Patrick Mahomes’ toe became a footnote when he was diagnosed with a concussion in the second half of last Sunday’s victory over the Browns.
The toe, though, stands as more of a danger of preventing Mahomes from being Mahomes after an independent neurologist cleared the Chiefs quarterback Friday to return to action in the AFC Championship Game.
“Going to the doctors, talking to all the doctors and going through the test, we have the belief that [there] will be no longer effects, and I’ll be able to go out there and be myself and be who I am every single week,” Mahomes said Friday, via Matt Derrick of Chiefs Digest.
Mahomes injured his left big toe in the first quarter against the Browns and was limping on it until he departed with the concussion. No one outside the organization knows exactly how the toe is, because he was limited in every practice with the concussion. (He also was listed with the toe injury, but would the toe have limited him in practice if he hadn’t had the concussion? Only the Chiefs know for sure.)
Andy Reid downplayed the toe injury earlier in the week, and Mahomes did the same Friday.
Mahomes said his toe was “feeling a lot better.”
“The next day was very sore, and every single day since then it’s gotten a lot better,” Mahomes said. “It’s stuff that you deal with being a football player. You deal with injuries. Luckily enough for me, this wasn’t as bad as it looked, and it felt that day of and the day after.”
Nonetheless, expect Bills defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier to attempt to test Mahomes’ mobility early to find out. Mahomes had 10 carries for 36 yards in the Week 6 meeting between the teams, which the Chiefs won 26-17.