Mahomes to start vs. Bengals despite battling ankle injury

Patrick Mahomes will start Sunday's AFC Championship Game against the Cincinnati Bengals despite battling an ankle injury throughout the week, Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid announced Friday, according to NFL Network's Cameron Wolfe.

"He's moving around good," Reid told reporters, including ESPN's Adam Teicher. "He can go out and play."

Mahomes suffered a high ankle sprain in last weekend's divisional-round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars when linebacker Arden Key fell on him in the first quarter. He finished the drive before being briefly replaced by Chad Henne, though Mahomes later returned after halftime.

The 27-year-old has been adamant that his injury won't keep him out of the AFC title game, telling reporters before Wednesday's practice that he was "ready to go" for the matchup.

Mahomes was a full participant in practice throughout the week and wasn't given an injury designation Friday.

Mahomes has led Kansas City to the conference championship game in each of his five seasons as the team's regular starter. Sunday's matchup against the Bengals will mark a rematch of last season's AFC title game when Joe Burrow led Cincinnati to an overtime victory over Mahomes and the Chiefs.

A finalist for the NFL's MVP award, Mahomes threw a league-leading 5,250 passing yards and 41 touchdowns this season.

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