USA TODAY Sports
All week long PFT Live and PFT PM, we talked about this in relation to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes: The concussion that removed him from the second half of last Sunday’s playoff victory over the Browns may have helped him avoid further damage to his obviously injured toe.
The toe was left in the background due to the concussion, but now it is back in the foreground of the conversation. Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Mahomes really does have “toes on the grass” and that Mahomes is currently not 100%.
Mahomes received no indication of a final injury on Friday, meaning he will be available for normal service. But if the toe is not 100 percent, the question is whether your duty will be normal.
Last week, Mahomes clearly favored his toe when limping between moves. During the plays, he did not show the negative effects of the injury, fighting any discomfort the injury was causing. And because it was moving normally, it was probably causing more damage to the ligaments of the big toe joint.
Friday’s training video (embedded in the attached video) shows Mahomes moving without limping or limping, but he never really opens and runs hard, pushing his foot in a way that could aggravate the condition.
From a football perspective, Mahomes’ toe status raises doubts about whether and to what extent he will move on Sunday. Will the team call it plays that put you on the run? Will Mahomes choose, if no one is open and the walls collapse, run the ball or throw it away?
It becomes a more important issue, since the team and / or the player may be suspicious about putting Mahomes in danger, seven days after he has risen from a clearly dizzy and disoriented tackle.
Mahomes, for his part, vowed to “be myself”. In fact, it is difficult to see Mahomes doing anything other than what he normally does. It remains to be seen if this means that he will end up limping between moves.