage efforts. As one of the NFL’s premier athletic trainers, Burkholder, now in his 11th season with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2023, recently shared insights in a video.

Chiefs’ VP Rick Burkholder, tireless efforts

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Athletic trainer passionately delves into their behind-the-scenes toil, emphasizing the substantial work that typically escapes public view. This spring, their dedicated team invested six to eight hours devising emergency action plans for on-field crises, “we spent six to eight hours doing emergency action plans so that we don’t, if a player really is in dire need on the field,” ensuring preparedness for any dire situation.

Notably, they even enlisted the support of emergency room staff from the Kansas University L System. Beyond this, their commitment extends further as they meticulously assist Brett Veech in selecting robust players. Burkholder said, “Not just helping Brett Veech select healthy players, we take them through just magnificent screens, and we’re constantly with them.”

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Sending a healthy player onto the field is a challenging task, “There’s a lot of ongoing communication between the athletic trainers and the athletes, and the athletic trainers and the physicians, and the athletes and the physicians.” Burkholder guarantees an ample presence of doctors during camp. He says it’s a really comprehensive healthcare system for this little group. “I couldn’t be happier.”

Chiefs overcome early hiccups to secure 17-9 win against Jaguars

In a week 2 showdown, the Kansas City Chiefs managed to conquer their own mistakes to triumph over the Jacksonville Jaguars with a final score of 17-9. This marks their third consecutive victory against the Jaguars in just 10 months.

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Star quarterback Patrick Mahomes showcased his prowess by throwing two remarkable touchdown passes, one of which found the hands of the returning sensation, Travis Kelce. Mahomes completed an impressive 29 out of 41 passes, amassing a total of 305 yards. The touchdown to Kelce not only added to their points but also solidified the Chief’s lead at 14-6. Kelce’s performance featured four catches out of nine targets, amounting to 26 yards gained.

Despite their early turnovers, the Chiefs displayed resilience by converting twice on fourth down, ultimately out-gaining the Jaguars with a total yardage of 399 to 271.

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Chris Jones, Chiefs’ All-Pro defensive tackle, had a stellar season debut, dominating rookie Anton Harrison and Jacksonville’s line with two sacks and five QB pressures, which solidified his formidable reputation.

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Written by:

Mohammad Asif Ansari

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Mohammad Asif Ansari is an NFL writer at EssentiallySports, with a passion for bringing sports news to life through engaging content. As an ardent sports fan, Ansari likes to cover core sports angles. His latest article, “Dallas Cowboys Reportedly Making It Difficult for Aaron Rodgers to Pursue His Dream Team” got a hoard of interested sports readers.
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Edited by:

Tripti Sarda