KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs on Wednesday received the news they had feared, as starting cornerback Phillip Gaines was placed on injured reserve with a torn ACL, ending his season.
Gaines suffered the injury during the first quarter of the Chiefs' 38-28 loss to Green Bay on Monday night.
The Chiefs will activate veteran cornerback Sean Smith. He missed the season's first three games while serving an NFL suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy. The Chiefs plan to start Smith along with rookie Marcus Peters on Sunday against the Bengals at Cincinnati.
Before Gaines' injury, the Chiefs were anticipating having Smith, Peters and Gaines as their top three cornerbacks. Without Gaines, the Chiefs will go with either Jamell Fleming or Marcus Cooper as their third cornerback against the Bengals.
Fleming began the season as the third corner but played so poorly in week 2 against Denver that he was benched and replaced by Cooper against the Packers. Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers picked on Cooper early, often with success.