Tyreek Hill is almost back. The Chiefs’ star receiver returned to practice Wednesday, Kansas City’s head coach Andy Reid announced to the media.

Hill suffered a serious clavicle injury in the first game of the season during Kansas City’s win over Jacksonville, and had to be taken to the hospital. The initial reporting was that Hill would miss a few weeks, but obviously it’s turned into longer than that. Hill has now missed the past four games, but appears to be getting closer to a return. Reid didn’t say anything about Hill potentially playing this week against the Colts, although recent reporting would indicate that’s unlikely.

Just a few days ago ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that Hill was likely still at least a couple of weeks away, and that the Chiefs weren’t going to rush him. That makes sense, as Kansas City has managed to remain undefeated without him. Still though, the offense could definitely use a boost. The Chiefs very nearly lost to the Lions last week, and Patrick Mahomes failed to throw a touchdown pass for the first time since Week 5 of last year. We’ll keep you updated as soon as we hear anything more on Hill’s progress.

Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill is expected to miss 4-6 weeks, sources tell NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport (on Twitter). Recovery from his sternoclavicular joint injury won’t be fun, but on the plus side, the Chiefs are not planning on putting him on injured reserve. If he was placed on IR, Hill would be barred from playing for at least eight weeks. 

It’s a bad blow for the Chiefs, but they might not miss a beat thanks to their collection of outstanding offensive weapons. Wide receiver Sammy Watkins is in the midst of a renaissance and rookie Mecole Hardman offers a similar skillset to the lightning-quick Hill.

Hill opened up his season with two catches for 16 yards and one carry for five yards against the Chiefs before being forced out with his injury. If he misses exactly six weeks, he’ll be back in time to face the Packers on October 27. In the interim, KC faces the Raiders, Ravens, Lions, Colts, Texans, and Broncos.

Potentially scary situation out of Jacksonville, as Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill was transported to a local hospital after suffering what looks like a serious injury during the team’s game against the Jaguars.

The Chiefs released a statement that might raise more questions than it answers, which you can read courtesy of this tweet from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. The statement is vague, but it makes it sound like Hill came close to something very serious as his “clavicle came into [his] sternum,” but ultimately dislocated his shoulder. In a separate tweet, Rapoport notes that it’s a “rare” injury, and that Packers receiver Jake Kumerow missed about two months with the same issue last year.

Fortunately, Hill seems to have dodged a bullet. He won’t require surgery and will “miss a couple of weeks,” a source told Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com (Twitter link). Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets that it’ll be a “few” weeks. Mike Garafolo of NFL Network tweets that it sounds similar to an injury Danny Amendola suffered years ago, which the Rams treated as a “potential life-threatening situation.”

Details are still scarce, but the language in the Chiefs’ statement makes it seem like Hill came very close to having a serious medical issue. It looks like Kansas City’s offense will be without its best weapon for the next few games, although it likely won’t slow them down too much. The Chiefs put up 40 points today and continued to click even after Hill left the game, with number two receiver Sammy Watkins going off for 198 yards and three touchdowns.

Back in March, we learned that the Chiefs and wide receiver Tyreek Hill were negotiating a contract extension, and Albert Breer of SI.com reports that the team was willing to pay Hill roughly $20MM per season. Then, of course, news of the child abuse scandal that has dominated NFL headlines for months broke, and Hill was indefinitely banned from the team.

Breer says that Kansas City, despite its apparent inclination to give Hill a record-setting contract for a receiver, was proceeding with caution, especially because it knew that Hill had rekindled his historically toxic relationship with Crystal Espinal, the mother of his child. At one point, it seemed inevitable that Hill would be hit with a lengthy suspension, but he managed to avoid league discipline and is now back on track for a long-term deal.

Breer — whose piece also succinctly breaks down the events in this saga over the past few months, in case you should need a refresher — offers two reasons as to why the league opted against suspending Hill. First, he suggests that there has been a push among league owners, including several highly-influential ones, to get out of the “investigation business” and to go back to following law enforcement’s lead. Second, with new CBA negotiations looming, the league may choose to be cautious when it comes to matters like this in order to avoid having those negotiations become contentious like they were in 2011 (of course, the league recently opted to suspend Seahawks defensive lineman Jarran Reed for an incident that did not lead to an arrest or criminal charges, so it’s hard to say just what the NFL is thinking at this point).

But it also sounds as though the league did not get much cooperation from prosecutors in the Hill matter. A.J. Perez of USA Today reports that the Johnson County (Kansas) District Attorney’s office denied the NFL’s request for information relating to Hill’s case, citing an exception to Kansas’ open-records law as the basis for its denial.

As Mike Florio of Pro Football reminds us, the league has no authority to subpoena documents or testimony, so it is often at the mercy of local authorities. Hill is undoubtedly quite grateful for this reality, as he appears likely to end up with his $20MM/year deal (even if it comes with a number of conditions attached).