Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been diagnosed with a high-ankle sprain, and additional tests confirmed the injury. His status for this week’s game against Houston is still uncertain, according to a person familiar with the results who spoke to The Associated Press on Monday.
The source asked to remain anonymous because the team has not released any official updates. The Chiefs did not hold their usual availability on Monday, but they are scheduled to practice on Tuesday before their Saturday game against the Texans.
Mahomes was injured when his ankle was rolled on by the Browns’ Dalvin Tomlinson during a fourth-down play late in the Chiefs’ 21-7 victory on Sunday.
Mahomes limped to the sideline, and Carson Wentz played the rest of the game in his place. However, the two-time MVP said afterward that he would have wanted to continue playing if the Browns had gotten closer in the score.
“I feel like I could have finished the game in different circumstances,” Mahomes explained. “But I thought the smart decision, I think we talked about, was to put Carson in, and he’s played a lot of football, and he finished the game well.”
Mahomes has dealt with ankle injuries before, including a similar issue in Week 1 of the 2019 season against Jacksonville. His most memorable injury, however, came during the playoffs in the 2022 season. He hurt his ankle in a divisional-round win over the Jaguars but played through the pain to defeat Cincinnati in the AFC Championship and Philadelphia in the Super Bowl.
“They’re all different. Every injury is different,” Mahomes said. “You know what you have to do to get back. And I think that is the most important thing. And now we just get back to the rehab part — the treatment part — and try to get ourselves ready on a short week against a good football team.”
The Chiefs’ schedule is not helping matters. They have one less day to recover this week due to their Saturday game against Houston, and then they have another short week with a trip to Pittsburgh on Christmas Day.
“We’ll just see how it goes,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said after the game. “We are going to go day to day as we go through it. I don’t know how much swelling he has or any of that, so we don’t know what will come.”
At 13-1, the Chiefs have a two-game lead over Buffalo for the top seed in the AFC playoffs, though the Bills currently hold the tiebreaker. The Texans have already clinched the AFC South, while the Steelers lead the AFC North and have secured a playoff spot.
Kansas City’s regular season finishes with a game against the Broncos, who are also in the playoff hunt.
If the Chiefs decide to rest Mahomes on Saturday — or even against Pittsburgh next week — they are confident in Carson Wentz’s ability to step in. Wentz, who was a Pro Bowl selection in 2017 during his first five years in Philadelphia, has a career record of 47-45-1 as a starter, including stints in Indianapolis, Washington, and a single start for the Rams last season.
Wentz, who signed a $3.325 million contract with Kansas City to replace Blaine Gabbert as Mahomes’ backup, completed both of his pass attempts for 20 yards and helped the Chiefs run out the clock in their win against the Browns.
“I have a lot of trust with Carson,” Mahomes said. “I mean, he’s played football and he’s won football games and put him out there and they did a great job moving the football running time off the clock, and putting us in position to win the football game.”
