Patrick Mahomes’ recent injury scare is reminder of his importance

Patrick Mahomes’ recent injury scare at Chiefs practice on Monday serves as a reminder as to just how important he is to the team’s success.

At Kansas City Chiefs practice on Monday, Patrick Mahomes briefly left the field and entered the medical tent. According to Jesse Newell, of the Kansas City Star, the pocket collapsed in an 11-on11 drill, and Mahomes appeared to take a misstep which resulted in his hobbling off the field.

It was a brief scene, as Mahomes simply entered the tent to get his ankle taped up, and then returned to the field for the remainder of practice. No matter how insignificant the injury, however, seeing the star of the Chiefs offense limp off of the field brings his immeasurable importance to this team into focus.

The quarterback coined with Mahomes Magic has created a trajectory unlike anything football fans—certainly Chiefs fans, at least—have ever seen. What Mahomes has been able to accomplish in his first four seasons as the Chiefs QB1 has been nothing short of incredible, and he is, at times, easily taken for granted. Chiefs Kingdom has become so accustomed to a level of play that only existed in their dreams from the early 1960s, when Len Dawson reset the standard for quarterback play, to Mahomes taking the reigns in 2018.

All of the excitement and enthusiasm that has been built up around this new-look offense that the Chiefs will feature in 2022, while it has mostly been portrayed through the lens of the new wide receiving corps, is null without the signal caller. Without Patrick Mahomes, his intangible competitive edge, and the demand for success that he brings with him, this receiver room would be stress-inducing rather than awe-inspiring.

Mahomes has proven to be tough and has shown resilience on a number of occasions. Thus far, the two games he missed for his dislocated knee in 2019 are the only time he’s missed for injury in his career. That said, however much he appears to look like Superman, moments like Monday’s practice are always looming in football and serve as a reminder of just what he means to this team.