Drayage Brokersin Kansas City, MO

The Kansas City Chiefs have a new backup for Patrick Mahomes, and given their recent history, that could be very significant at some point.

The team is signing veteran quarterback Blaine Gabbert to replace Mahomes' previous backup, the newly retired Chad Henne, according to Pat McAfee and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport.

The 33-year-old Gabbert joins the Chiefs after four seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he backed up Tom Brady and Jameis Winston. He saw no starts during that tenure while posting 239 passing yards on 22-of-35 passing with three touchdowns in 11 games.

The Chiefs will be Gabbert's sixth team in a career that goes back to 2011, when he was selected 10th overall in the NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Going from Brady to Mahomes means Gabbert's basic job description won't change much, but the difference is the Chiefs have used their backup quite a bit more in recent years, and in vitally important spots.

Henne played the hero in the playoffs last season when the Chiefs briefly lost Mahomes to injury in the first half of their divisional round game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Henne was brought in with the Chiefs pinned at their own 2-yard line and proceeded to lead them on a 98-yard touchdown drive in a game they would later win 27-20.

There was also a divisional round game in 2021 where Henne came in for Mahomes and finished a 22-17 win against the Cleveland Browns. Mahomes has been the top quarterback of the NFL for the last half-decade or so, but hasn't been immune to injury.

The Chiefs will be hoping they don't use Gabbert at all next season, but they know as much as anyone else that a backup QB isn't an area to ignore.

It has been 64 days since Super Bowl LVII. That's a little more than nine weeks.

Patrick Mahomes' ankle still isn't fully healthy.

When Mahomes led the Kansas City Chiefs to a second-half comeback win over the Philadelphia Eagles, it was obvious right away that playing through that pain would be a big part of his legend. That legend is growing, two months after the Super Bowl.

Mahomes said he still isn't working out without soreness. He still has some limitations running and cutting.

About nine weeks ago, Mahomes won Super Bowl MVP on that ankle.

Patrick Mahomes still rehabbing ankle

Mahomes isn't worried about any lingering effects of his ankle injury and he wasn't making a big deal of it, but he was asked about it and was forthcoming: It still isn't totally right.

"With the ankle I feel we've improved, especially these past few weeks, a ton, as far as the swelling that went down, finally, and I don't have that soreness as much as I was having it after a few days of work," Mahomes said Monday in a conference call with reporters. "With the improvements we're making these last few weeks, I have a great feeling by the time we get to training camp it won't be any question at all."

Let's put this in perspective again. Mahomes felt the need to mention that he's optimistic that by late July he'll be fully healthy. That will be more than five months after the Chiefs won the Super Bowl.

Mahomes hurt his ankle in the divisional round when Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker Arden Key landed on it with his weight while bringing him down. Mahomes came out of that game briefly, returned to lead the Chiefs to a win, played a week later and led the Chiefs to an AFC championship game win over the Cincinnati Bengals. He threw for 326 yards and two touchdowns against the Bengals. He did so on an ankle that, in mid-April, still isn't fully OK.

By the time the Super Bowl was played two weeks after the Bengals game, there wasn't much concern about the ankle, especially after Mahomes had just played so well. But it became a story again during the Super Bowl, and continues to be months later.

Mahomes had a legendary Super Bowl

Mahomes hobbled off the field late in the first half against the Eagles after he was tackled. The Chiefs trailed 24-14 at halftime but rallied in the second half, and one of the biggest plays was a 26-yard run by Mahomes to set up the game-winning field goal.

He did that on an ankle that was still giving him problems a few weeks into the spring. It seems the injury was much worse than was reported at the time.

He spoke Monday about continuing to rehab the ankle. He said that he hasn't been limited in throwing, but he might continue to be limited in running and cutting the "next few weeks."

"Now, it's been more about managing it but getting the mobility back the best I possibly can," Mahomes said. "I wouldn't say I'm 100 percent but I've had no, necessarily, limitations. It's just when you go through the grind of a week, of training, and you're trying to push it and go through the rehab process but at the same time you want to make sure you're still building, you might be a little sore on the weekends."

That news wouldn't normally be that big of a deal, with many NFL players still working back from various injuries and offseason surgeries. It's not like Mahomes can't work out or his offseason is being disrupted. This is just noteworthy because it puts Mahomes' Super Bowl performance into a different perspective.

"We'll continue the rehab process and making sure by the time we get to training camp I can roll out there and feel perfectly fine," Mahomes said.

By the time the season comes around, Mahomes will presumably be back to normal. He can resume adding to his legacy then. It won't be easy to improve upon what he has already done.

Months after announcing he would sell his Mexican barbecue restaurant in Kansas City, Kansas, its owner has now decided to close it.

Carlos Mortera opened Poio Mexican BBQ at 800 S. Seventh St. in May 2021. He plans to close at the end of business on Saturday.

