Getty Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes II injured his ankle during the 2023 playoffs.
The NFL’s Annual League Meetings are occurring from March 26 through 29, and Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has been in attendance since Saturday, the 25th — if not longer.
NFL Network content producer Christian Gonzales detailed an interview between reporter Steve Wyche and Reid on NFL.com, live from Phoenix, Arizona. Within their chat, the Chiefs HC provided an encouraging injury update on the ankle of MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes II — which was sprained against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC’s Divisional Round of the playoffs.
“He didn’t have to get anything done,” Reid informed on March 25 via Wyche and Gonzales. “He’s doing good, he feels good. This time, he jumped right back into workouts and working the ankle, rehabbing the ankle. He’s lifting and running the parts that he could run, and he didn’t miss a beat on that.”
Mahomes gutted through the high ankle sprain throughout the postseason run — which culminated in an epic Super Bowl performance — so this update isn’t unexpected, but it is good to hear anyway.
Chiefs Could Be Planning to Lean on Patrick Mahomes in 2023
If you thought the Chiefs were leaning on Mahomes last year, you’re probably worried about the way this 2023 offseason is progressing. So far, the superstar QB has lost two starting offensive tackles, a starting wide receiver, a backup receiver and four-year veteran of the organization, and one of his running backs with another still waiting in the wings — and that’s just on offense.
Kansas City did land offensive tackle Jawaan Taylor in free agency to help soften the blow of Orlando Brown Jr. and Andrew Wylie departures, but they’ve been surprisingly quiet at the wide receiver position. Even when general manager Brett Veach chose to trade away Tyreek Hill an offseason ago, the Chiefs were still active at WR.
In 2023, it’s unclear what the exact plan is for replacing JuJu Smith-Schuster and Mecole Hardman, but it’s hard to imagine KC won’t at least draft a new weapon for Mahomes in April. They could also theoretically still add a veteran in free agency or via trade — although Veach has fewer options than before.
The current list of available WR free agents is headlined by Odell Beckham Jr., Chosen (Robbie) Anderson, Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones, Julio Jones, Jarvis Landry, N’Keal Harry, T.Y. Hilton and Rashard Higgins. 2023 UFA Justin Watson is still out there on the open market too, as well as ex-Chiefs Demarcus Robinson, Byron Pringle and Sammy Watkins.
Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs WRs Will Focus on Year 2 Chemistry in 2023
As for the current wide receiver corps, year two chemistry is the name of the game. 2022 trade acquisition Kadarius Toney, signing Marquez Valdes-Scantling, and draft pick Skyy Moore are all entering their second campaign inside the organization.
Typically, that should help each player as they continue to learn Reid’s system and strengthen their rapport with Mahomes.
Big Red called out Moore, in particular, while speaking with Wyche. “We are expecting Skyy Moore to step up,” he stated bluntly. “We’ll just see how everything else works. We got the same guys coming back that we had, and we like that group with the exception of JuJu. Mecole was banged up a little bit so he didn’t have a chance to play as much as he would have wanted. We’ll work out the thing without JuJu. Somebody will have to step up and take that spot.”
Toney has also been rumored as a potential WR1 heading into the 2023 season.