Patrick Mahomes return talk heats up but one big red flag remains originally appeared on The Sporting News.
Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Patrick Mahomes suffered a season-ending torn ACL and LCL in his left knee in December during the Week 15 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. The 16-13 defeat eliminated the Kansas City Chiefs from playoff contention for the first time since 2014.
Their underwhelming 6-11 campaign marked the worst season of the Mahomes era. The 30-year-old signal-caller underwent a successful surgery the very next evening and began his intensive rehabilitation process.
Five months later, Head Coach Andy Reid noted that Mahomes is “making progress,” while the Texas native himself confirmed that rehab is “going great” as he hits every physical benchmark. Plus, according to NFL.com, Chiefs GM Brett Veach recently said the three-time Super Bowl winner is “way ahead of schedule.”
The franchise is highly hopeful that Mahomes will be cleared in time for training camp to prepare for a full regular season. On Monday, ESPN’s Adam Schefter acknowledged the franchise’s optimism, confirming that based on what he’s heard, Mahomes “is tracking to be ready for their season opener on Monday night.”
He pointed out that Mahomes was recently swinging a golf club at his charity tournament in Las Vegas. Teams do not allow quarterbacks recovering from multi-ligament knee surgery to swing a golf club unless they are confident the knee is stable. So, he is hopeful.
But he hesitated to give it a “100%.” He noted that the injury happened exactly five months ago, and the season opener is less than four months away. A standard ACL recovery takes nine to twelve months, and a combined ACL and LCL reconstruction is even more complex.
Schefter added, “Is he gonna be 80%, 90%, 100%? Like that’s hard to imagine that he could just step in there right away after such a significant knee injury and pick up right where he left off and be as great as he’s always been. I just think there’s gonna be a little bit of an adjustment to what he’s come back from, which is significant.”
“The Chiefs have said that Patrick Mahomes is way ahead of schedule..
It sounds like he’s tracking to be ready for their season opener on Monday night” @AdamSchefter#PMSLivepic.twitter.com/wvXPocl7dN
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 18, 2026
Training camp will provide more clarity when Mahomes begins facing live defense. If he is not ready or if the Chiefs limit his snaps, backup signal-caller Justin Fields will start.
Head Coach Andy Reid confirmed the team acquired Fields to play quarterback, not to run trick plays. He gives the Chiefs a reliable short-term option alongside Travis Kelce, Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, and running back Kenneth Walker.
Kansas City officially opens the 2026 NFL season on Monday Night Football, hosting the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium on Sep. 14. It will serve as a marquee divisional revenge game against the squad that snapped their historic nine-year run as AFC West champions.
More NFL news:
- Future Hall of Famer predicts Caleb Downs will do what only Micah Parsons has done as a Cowboy
- NFL VP Mike North has a blunt message for teams upset about scheduling
- Deion Sanders believes he has information Todd Monken needs to hear
- Tom Brady set to call his very first New England game as analyst
- Jerry Jones’ 45,000-man-hour AT&T stadium project exposes a massive NFL vs FIFA field controversy
- Jerry Jones and Cowboys could lose George Pickens to a surprise NFC team