Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes shares important update on his ankle injury that says a lot about his future availability
Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes is set to practice in some capacity as the week gets underway on Tuesday afternoon ahead of Week 16's game with the Houston Texans. The update he gave on his ankle injury should see Chiefs fans breathing a sigh of relief and feeling confident in his future availability. Treatment started […]
Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes is set to practice in some capacity as the week gets underway on Tuesday afternoon ahead of Week 16's game with the Houston Texans. The update he gave on his ankle injury should see Chiefs fans breathing a sigh of relief and feeling confident in his future availability.
Treatment started for Mahomes' ankle injury on the plane ride home. He joked that he wasn't "doing high knees or anything like that." Instead, they iced the ankle and worked some different mobility treatments to keep the ankle from getting too stiff.
"I think it's done good with the treatment and the work that we've gotten in," Mahomes told reporters. "I mean, obviously, it's a short amount of time, but I thought we had a good day yesterday, and we had good work after the game as well."
Notably, this isn't the first time that Mahomes has dealt with a high ankle sprain before. Mahomes suffered a similar ailment in the divisional-round playoff game with the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2022-2023 season. He missed a single quarter of play before returning to finish that game out. He started in the AFC Championship Game against the Cincinnati Bengals, leading the team to a Super Bowl LVII berth and eventual victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.
When asked whether this ankle injury was as bad as that particular injury, Mahomes gave an honest assessment.
"Jacksonville was worse, I would say," Mahomes said. "Just, I mean, that one was pretty significant. This one didn't feel good by any means, but the Jacksonville one, just the way I got caught, this last one, I kind of got my feet out at the very end. The Jacksonville one, I didn't really get to. It's responded better, quicker, I think that'd be the best thing to say. But I want to be in a better spot than I was in that next game going up against the Bengals, so I'll try to see if I can get there."
Mahomes left no doubt about his intentions this week. He intends to push to play if he can get himself there.
"You have to," Mahomes said. "That's the reason you play this game, is to push to play. So, I'll get to work in practice and try to push it to see where I can get to. But at the end of the day, I'm not going to put our team in a bad position. So if I feel like I can play and go out there and win a football game, I'll play. And if I don't feel like that's the best-case scenario, I'll let guys like Carson [Wentz] play. I mean, he's a guy that's going in this league as well. So it's just about pushing it this week, seeing where I'm at, and making the best decision then."
As for potentially finishing the Week 14 game against the Cleveland Browns, and both he and Andy Reid said he could have, Mahomes emphasized that the situation wasn't dire enough to risk it. At the same time, he has an unmatched competitive drive, and he'll always desire to win if he has the ability to do so.
"I wouldn't say it was dire that I play," Mahomes said. "I mean, it's something where it's not like in the AFC Championship Game, where we're playing to get to the Super Bowl. We have a little bit of room to kind of spare, but then the day we're trying to win, we're trying to win the football game, and I'm a competitor, I want to go out there and play. So, I'll push myself to get to the best place possible over these next few days, and we'll be able to make a decision."
Kansas City's decision likely won't come until the end of the practice week, and potentially even a game-time decision at kickoff on Saturday. In the event that Mahomes is unable to play, backup quarterback Carson Wentz will prepare and be ready to play.
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