The dream team has had an unexpected detour.
After losing to the 49ers badly in Melbourne, and given Myles Garrett’s candid remarks about the impact of his health on his performance, Garrett will have knee surgery and be placed on injured reserve, per multiple reports.
It’s a stunning development for a Rams team that became the odds-on favorites to win the Super Bowl after Garrett’s arrival in June. His presence lured Aaron Donald out of retirement. Now, Donald will be playing for at least four games (if Donald plays in Week 2) without Garrett.
And it won’t be an easy road. The Rams host the Giants next Monday night. The following Sunday night, they face the Broncos in Denver. Then, the Rams head to Philly for a date with the Eagles. After that, the Rams return home for a Monday night showdown with Josh Allen and the Bills.
Broncos Clips
The Denver Broncos’ shot at an appearance in Super Bowl LX arguably was derailed by an injury to quarterback Bo Nix. As the 2026 season begins, Nix and the rest of the team are healthy.
Denver has no injury designations in advance of the Monday night opener against the Chiefs in Kansas City.
Only receiver Marvin Mims appeared on the Week 1 injury report. He fully participated in practice on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with a foot injury.
No team will be much healthier than it is in Week 1. The Broncos are good to go, as they try to win the AFC West for the second straight year. The extent to which they can stay that way will be a major factor in whether they can get back to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2015.
When Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes makes his return on Monday night after a December 2025 torn ACL, his left tackle will be an undrafted rookie.
Josh Simmons, a first-round pick in 2025, has been ruled out for the game against the Broncos with a back injury. Kahlil Benson will start at left tackle in his first career game.
Also out for the Chiefs will be defensive back Chamarri Conner, who has a knee injury.
No other Chiefs player has an injury designation. Which means that Mahomes will indeed play. And that the Broncos will test Benson in an effort to get to Mahomes.
The Chiefs, who finished 6-11 in 2025, are 2.5-point favorites against the Broncos, who won the division and secured the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
Defensive lineman Chris Jones was added to the Chiefs’ injury report on Friday.
Jones was a limited participant in practice and he is listed with a calf injury. The team will issue their final injury report for Monday night’s game against the Broncos on Saturday and that will provide a better idea of Jones’s outlook for the opener.
The outlook for left tackle Josh Simmons remains dim. He missed practice again with a back injury.
Defensive back Chamarri Conner (knee) also remained out of practice. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes (knee), linebacker Jack Cochrane (knee), defensive end Ashton Gillotte (foot), wide receiver Rashee Rice (knee), guard Trey Smith (hip), cornerback L’Jarius Sneed (knee), defensive end R Mason Thomas (hamstring), and wide receiver Xavier Worthy (shoulder) all remained full participants in practice.
Throughout the offseason, Chiefs players and coaches have spoken with a lot of excitement about running back Kenneth Walker and what he can bring to the offense.
That trend continued on Thursday with quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who noted the versatility Walker has displayed in practice through training camp.
“You’ve got to use that guy,” Mahomes said of Walker in his Thursday press conference. “I mean, he’s a talented football player. He runs tough. He has speed. He can break a touchdown at any moment. He can catch the ball. He does kind of it all.
“And so, when you have those guys on your team, you find ways to get them the football. If that’s either just handing the ball off to them or throwing it to them, you’ve got to and so we got him for a reason. He came in with the right mindset and mentality, and he’s really attacked this offseason. And so, I think he’s as excited as anybody to get out there in Arrowhead and have Chiefs Kingdom behind him, and so him as well as Emmett [Johnson] and Brashard [Smith], I mean, we’ve got a good running back room, and we’ll utilize those guys within this offense.”
The first chance we’ll all have to see Walker with the Chiefs will be on Monday night when the club takes on the Broncos.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said earlier this week that “there’s a good chance” left tackle Josh Simmons will miss Monday night’s game against the Broncos and Thursday didn’t bring any better news on that front.
Simmons was listed as a non-participant on the team’s first injury report of the 2026 season. Simmons has been dealing with a back injury.
Rookie Kahlil Benson will start if Simmons is unable to play against Denver.
Cornerback Chamarri Conner (knee) was the only other player to miss practice for the Chiefs. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes (knee) leads a group of full participants that also includes linebacker Jack Cochrane (knee), defensive end Ashton Gillotte (foot), wide receiver Rashee Rice (knee), guard Trey Smith (hip), cornerback L’Jarius Sneed (knee), defensive end R Mason Thomas (hamstring), and wide receiver Xavier Worthy (shoulder).
Patrick Mahomes says he’s ready.
While the Chiefs’ quarterback suffered a torn ACL in mid-December, he is set to start Monday night’s game against the Broncos to begin the 2026 season.
