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Monday, January 23 update: Chiefs head coach Andy Reid announced to the media that Patrick Mahomes suffered a high ankle sprain and is “doing OK”. Reid said, “He told you guys that he’s going to play. That’s his mindset. We’ll take it day-by-day and just see how he does.” The Chiefs return to practice on Wednesday and will submit their first practice participation report that afternoon.
Sunday, January 22 update: Ahead of the Divisional game between the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers, Fox analyst Jay Glazer gave an update on Mahomes. He confirmed it was a high ankle sprain for Mahomes. Team sources said, “he (Mahomes) looked way better today than yesterday.” Glazer re-iterated that this is an issue Mahomes will deal with all week, but the expectation is that he plays in the AFC Championship Game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday in the Divisional Round to advance to the AFC Championship Game for the fifth straight season. They’ll face the winner of Sunday’s game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills next week in the conference championship.
The Chiefs got a big scare in Saturday’s win. Mahomes took a hit to the right leg at the end of a play in the second quarter and was clearly hurt from it.
#Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes limping heavily after taking this hit to his knee. He didn't come out of the game, however. #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/HUmI709Ge6
— Devon Clements (@DevclemNFL) January 21, 2023
He briefly remained in the game, but eventually had to leave and go to the locker room. He received x-rays that were reported as being negative. Chad Henne replaced him for the rest of the second quarter, and then Mahomes returned to start the third quarter.
Will Patrick Mahomes play in the AFC Championship game?
After the game, Mahomes confirmed the negative x-rays but then said, “They haven’t diagnosed anything yet, but I’ll be good to go [for next week].” Andy Reid will get a chance to speak about the injury as well, but it’s safe to say we won’t get much clarity for at least a couple days. There’s some thought it was a high ankle sprain, but we’ll need to wait for more details.
The Chiefs do not need to release an injury report until Wednesday. We’ll hear from Andy Reid before then, but don’t expect anything too firm. Instead, we’ll see how much practice Mahomes gets in across Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Even if he gets little or no practice, it’s a good bet he’s playing next week in the AFC Championship Game. But it depends on the severity of the injury.