Patrick

Mahomes

It was reported last week that the Chiefs are hopeful Mahomes would participate in OTAs in May, even if on a limited basis. While that may still be the case, when speaking at the Annual League Meeting in Phoenix on Saturday, Reid opted to play things close to the vest. The 68-year-old coach said Mahomes is in the building seven hours a day and that it’s clear from the progress he has made in his recovery. That said, he also offered up a simple “we’ll just see where it goes from there,” in regards to Mahomes’ return. The Chiefs went out and acquired Justin Fields from the Jets earlier this month, and he’s expected to see plenty of first-team reps in Mahomes’ absence. We’ll likely get a better sense of Mahomes’ availability after the draft when OTAs ramp up.

The limited capacity is probably the key bit of this, but Mahomes has seemed well ahead of projections for his recovery from a torn ACL and LCL for some time and at this point it probably shouldn’t be surprising if he’s ready for Week 1. The first real logistical checkpoint we’ll see for Mahomes — since voluntary offseason practice isn’t heavily tracked and we’ll have no clue how ahead he is outside of optimistic quotes — is if he’s placed on the physically unable to perform list as he reports to training camp. We don’t have a reason to believe he will be at this point.

Speaking on the Rich Eisen Show on ESPN, Albert Breer reported that the hope in Kansas City is that Patrick Mahomes is “close to being himself” by Week 1 of the coming season. Well, that doesn’t sound promising. Mahomes didn’t have surgery on his torn ACL until the middle of December, with most athletes in the league today requiring a 9-12-month recovery timeline. The absolute front end of that window puts him back to football activities in the middle of September, while the back end means Mahomes would be looking at the Physically Unable to Perform list to start the 2026 season. We wouldn’t put it past Mahomes to hit the earlier end of his recovery timetable, but we also wound’t be counting on him for Week 1. Much yet to come out of Kansas City regarding their star quarterback.

Kelce has reportedly been in touch with Andy Reid and the Chiefs in recent weeks after the Chiefs inexplicably missed the postseason. Kelce, 36, has mulled retirement in each of the past three offseasons and seems more serious about the prospect of hanging it up following the disappointment of 2025. “We are prepared for either scenario,” Veach said Tuesday. Kelce caught 76 passes for 851 yards and five touchdowns in 2025. Only five tight ends had more receptions than Kelce and a mere three tight ends had more receiving yards. Kelce ranked 22nd in tight end yards per route run and 14th in yards after the catch per reception.

Per Reid, Mahomes is spending seven hours per day with Chiefs assistant athletic trainer and physical therapist Julie Frymyer. Reid notes that although rehab following a significant knee injury is “not going to be a pleasant thing,” Mahomes keeps showing up and Frymyer continues to challenge him and keeps him “on task.” The positive reports continue to trickle in for the veteran quarterback, who has a chance to be ready for Week 1.

This marks the fourth straight offseason in which the Chiefs have redone Mahomes’ mega-contract to create some cap breathing room. This most recent restructure will have Mahomes’ cap hit go from $78.2 million to $34.65 million for the 2026 season. Mahomes’ cap number for the 2027 season will now be over $85 million, according to Over The Cap’s Jason Fitzgerald. Mahomes, entering his age-31 season, is hoping to be ready for Week 1 after suffering a late-season knee injury.

Mahomes said that his rehab is going “great” so far. He is “hitting all the checkpoints” in terms of regaining “strength” and “range of mobility.” He said he should be able to do “some stuff” during organized team activities and hopes to do “a lot” in training camp. Overall, this is a positive first update from Mahomes as he returns from ACL and LCL tears in his knee.

The Chiefs said Mahomes, who went down in Week 15’s loss to the Chargers, underwent surgery on Monday to repair the LCL part of his ACL/LCL ligament and immediately started his rehab. Mahomes has a shot to be under center for Kansas City to start the 2026 season, though it will be a close call considering he suffered the ACL injury in mid-December. ESPN’s Adam Schefter has said “it will be a surprise” if Mahomes is not ready for Week 1 in 2026.

Schefter cites the speed with which Mahomes got his torn ACL and LCL repaired — Monday, the day after it happened — as a major reason behind this. He also notes the timeline of nine months would put Mahomes in line to play in Week 2. “You know he’s going to have the absolute finest resources, care, attention, to bring him along,” Schefter continues. “He’s already set in to motion the chain of events that will bring him back sooner.” We wouldn’t be surprised if Mahomes is playing that early — see how quickly Joe Burrow came back this year from his turf toe against the initial diagnosis — but we also wouldn’t be surprised if Mahomes wasn’t quite the same player from the jump, especially as a scrambler, while he re-acclimates to what he can trust with his surgically-repaired knee.

Reports surfaced earlier Monday that Mahomes was seeking a second opinion before the surgery was performed. That was evidently accomplished in short order considering the team announced Monday evening that the franchise quarterback underwent successful surgery on the torn ACL Monday evening. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports Mahomes also tore his LCL, although that does not necessarily influence the expected recovery timeline. Preseason and camp are almost entirely out of the question for the star quarterback, although he appears likely to push to avoid the Physically Unable to Perform list to start the 2026 regular season.