Kansas City Chiefs running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire is helped off the field after being injured Sunday against New Orleans. Brett Duke/Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs are sure glad they signed Le’Veon Bell midway through this season.
What seemed like a luxury at the time — a two-time All-Pro running back joining the Super Bowl champions to back up a standout rookie — has become an essential addition after Clyde Edwards-Helaire was bent at an awkward angle Sunday in New Orleans and had to be helped to the locker room without putting any weight on his left leg.
The early report is that Edwards-Helaire sustained hip and ankle injuries and will miss the remainder of the regular season, though the Chiefs appear optimistic that he could return in the playoffs. X-rays taken after the game were negative.
“He’s still going through evaluations right now,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Monday. “We’ll know more later in the day.”
The Chiefs (13-1) are currently the No. 1 seed in the AFC, which would mean a first-round bye and home-field advantage in the playoffs. They have regular-season games left against the Falcons and Chargers, both at Arrowhead Stadium.
Edwards-Helaire already had carried 14 times for 79 yards when he was forced into the splits while getting tackled in the fourth quarter of the Chiefs’ 32-29 victory over the Saints. Many of them were hard yards in the second half, when the pass-happy Chiefs turned to the ground game to control the clock, shorten the game and wrap up the win.
BROWNS: Versatile offensive lineman Chris Hubbard’s season is likely over after he sustained a serious knee injury early in Sunday night’s win over the New York Giants.
Coach Kevin Stefanski said Hubbard, who was filling in for injured starter Wyatt Teller at right guard, will miss “significant time.” Hubbard got hurt on Cleveland’s second offensive play and was replaced by rookie Nick Harris.
Stefanski would not comment on an NFL Network report that Hubbard has torn ligaments, a dislocated kneecap and will undergo surgery.
PANTHERS: Marty Hurney is out again as Carolina’s general manager.
The Panthers fired their GM for a second time on Monday after the team lost eight of its last nine games and failed to make the playoffs for a third straight season.
Hurney’s contract was set to expire after the season.
This had been Hurney’s second stint with the Panthers. He was the general manager from 2002-12 before being fired by former owner Jerry Richardson. Richardson rehired Hurney in 2017.
LIONS: Detroit fired special teams coordinator Brayden Coombs.
Former Detroit coach Matt Patricia hired Coombs in January after he worked with the Cincinnati Bengals for 10 seasons. The Lions fired Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn last month.
WASHINGTON: Washington is signing veteran linebacker Mychal Kendricks off the Seattle Seahawks’ practice squad to boost a defense that has struggled in the first half much of the season.
Agent Douglas J. Hendrickson confirmed the move to The Associated Press, less than 24 hours after Washington lost 20-15 to Seattle to snap its winning streak at four.
Kendricks, 30, hasn’t played this season but has 103 games of NFL experience and won the Super Bowl with Philadelphia three years ago.
PRO BOWL: New England Patriots punter Jake Bailey, special teamer Matthew Slater and cornerback Stephon Gilmore were named to the Pro Bowl.
Led by their star quarterbacks, the Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs and Green Bay Packers each had seven players selected to the Pro Bowl.
The Baltimore Ravens also had seven players chosen.
Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes joins Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Houston’s Deshaun Watson as the AFC quarterbacks.
For the NFC, it’s Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, Seattle’s Russell Wilson and Arizona’s Kyler Murray.
Also, former University of Maine defensive lineman Patrick Ricard was named to the Pro Bowl for the second time. Ricard, a fullback and defensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, was named as a fullback.
GILMORE IS expected to miss the rest of the season after suffering a partially torn quad on Sunday, according to an NFL.com report.
Gilmore will have surgery on Tuesday, according to the report, but does not have a knee injury as was originally feared.
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