The NFL news cycle began to stir a bit this afternoon after Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes posted a brief clip of himself dropping back to throw a pass just 100 days faraway from serious knee surgery. The All-Pro passer showed encouraging signs of progress in his movement, but he still has an extended approach to go before he can return to the sector healthy.
Mahomes’ season-ending injury got here within the fifteenth week of the NFL season, when the 30-year-old rolled out right for a pass then tripped over an opposing defensive lineman after releasing his throw. It was quickly announced that he had torn his ACL. As reports the subsequent day delivered news of his surgery, further reports showed that he had also torn his LCL within the prior day’s game.
The late-season timing of the injury, combined with the extra damage to the LCL painted a grim timeline of recovery that might make a 2026 season opening debut tough to swing. The intense injury was unfamiliar territory for the standard ironman quarterback. Never missing greater than a pair of games as a consequence of injury within the NFL, Mahomes now stared down long recovery that might require months of rehabilitation.
In line with ESPN’s Nate Taylor, Mahomes has taken to recovery like a fish to water. Within the words of his head coach, Andy Reid, “He’s around here on a regular basis. He spends a ton of time here, seven hours a day.
“He’s in there cranking away and making progress day-after-day. It’s great to see. (Athletic Trainer) Julie (Frymyer) grinds on him and makes sure he stays on task and challenges him. He keeps showing up. That’s about half the battle on this stuff when you’ve these injuries. It’s not going to be a pleasing thing. Day-after-day, you’ve got to fight through it, and also you’ve got to attack the challenge of the workout and rehab. He’s doing a fantastic job with that.”
Being the one hundredth day since coming out of surgery, today stood as a checkpoint for Mahomes. Based on his current capabilities, Kansas City is “optimistic that Mahomes is heading in the right direction to participate — even in a limited capability — within the team’s voluntary offseason practices” expected to begin in May. That’s actually a benchmark to observe, but Mahomes has his eyes on a date further in the long run.
When asked if he’d be ready for Week 1 of the 2026 season, Mahomes told reporters, “The doctors said I could, but I can’t predict what happens throughout the method. That’s the goal, to play Week 1 and haven’t any restrictions. You desire to be on the market healthy and provides us the perfect likelihood to win. I hope to do some things in OTAs and training camp and have the opportunity to do things there.”
With the diligence he’s shown to this point in rehabbing, Mahomes stands every likelihood of constructing it back to the sector in time. In line with Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, though, if he isn’t able to take the sector in September, Mahomes will simply have to take a seat and keep working his way back. Rapoport characterizes Kansas City’s medical staff as excellent and conservative. We’re a great distance from that time, though, so Mahomes has time to make things occur.