The Kansas City Chiefs will have Patrick Mahomes under center for Sunday’s AFC Championship game – not that there has been much doubt this week.
Despite suffering a high ankle sprain in last weekend's 27-20 Divisional-round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Mahomes was able to practice three times this week and declared "I'm ready to go” on Wednesday.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has confirmed that Mahomes would play in the AFC title game for the fifth year in a row on Sunday when the Chiefs host the Cincinnati Bengals.
"He looks good," Reid said on Friday. "I mean, he's moving around good. He's going to go out and play."
After Mahomes said on Wednesday that he would be fit, the quarterback began fielding questions about how much a sprained ankle might change his effectiveness or style of play.
"I feel like I can still do a lot of things," he said. "We'll see as we get closer and closer, and we'll see during the game.
"You can't fully do exactly what you're going to be doing in those moments in the game [in practice], but all I can do is prepare myself the best way possible and then when we get in the game, you hope adrenaline kind of takes over."
Mahomes returned to last Saturday’s game to help lead the Chiefs over the Jaguars, but he was clearly limping and was unable to pull off some of his signature improvisation due to his injury.
After a week of rehabilitation, neither Mahomes nor Reid are willing to say publicly if the 2018 NFL MVP will be able to run the entire playbook.
"We have enough in the game plan where you can kind of pick and choose where you want to go with it," he said. "You have a variety of things that you can go to. Obviously, you don't use all the plays in the game plan, but they're available and so if you have to go a certain direction, you can go that direction with the calls."
Meanwhile, the Bengals are not expecting Mahomes to be any less potent.
Cincinnati pass rusher Sam Hubbard said: "We're preparing for Patrick Mahomes like he's 100 per cent, because I'm sure he's going to be playing 100 per cent. That's all you can do."
Lamb has support of Cowboys team-mates as contract holdout continues
CeeDee Lamb has the sympathy of some Dallas Cowboys team-mates as he continues his training camp holdout in a bid to earn a blockbuster new contract.
Fifth-year receiver Lamb is set to make just under $18million in 2024 but is seeking a deal that would put him among the NFL's highest-paid WRs, with an annual salary of around $32m.
With no progress made in negotiations, he is yet to report to the team's preseason training camp, which began on Wednesday.
Guard Zack Martin and running back Ezekiel Elliott have both staged holdouts of their own in the past, the former missing three weeks of training last year before getting an adjustment to his contract and the latter missing the entirety of preseason in 2019.
That stand-off ultimately ended with Elliott landing a six-year, $90m contract that included $50m in guaranteed money, and he sympathises with Lamb's position.
"It's really tough because you go through your first three or four years and you guys are on the same side, and this is the first time that now you're going against each other," Elliott said on the dynamics of holding out.
"So, you've got to have a little thick skin. There's some little extra stuff that comes with it, but at the end of the day, we all have the same goal.
"The team understands that CeeDee needs to handle his business and CeeDee understands that he has the support of the team behind him.
"Just stay in shape, which it looks like he's doing, and be ready to go once the deal gets done."
Martin agrees Lamb will have no problems with getting up to speed when he does return, saying: "He's just got to know that everyone in that locker room has got his back.
"We know hopefully he'll be out here sooner rather than later."
Lamb had 135 receptions from 181 targets through the 2023 season, which ended with the Cowboys suffering a stunning wild-card defeat to the Green Bay Packers.
Both of those figures were league highs, while only the Miami Dolphins' Tyreek Hill (1,799 yards, 13 TDs) bettered his 1,749 regular-season receiving yards and 12 touchdowns.
Packers, QB Love agree to four-year, $220m contract
Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers have agreed to a four-year extension worth $220million, tying him as the highest-paid quarterback in NFL history, according to multiple sources.
Love, who has only had one full season as an NFL starter, will earn $55m annually with $155m guaranteed and a $75m signing bonus, also the largest in league history.
His yearly salary ties him with Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow and Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence for highest in NFL history.
After finally trading Aaron Rodgers in April 2023, Love, 25, became the Packers’ undisputed starter. He struggled through the first seven games last season and Green Bay were 2-5 but he took off and the Packers finished 9-8 and earned a wild-card spot.
In the Packers’ final eight games of the regular season, Love had 16 touchdowns and one interception. In a 48-32 playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys, he had a near-perfect 157.2 passer rating with 16 of 21 completions for 272 yards, three touchdowns and no picks.
Love completed 372 of 579 passes (64.2%) for 4,159 yards last season with 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
His 32 TD passes ranked second in the NFL behind Dallas’ Dak Prescott (36).
All that production came while Love was throwing to the most productive, young group of receivers since at least 1970. The Packers’ 302 receptions, 3,642 receiving yards and 31 receiving touchdowns are the most by a team’s group of first-or second-year pass catchers since the AFL/NFL merger.
Green Bay also became the youngest team in that same span to win a playoff game with an average age of 25 years and 214 days.
Packers, QB Love agree to 4-year, $220 million contract
Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers have agreed to a four-year extension worth $220 million, tying him as the highest-paid quarterback in NFL history, according to multiple sources.
Love, who has only had one full season as an NFL starter, will earn $55 million annually with $155 million guaranteed and a $75 million signing bonus, also the largest in league history.
His yearly salary ties him with Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow and Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence for highest in NFL history.
After finally trading Aaron Rodgers in April 2023, Love, 25, became the Packers’ undisputed starter. He struggled through the first seven games last season and Green Bay was 2-5 but he took off and the Packers finished 9-8 and earned a wild card spot.
In the Packers’ final eight games of the regular season, Love had 16 touchdowns and one interception. In a 48-32 playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys, he had a near-perfect 157.2 passer rating with 16 of 21 completions for 272 yards, three touchdowns and no picks.
Love completed 372 of 579 passes (64.2 percent) for 4,159 yards last season with 32 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
His 32 TD passes ranked second in the NFL behind Dallas’ Dak Prescott (36).
All that production came while Love was throwing to the most productive, young group of receivers since at least 1970. The Packers’ 302 receptions, 3,642 receiving yards and 31 receiving touchdowns are the most by a team’s group of first-or second-year pass catchers since the AFL/NFL merger.
Green Bay also became the youngest team in that same span to win a playoff game with an average age of 25 years and 214 days.
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