For now he will continue to concentrate on his The Bite Catering Co. and restaurant consulting operation.

“Putting together all the pros and cons, there were more cons than pros,” he said Tuesday afternoon. “We are doing a lot of private and cannabis dinners (in Missouri), weddings, tasting menus, six courses. Less employees, less overhead and less of my time to do that.”

He first opened Poio at 1000 W. 25th St. in 2018, on the city’s West Side. It closed in November 2020 due to the pandemic.

Then he bought a former Subway in Kansas City, Kansas, painted it black with bright red and white accents, and opened Poio.

It offers grilled chicken, pork spare ribs, Filipino adobo pork carnitas, jackfruit carnitas, rice bowls, nachos, pork sandwiches, tortillas, salsa and house pickles, and sides such as chili lime charred broccoli, lemon pepper potatoes, charred carrots, cabbage slaw, and poblano macaroni and cheese.

Mortera used Mexican and Asian flavors and techniques that he grew up with and later made for his family.

First lady Jill Biden and her entourage took a detour on the way to the airport to pick up lunch at Poio during the final week of National Hispanic Heritage Month in October 2021.

But he put the 2,000-square-foot restaurant with a drive-thru up for sale in September.

“I work 16-hour-days, six-days-a-week, sometimes seven,” he said at the time. “I have a 2-year-old and a 7-month-old that I sometimes don’t see for two or three days.”

“And I have some health reasons that I need to relieve stress. I don’t care about the money, I care about the time.”

On Instagram this week, he said: “We’ve had an incredible run, and we are grateful to our devoted patrons for supporting us over the years. Our team is humbled by the endless positive feedback we have received on our concept, menu, and unique approach to dining.”

Fans left such comments as:

▪ Hope you all come back sometime. I’ll miss the adobo ribs

▪ nooooo!

He is in negotiations to lease the building to another restaurant. But he still hopes to franchise the Poio concept.

“It needs someone with deeper pockets than I have and more time,” he said.

He also has a Poio restaurant at the new Kansas City International Airport terminal. Its menu includes grilled chicken sandwiches, pork carnitas sandwiches, nachos and house-made tortilla chips.

KANSAS CITY -- The Rangers came through with a textbook display of binge hitting in the sixth inning against the Royals on Tuesday night and it happened in a most unlikely way.

Locked in a tight one-run game, Texas had the lower part of its lineup coming up, and those four hitters at the bottom of the order had started the game with batting averages of .159, .150, .222 and .000, respectively. But suddenly and convincingly, the Rangers were spraying hits all over Kauffman Stadium.

Robbie Grossman, Ezequiel Duran and Brad Miller started the hit parade with singles, and backup catcher Sandy León got his first hit of the season with a two-run single to right off Carlos Hernandez. And the hitting barrage wouldn’t cease until the Rangers had collected seven consecutive hits before an out was recorded in a five-run inning that boosted Texas to a 12-2 series-clinching victory.

3 straight and 4 of our last 5! #StraightUpTX pic.twitter.com/E08xAPdXKR

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) April 19, 2023

Before the robust rally began to fizzle, Marcus Semien smashed a three-run homer -- his third long ball in as many games. That was followed by Travis Jankowski's double and a single by Nathaniel Lowe. Only when Royals center fielder Kyle Isbel threw out Jankowski at the plate did Kansas City finally record an out.

“We had role players who made some major contributions,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “That’s what has to happen during the season. You’re going to have guys who need rest. You are going to have injuries.”

With Corey Seager recovering from a left hamstring strain, Bochy went with Duran at shortstop on Tuesday, and he responded with two hits. León was behind the plate so that Jonah Heim would be rested as the Rangers will go for a three-game sweep in Wednesday afternoon’s matinee finale.

The big bat in the lineup lately has belonged to Semien, who has used the road trip through Houston and Kansas City to showcase his power.

“You’re seeing a good hitter who’s locked in,” Bochy said of Semien. “To hit the ball out of the park like he’s doing, that’s impressive.”

When the Rangers opened the sixth with seven consecutive hits, it marked the first time that has happened since the Yankees did it against the Rays on Sept. 10, 2022.

“It did get contagious and that’s baseball,” Bochy said. “ You could see the confidence.”

Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi had a good time watching his teammates rattle off hits in that telling sixth inning. Eovaldi was hit hard early, but he made the adjustments and wound up delivering six innings of two-run ball.

“It took me a little time to find my rhythm,” Eovaldi said. “The first couple of innings, they were barreling balls and I had to make the adjustments. Once I started pitching inside, I felt like I was able to get them off the approach they had on me.”

Grossman said he feels the talent on this Texas team is good enough to allow for periodic offensive eruptions like the Rangers put forth in the sixth.

“This is a good team,” Grossman said. “A couple of things happen and then, the next thing you know, you’ve put up a crooked number.”