KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes walked through Arrowhead Stadium Thursday without problems with his injured right ankle and the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback plans to fully train in the next 10 days before the Super Bowl.
Mahomes sprained his ankle in the divisional round against Jacksonville, and was clearly limping in last Sunday’s AFC Championship win against Cincinnati. But despite him taking a couple of hard shots during that game and his mad rush in the final seconds to set up the game-winning field goal, Mahomes came away feeling good.
“It was a physical game. My whole body was in a bit of pain. But I don’t think I had any setbacks, a re-aggravation of my ankle,” Mahomes said. “A bit of a pain to play with, but other than that, I feel like I’m in a good position.”
However, the Chiefs suffered a number of other injuries during their 23-20 win over the Bengals. They lost three wide receivers — Mecole Hardman re-injured his pelvis, JuJu Smith-Schuster had knee swelling, and Kadarius Toney sprained his ankle — while L’ cornerback Jarius Sneed was in concussion protocol and Willie Gay Jr .hurt his shoulder.
Gay was the only one who returned to practice on an unusually mild February day in Kansas City.
Manager Andy Reid said Toney made his morning visit and “he’s close and doing well”, while Smith-Schuster “is in a good position. The main thing is that we’ve calmed down. We’re very optimistic at the moment .”
The news wasn’t so good for Hardman, who injured his abdominal area for the first time in November. The Chiefs later began ruling it out as a pelvis injury as Hardman neared his return from injured reserve, but he was unable to return to action until the AFC title game. He got hurt while being wrapped up after a hold and didn’t come back.
“Very brave effort,” said Reid, “and my heart goes out to the boy. He’s in pain today.”
While the Chiefs remained lean at wide receiver, they brought Justin Watson back to the training field. He was ruled out before kickoff against Cincinnati with illness, forcing Marcus Kemp off the practice squad.
The Chiefs are also hoping Sneed will clear concussion protocol in the two weeks between games.
In a defense consisting of three rookie cornerbacks and a rookie safety, Sneed is often tasked with covering for the opposition’s best wide receiver. It would have been Ja’Marr Chase against the Bengals, but Sneed was injured on the fourth play of the game and didn’t return; it will probably be AJ Brown or DeVonta Smith if he can play against the Eagles in the Super Bowl.
Reid also said there’s a possibility Clyde Edwards-Helaire, their 2020 first-round pick, will be activated for the big game. Edwards-Helaire handed the No. 1 running back job to rookie Isiah Pacheco before a sprained ankle placed him on injured reserve in late November, but his versatility could come in handy against a tough Eagles defense.
“He’ll practice. We’ll see where he is,” Reid said. “We take it day by day, trying to understand how he feels, not only during training but also after training. Today he will work.”
