Patrick Mahomes likely to return Week 10 at Tennessee Titans

One week after dislocating his patella, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has a chance to return in Week 10 against the Tennessee Titans.

Against the Denver Broncos in Week 7 during a Thursday Night Football matchup, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes went down after a successful 4th down quarterback sneak. After the play was over, Mahomes repeated over and over, “It’s out, it’s out.” Mahomes was referring to his patella, which had been dislocated when he went down.

The medical staff was able to pop Mahomes’ kneecap back into place, but that was just one piece to the puzzle of getting Mahomes back under center.

After receiving an x-ray during the Broncos game, Mahomes wanted to get back out there and had though he could still play, but was ultimately ruled out. Just days later, Mahomes was back on the practice field as a limited participant. While he didn’t do much in terms of practicing, he was still able to work out his knee and get one step closer to playing again.

There had been some speculation as to whether or not Mahomes would be able to play against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, mainly due to head coach Andy Reid’s demeanor, in which he was playing coy about Mahomes’ status for Week 8.

It was reported Sunday morning by NFL Insider Ian Rapoport that Mahomes had an outside chance of playing Week 9 against the Minnesota Vikings. However, he is likely to return against the Tennessee Titans, according to Rapoport.

"“Because of the way his knee is configured — and how naturally loose his ligaments are — only one ligament in his knee was compromised by the scary injury, and that was just barely.” Rapoport said."

No ligaments were torn and there was no cartilage damage, which are very high risks when dislocating a kneecap. It is not uncommon for an MCL, or even ACL, surgery to be required with a scary injury like that. When dislocating a patella, the muscles and ligaments inside the can overstretch and become damaged. Mahomes was very fortunate to not suffer any further damage than what he did.

What does this mean for the Chiefs? The Chiefs will likely be without Mahomes for the next two weeks as they battle the NFC North’s top teams in the Vikings and Packers. While losses to both of these teams would not be ideal, it would not mean that Kansas City is out of the playoff race by any stretch of the imagination, rather a steeper climb.

Having two losses already on the season, Mahomes and the Chiefs would need to win out starting in Week 10 if the club were to suffer losses in Weeks 8 and 9. Nevertheless, the Chiefs and its loyal fans won’t be without Mahomes for much longer. This is great news considering some were concerned that his season could be over when he first suffered the injury.