Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is considered one of the best quarterbacks in the league right now, if not the best. So, it was terrifying for fans to see him go down during the team’s game against the Cleveland Browns in Week 15.

Now, news is out about Mahomes and the extent of his injury. Thankfully, it might not be too bad. If the Chiefs want to get past the Buffalo Bills to get to the Super Bowl this season, they’re going to need Mahomes healthy and ready to go.

Patrick Mahomes Suffers ‘Mild High-Ankle Sprain’

“Sources: #Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes was diagnosed with a mild high-ankle sprain following tests, and he’s still considered week-to-week,” NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport wrote on December 16. “Tests confirmed initial thoughts.”

So, it’s a mix of good and bad news. Rapoport first reported on Sunday, December 15, that the team “feared” Mahomes had a high-ankle sprain.

While it’s good that Mahomes isn’t expected to be sidelined for a long period, it’s not coming at a great time. With the regular season coming to a close, the playoffs will the very soon, and Mahomes will absolutely have to be ready and at 100% if the team is going to go the whole way.

The Kansas City Chiefs, according Rapoport, the Chiefs will not determine Mahomes’s status for Saturday’s game against the Texans until he practices. If he cannot play, then backup QB Carson Wentz would likely start in place of Mahomes.

“The #Chiefs will know more as the practice week rolls on, and there is a chance that Patrick Mahomes practices this week,” Rapoport stated on Monday, December 16. “He’s week-to-week, so his status this week is in doubt. Most importantly: ‘He’ll be fine long-term,’ a source said.”

Following the game, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid also gave a good update about Mahomes.

“It’s not broken,” Reid said. “That’s what I can tell you. I’m just going to see how it goes. It’ll literally be day-to-day as we go forward. I don’t know how much swelling he has or any of that. He probably could have gone back in [the game].”

Mahomes Says It Was a ‘Smart Decision’ to Put in Backup Quarterback Carson Wentz

Mahomes also chimed in and discussed why he and Reid decided to have Mahomes rest after the injury.

“I thought the smart decision we talked about was to put Carson (Wentz, backup quarterback) in,” Mahomes said. “He’s played a lot of football, and he finished the game well. … I have a lot of trust in Carson, too. He’s played football and he’s won football games. [They] put him out there, and I thought he did a great job moving the football and running time off the clock and putting us in position to win the football game.”

NFL writer and expert Joseph Grassano of KC Kingdom noted in a December 15 feature that keeping Mahomes in the game at all was a gamble, since the Chiefs were winning by so much.

“With how the game was going, the likelihood of the Browns scoring any points from deep in their own territory was low, so a punt in this situation would have been the smart decision,” he stated. “Even so, the reason Reid most likely decided to go for it was to get live game reps in fourth-down scenarios to be ready for the playoffs.”