Report: Patrick Mahomes ‘has no symptoms,’ will return to practice field today

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    KANSAS CITY, Missouri (KMBC) — Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will take another big step on his road to recovery in the NFL concussion protocol on Wednesday.

Mahomes – who was injured in the third quarter of the AFC Divisional game – is slated to be on the practice field at the Chiefs practice facility on Wednesday. He will be limited to individual work per league concussion protocol.

“Mahomes will have a very light practice today as part of his plan while in the NFL concussion protocol, source said,” Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network said. “Could be listed as limited or DNP, but his work will ramp up during the week. Mahomes, who has no symptoms, will do some tolerance tests, too.”

Rapoport reported that Mahomes honestly won’t miss much by going through the limited session.

“Practices this time of year are basically for mental reps, anyway,” he reported. “More like glorified walkthroughs. So Mahomes won’t miss much, either way.”

Even though Mahomes was on the practice field, it’s still not 100 percent sure he will be cleared to play in the AFC championship game Sunday against the Buffalo Bills.

Per the NFL’s return-to-participation protocol, the next step would be for Mahomes to return to football specific exercise during Thursday’s practice.

“The player continues with supervised cardiovascular exercises that are increased and may mimic sport-specific activities and supervised strength training is introduced,” the league’s policy states. “The player is allowed to practice with the team in sport-specific exercise for 30 minutes or less with ongoing and careful monitoring.”

If he clears that hurdle, Mahomes would be allowed to participate in club-based non-contact training drills before being fully cleared and allowed to return to full football activity.

Both ESPN and The Athletic reported, citing sources, that Mahomes was expected to return to the practice field Wednesday in some capacity. Carrington Harrison of 610 Sports in Kansas City reported that Mahomes was asked a series of questions as part of the NFL’s concussion protocol and that the quarterback answered all the questions correctly except for one game-related question.

“With the failed question, plus the physical symptoms, he was not cleared to play,” Harrison reported.

Earlier, Harrison reported that sources have told him that Mahomes’ injury was not concussion-related.

On Monday, Chiefs head coach Andy Reid declined to speculate on when Mahomes will be cleared.

“Because of the protocol it’s a no-brainer,” Reid explained of the decision, which rests not in his hands but those of team doctors and outside experts. “You don’t even have to think about it. You just go forward. You have an answer if he’s there and if he’s not there. I can’t tell you an answer from a medical standpoint. I just don’t know.”

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