“This has always been the goal — to get out there and play Week 1,” Mahomes said in his Thursday press conference. “It was a long offseason, a lot of work, a lot of great people around me — trainers, [my wife] Brittany, my family supporting me.
“But now we get to go out there and play the sport that I love. So, super excited. I mean, to get to play at Arrowhead against a great opponent, and go out there and be myself.”
Mahomes mentioned being himself on the field several times, which signals his readiness to utilize his legs whenever he feels he needs to. He noted a couple of moments in practice where he felt like he was back — precisely because he wasn’t thinking about his knee. One was a fourth-down play where he took off running and the other was when he was accidentally hit from behind.
“Every coach was freaking out, but I was like, I’m glad — someone hit me and I didn’t just crumble,” Mahomes said. “Stuff like that is good for me. And so now it’s just about going out there and playing the game.”
Those are moments where Mahomes has gotten the feeling that he can go out and execute.
“I’ve built up the strength, I’ve built up all the days of rehab so I can be myself,” Mahomes said. “I’m going to keep myself out of harm’s way like I always will — not trying to take big hits and stuff like that. But I’m a competitor. I signed up for this, and I’m going to go out and play football. I think that’s how I’ve always rolled, no matter what it is. That’s how I’ll probably roll the rest of my career.
“I think that’s what makes me who I am, is that I just love competing,” Mahomes added. “Playing quarterback is one thing. But you’ve got to love competing to have success in this league. You see that with the guys around this league nowadays. I’ll try not to lay any blocks unless it’s needed. But other than that, I’m going to go out and be myself and play football. We’ve built up all this strength over the offseason for that, so why not go out and maximize it?”
Mahomes and the Chiefs will certainly be tested with Monday night’s matchup against the division-rival Broncos. Denver led the league with 68 sacks last season, which was only four sacks below the record of ’72, which was set by the 1984 Bears.
Broncos owners Carrie Walton Penner and Greg Penner currently hold 40 percent of the MLB’s Colorado Rockies. Whenever baseball’s looming labor mess ends, they’re expected to emerge with controlling interest in the local baseball franchise
Via Woody Paige of the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Penners intend to acquire another 35 percent of the Rockies once the baseball Collective Bargaining Agreement is resolved.
The Walton-Penner group bought the Broncos in 2022 for a then-record $4.65 billion, less than half the recent price paid for the Seahawks.
Their fortune traces to the Walmart empire, which has spawned a cluster of multibillionaires. The Broncos’ ownership group instantly became the richest in the NFL, by far, and they’re willing to spend their money for the betterment of the team — which gives them a real advantage over their competitors.
Last year, in their fourth season of ownership, the Broncos won the No. 1 seed in the AFC and nearly secured a Super Bowl berth, The team is one of the short-list favorites for 2026.
While it’s been trending this way for months, Chiefs head coach all but made it official on Tuesday:
Patrick Mahomes is set to start the Week 1 matchup against the Broncos.
“Pretty good chance Patrick will go ahead and start, unless something were to come up here in the next couple days,” Reid said in his Tuesday video conference. “But, most likely, he’ll be the guy that’s out there.”
While Mahomes did not play in the preseason, he was an active participant in training camp and did not spend any time on the physically unable to perform list — despite suffering a torn ACL in December.
“Yeah, I mean, he’s shown everything there. He hasn’t missed a day, as you know,” Reid said. “You guys have seen him out there, so you know what it looks like, him running around and doing his stuff. Other than having a brace on his leg, everything looks normal. He’s running around the same way he’s always done and throwing the ball like he’s always done.
“So, I think we’ll be fine there.”
Mahomes, however, is unlikely to have his starting left tackle on the field with him in the Week 1 matchup against the Broncos. Josh Simmons is dealing with a back injury that has sidelined him.
“There’s a good chance Josh doesn’t play this week,” Reid said. “That’s where we’re at. So, we have that in our mind and I mean, he has an issue there that he’s working through. I’m not putting any time restraint on when he could come back, or when he could practice or how many practices he needs, and all that. I just want to make sure he’s healthy and OK to go. But other than that, we move forward.”
Kahlil Benson — an undrafted rookie out of Indiana — is in line to start at left tackle if Simmons is unable to play.
Veteran safety Taylor Rapp is heading back to Denver.
Rapp signed with the Broncos last month, but left the team to attend to personal matters. Head coach Sean Payton said at the time that there was a strong chance Rapp would return to the organization and Rapp worked out last week with an eye on coming back to action.
According to multiple reports, his return will come via the practice squad. Rapp can resume working out with the team right away and will be eligible to be elevated to the active roster for games.
Rapp played in 36 games for the Bills over the last three seasons and he made 57 appearances for the Rams over his first four years in the NFL. He has 488 tackles, 12 interceptions, two sacks, two forced fumbles and four fumble recoveries for his career.
