Report: Patrick Mahomes did not suffer “significant additional damage,” plan is he’ll return after “brief absence”

UPDATE: 11:56 a.m. Arrowhead Time

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport is reporting Patrick Mahomes suffered a dislocated kneecap but not “significant additional damage.” Rapoport says the plan is Mahomes will return after a brief absence.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter connects the dots — it’s likely Mahomes misses about three games.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport joined Good Morning Football early Friday morning to provide an update on Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes dislocated his kneecap in the team’s Thursday Night Football game against the Denver Broncos.

RAPOPORT: “Those are the facts of what we know right now. He’s also going to get an MRI later [Friday] to determine ligament damage. Look. You guys saw it, like everyone did. It looked like a dire situation on the field, as bad as it could be. Pretty quickly there after, though, optimism came. I talked to several people involved in this situation. The view right now is that Patrick Mahomes is expected to miss about three weeks, pending the results of the MRI. If the MRI comes in and shows that there’s severe ligament damage, obviously it could be more. Much more. No one knows for sure, but this was a telling response from a source in the know [Thursday] night...this was it, guys: ‘About as good as it could be.’ That right there tells you a lot about where the Chiefs and those associated with Patrick Mahomes are right now heading into the MRI [Friday].”

It sounds like the Chiefs’ starting quarterback will (at minimum) miss games against the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings.

The Chiefs play the Tennessee Titans 24 days from Thursday, then they play the Los Angeles Chargers seven days later, then it is their bye week. The Chiefs could be extra cautious and rest him through all four games and the bye, but it all remains to be seen.

Friday’s next update (with MRI results) will be telling.