In the second quarter of the Kansas City Chiefs’ 35-12 win over the New York Jets on Sunday, the home crowd suffered a serious injury scare as quarterback Patrick Mahomes took a hard hit from rookie pass rusher David Bailey and immediately felt obvious pain in his right elbow.
Mahomes fumbled on the play and the Jets took over. He was immediately seen working with coaches on the sidelines and throwing the ball. When the Chiefs got the ball back to close out the first half a few plays later, the face of the league was still wearing his helmet and took the field again. Mahomes would finish the game until backup Justin Fields entered the game for Kansas City’s final offensive series with most of the team’s reserves.
Speaking after the game, Mahomes confirmed that he still didn’t know exactly what the final diagnosis would be.
“I didn’t understand,” Mahomes said. “We’re going to do some testing whenever I’m done with this media stuff, and we’ll have a better understanding of it. I’m sure (head coach Andy) Reid will give you an update tomorrow.”
The quarterback said he felt good after the game, but he suspects there will be soreness the next day and will begin managing his injury immediately.
“I feel good now,” Mahomes continued. “Of course we win and the adrenaline pumps. I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow, but we’ll get there straight away. We’ll work at it and we’ll prepare. It’s great to get the win now, now it’s about getting ready for next week.”
At the time of the injury, neither Reid nor Mahomes immediately knew he would return. Reid’s focus was focused exclusively on preparing Fields to enter the game if necessary.
“We have to prepare Justin quickly,” explained the coach. “That’s kind of where you are on the field. You let your doctors take care of it. Then you put it all back out there and move the other guy forward. He’s a tough kid. If there’s a way for him to come back from something, he’ll come back. I didn’t know that until we got ready to start this series.”
Mahomes also had lingering memories of a home game last December when he suffered a torn ACL.
“You never know,” he remarked. “Obviously, I hurt my knee last year. You never know what the end result or outcome of an injury is going to be. At the same time, you just try to let the doctors and coaches do their job. It’s something that scares you more than anything, but we were able to go out there and try.”
Although he reiterated that there was still a process ahead, Mahomes’ confidence increased when he realized he could still throw, hopefully ruling out any major injury to his elbow ligaments.
“Once I was able to throw the ball,” he recalled, “from the stories you hear, any time you can catch the ball and try to throw it, you can’t throw it. Once I threw the ball, I knew it wasn’t a ligament type problem. It was more of a muscle type problem. It’s going to be important to practice this week.”
The injury clearly impacted Mahomes on the Chiefs’ next offensive series. However, the superstar saw a marked improvement as the match went on.
“I felt like outside of halftime I wasn’t throwing the ball the way I wanted to,” Mahomes observed. “As the game went on – and we kept working on it and it kind of heated up – I thought I started throwing the ball better towards the end of the second half. That’s going to be important this week, is kind of getting the swelling and the fluid out so I can be ready to go on the first snap next week.”
A major season-ending injury in 2025 may have caused observers to forget the toughness Mahomes showed throughout his career. Sunday should serve as a strong reminder.
“If I’m able to play, I’m going to play,” Mahomes said. “It’s part of the game. It’s part of the game. It scares you in the moments where you feel pain in certain areas of your body. It obviously wasn’t very pleasant, but I was able to work on it a little bit, especially at halftime, and then I was able to go out on the field and play the rest of the game.”
Reid expects Mahomes to continue to be a good example for the rest of the team, as he has following past injuries.
“When you have a tough quarterback, it affects everyone,” the coach said. “It’s that position. They’re supposed to take everyone’s game and help make it better. Part of it is that sometimes when you’re a little banged up – you’re in a vulnerable position there, so you’re going to be a little banged up – you’re able to pick yourself up and go again. Nobody does it better than him.”
The Chiefs reported two more injuries during Sunday’s game. Tackle Jaylon Moore left the game with an ankle injury and was ruled out doubtful to return. Wide receiver Xavier Worthy was immediately tried out in the fourth quarter due to a hamstring injury.
“As far as injuries go,” Reid said, “Xavier hurt his hamstring. I don’t know exactly how bad it is right now. Then Jaylon Moore hurt his ankle. We’ll see how he trains here in the next few days.”
The Chiefs receiving corps has already dealt with some serious injuries throughout the year. Mahomes expects the reinforcements to step up in Worthy’s expected absence.
“(Worthy) had a good day today,” Mahoems lamented. “He made some tough, physical catches, especially out there on the goal line. I hope it’s not as bad as it looked. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him or the coaches or anything like that. It’s kind of that man-on-top mentality. We’ve had guys that have had reps because of injuries. They’re going to have to step up and make plays happen every time their number is called.”
Some positive injury news could be coming for Kansas City. CBS sideline voice Tracy Wolfson reported before the game that the Chiefs were confident cornerback Mansoor Delane and defensive tackle Peter Woods — their pair of first-round rookies — would return in Week 10. Delane missed the last two games with a shoulder injury. Woods left Kansas City’s Week 8 game against the Denver Broncos with a neck injury and did not play Sunday.
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