Is Patrick Mahomes Playing This Week? (Latest Injury Updates and News for AFC Championship)

There's obviously no bigger story heading into the AFC Championship than the health of Patrick Mahomes. With the Kansas City Chiefs playing in their fifth consecutive AFC Championship and taking on another elite offense led by a top young quarterback, their hopes of returning to the Super Bowl may hinge on Patrick Mahomes' status.

So let's take a look at all the most up-to-date news on Mahomes' ankle injury.

Patrick Mahomes Injury Update

Mahomes exited Saturday's AFC Divisional Round game against the Jacksonville Jaguars after suffering a very scary hit that looked dangerous for both his ankle and knee in the first quarter.

Mahomes initially wanted to tough it out, limping but fighting to stay in the game before ultimately heading to the locker room while Chad Henne palyed 13 snaps in relief.

Originally ruled "questionable to return" (often a formality that teams announce even when someone is clearly not going to be back in the back in the game). With the high stakes of a playoff game though, Andy Reid and the Chiefs medical staff let Mahomes return to the game. And it totally paid off.

Basically playing on one leg, Mahomes threw a jump pass touchdown to Marquez Valdes-Scantling to secure the Chiefs' place in yet another AFC Championship.

Even more surprising, the immediate post-game updates on Mahomes' injury indicated that he may be doing better than we would have expected.

Mahomes himself has already declared that he'll be "good to go," but adrenaline and the excitement of a playoff win (not to mention any pain killers he may have received during the game) obviously leave post-game comments as a pretty unreliable indicator for how he'll be doing when next Sunday rolls around.

Negative x-rays are obviously a relief, and it's very interesting that he was walking around without a boot. For now, fans must await the MRI results which will reveal the extent of any ligament damage and severity of a potential high-ankle sprain.

This story will continue to be updated with all the latest news, rumors and analysis as Mahomes' injury status continue to develop.

Patrick Mahomes Injury History

Mahomes' newest ankle injury isn't the first time we've seen him banged up in the NFL, nor is it the first time it's been a lower leg injury on teh right side.

The most recent injuries that have popped up for Mahomes have been relatively minor, but include a bruised right food in December this season (which didn't cause him to miss any time) and turf toe in his right foot in the Divisional Round last year — which he of course played through and was incredibly effective. The 2019 patella dislocation that caused Mahomes to miss two games in 2019 was also on the right side.

Mahomes is as tough as they come and absolutely no stranger to playing through injuries, however. Despite his mobile style that leads to taking plenty of hits (and 148 combined regular season and playoff sacks), he's missed only two games due to injury over his career.

Jason Schandl is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Jason Schandl also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username Jaymun. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in his articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.