Report: Patrick Mahomes likely faces offseason surgery for injured toe
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) -- Quarterback Patrick Mahomes is looking to lead the Chiefs to its second-consecutive Super Bowl title on Sunday, and says his injured toe is good to go, but a report Sunday morning suggests he'll need surgery to fix the injury in the offseason.
The NFL Network's Ian Rapoport says sources are telling him that Mahomes will see a foot specialist for his turf toe injury.
Mahomes signaled he was in good shape between the AFC Championship and Super Bowl, discussing the injury on Tuesday with reporters.
“It feels a lot better. Having these two weeks to let it rest and heal up, especially being almost three weeks, over three weeks away from the injury itself. If you look at those type of injuries, that kind of gives you the normal timeline," Mahomes said.
"Definitely every single day that I get to rest it, makes it better but it’s pretty close to 100% and I’m sure by gameday it will be.”
Turf toe is a sprain of the ligaments around the big toe.
“Those ligaments are supposed to stretch. But when they stretch too much, that’s where you can get injury,” Truman Medical Center Sports Medicine Physician, Dr. Margaret Gibson told FOX4 earlier this postseason.
“Depending on the player or position, an injury like turf toe can definitely last longer than a few weeks. He obviously has to have really great movement, he has to be really quick on the balls of his feet. So that really stresses that area a lot,” Gibson said.
Mahomes' scrambling ability has been something of a secret weapon with as much as teams focus on his arm, using the ability to dance by defenders for highlight reel plays that included a crucial touchdown run against the Tennessee Titans in last season's AFC Championship Game.
He also scored the first touchdown in last year's Super Bowl against San Francisco on a speed option, repeating the trick in the team's AFC Divisional playoff game this postseason against Cleveland.
His ability to dodge pass rushers will loom large without the services of top tackles Mitchell Schwartz and Eric Fisher, both out of Super Bowl 55 with injuries. Tampa Bay's defensive front boasts a 32.7% pressure rate on passing plays, led by Shaq Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul, who notched 17.5 sacks in the regular season, and tormented NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers for five sacks in the NFC Championship.