Raiders injury news: Darren Waller is still not practicing

The Las Vegas Raiders have started their game preparation for Sunday’s big AFC West game at the Kansas City Chiefs, and they are without star tight end Darren Waller on the practice field.

Raiders interim head coach Rich Bisaccia said Waller — who hurt his knee at the Dallas Cowboys on Nov. 25 and he didn’t play in Week 13 against the Washington Football Team — was making progress and was “day-to-day,” but there is hope in the franchise that Waller could play at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. Yet, the Raiders practiced without him Wednesday.

Of course, Waller can make enough improvement this week so he can play on Sunday. Bisaccia said after practice Wednesday that Waller is still day-to-day. But he’d likely have to practice, at least, some on Friday to make that a reality.

Waller wasn’t the only key Las Vegas player to miss practice on Wednesday. Linebacker Denzel Perryman, who is third in the NFL in tackles with 133 according to ESPN, rotational defensive end Carl Nassib, and backup linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski were all out as well. Like Waller, Bisaccia said on Monday they were all day-to-day.

After practice, Bisaccia said Kwiatkoski is going on the injured reserve and and some secondary help from the injured reserve could be on the way. There is hope Kwiatkoski will miss just three games.

UPDATE: Safety Tyree Gillespie and defensive tackle Darius Philon are back from the injured reserve. With Kenyan Drake (he’s out for the season with a broken ankle) and Kwiatkoski on the injured reserve, the Raiders’ roster is at 53.

Update: Here is the full (and long) Raiders’ injury report, which notes that defensive tackle Quinton Jefferson also didn’t practice because of a back injury.

Also, backup running back/returner Jalen Richard and long snapper Trent Sieg remain on the NFL’s reserve/COVID-19 list. They missed the Washington game. However, Sieg went on the list earlier so he may have a better chance than Richard of playing at Kansas City.