Reigning NFL Most Valuable Player Patrick Mahomes will start for the Kansas City Chiefs at Tennessee on Sunday after missing two games with a dislocated right kneecap, coach Andy Reid said Friday.
The 24-year-old quarterback increased his amount of work with the starters this week in anticipation he would be ready to face the Titans after suffering the injury October 17 in the first half of a 30-6 Kansas City win at Denver.
Mahomes had been expected to miss at least three games but sat out only two, a 31-24 home loss to Green Bay and a 26-23 home win over Minnesota, before getting the call from Reid that he will start unless something unexpected happens.
“We knew how we’ve kind of been doing the whole process of the injury in general is just seeing how I felt every single day,” Mahomes said. “I knew I had a chance once I kind of talked to those doctors and they said that as long as I was functioning well, moving well, that I could play this week.
“Coach Reid still wanted me to take it day by day. So I went out here and practised, and took the reps and I haven’t had any pains or any setbacks. And so, as long as we keep going with that, I’m glad to be back out there.”
A doctor quickly set Mahomes’s kneecap into place in the moments following the injury and he has progressed ahead of expectations from there.
Veteran backup Matt Moore won in relief of Mahomes at Denver and went 1-1 in two starts.
The Chiefs lead the AFC West division at 6-3, one game ahead of Oakland, and hope to remain unbeaten on the road after five away games.
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