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Patrick Mahomes To Have Toe Surgery
Patrick Mahomes will have toe surgery.

NFL Network first reported that the Kansas City Chiefs QB would undergo surgery Wednesday to repair a torn plantar plate in his toe. ESPN has subsequently confirmed the news.

Commonly known as turf toe, Mahomes has been playing through the injury since the Divisional Round win over the Cleveland Browns last month.

The rehab will be several months, but Mahomes expected to make a full recovery, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport added.

Noted foot specialist Dr. Robert Anderson will perform the procedure.

Mahomes limped early in the Divisional Round before being placed in concussion protocol and ruled out after a second-half hit. The Chiefs QB didn't seem affected in the AFC Championship Game win over the Buffalo Bills despite playing through the issue. Mahomes said throughout the lead up to SBLV he wasn't concerned about the toe injury affecting his play.

Mahomes had one of the worst statistical games of his career in the Chiefs' 31-9 Super Bowl LV loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was 26-of-49 for 270 yards, zero touchdowns, two interceptions and a passer rating of 52.3. Kansas City failed to score a touchdown for the first time since Mahomes became a starter in 2018.

But, as he noted shortly after the game, he played well with the turf toe in the AFC Championship Game victory over the Buffalo Bills.

"I can't say the toe was a problem when I played two weeks ago and I played well on it," he said. "Anytime you play football, you have to battle through injuries."

It certainly didn't keep him from running.

Mahomes was on the move often against a ferocious Tampa Bay pass rush behind a makeshift offensive line. Next Gen Stats charted Mahomes with traveling 497 yards before throwing the ball or being sacked, the most scramble yards in a game by any QB since 2016 (when NGS began charting).

It's unclear what workouts will look like this spring, with the COVID-19 pandemic likely continuing to disrupt the NFL offseason.

As he rehabs, Mahomes will be on the sideline for any work. However, he should be ready to play when the 2021 season kicks off in September.

In fact, while Mahomes and fiancée Brittany Matthews are expecting their first child soon, the quarterback said his immediate plans are to begin working on improving for next season. He threw for 4,740 yards and 38 touchdowns in the regular season but the Chiefs failed to score a touchdown against the Bucs on Sunday for the first time since he became a starter in 2018.

"I'm going to look at the film and try to find ways to get better," Mahomes said. "Obviously with our offense and the success that we've had, when teams see the defensive plan that [the Bucs] had and how well it worked, they're obviously going to try to do the same things. So we'll try to find ways to combat that. It's the evolution of our offense where we're going to have to do better things and be more efficient.

"That really goes with me and not always looking for the big play but just finding ways to move the ball down the field."

Mahomes said he will work on taking what the defense gives the Chiefs rather than focusing on the big play.

"I thought I did a good job toward the end of the season of being more efficient," he said. "Obviously I didn't do that in the Super Bowl, but I'm going to try to find ways to better myself that way. Just being more efficient, taking what's there, especially when these teams are playing such deep coverages against us.

"It's something I've got to battle with because I've got such an aggressive nature and want to have the big play. But as I watch the film and really study myself, I'll have to get better at that so I can be a better quarterback at the end of the day."

But first up, is recovering from surgery. We'll be following up on his progress in coming weeks.