{"id":686052,"date":"2026-01-18T08:23:49","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T08:23:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/686052\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T08:23:49","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T08:23:49","slug":"the-chiefs-patrick-mahomes-is-working-to-be-ready-for-week-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/686052\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chiefs\u2019 Patrick Mahomes is working to be ready for Week 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Thursday, Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> quarterback Patrick Mahomes spoke with local media for the first time since last month\u2019s season-ending ACL tear.<\/p>\n

The league\u2019s biggest star confirmed reports that his rehab is taking place exclusively in Kansas City with familiar team trainer Julie Frymyer. While he is not ready to definitively announce his return date, Mahomes is working to be ready to start the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

He also hopes to participate in the spring\u2019s organized-team-activities (OTAs) in some fashion while taking on a bigger workload at training camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously,\u201d he said, \u201cI think [in] the long-term, I want to be ready for Week 1. The doctor said that I could be, but I can\u2019t predict what\u2019s going to happen throughout the process. But that\u2019s my goal, and so I\u2019ll try to prepare myself to be ready to play in that Week 1 and have no restrictions. You want to be out there healthy and giving us the best chance to win. So, obviously, I\u2019ll hopefully be able to do some stuff in OTAs and get to training camp and hopefully be able to do a lot there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conflicting analysis frequently surrounds major injuries regarding when the extent of an injury is truly known. While the eyes of the sports world anxiously watched Mahomes limp into the Chiefs\u2019 locker room on December 14, the quarterback actually held out hope of returning to finish the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew something had happened,\u201d he recalled. \u201cBut once I was able to walk a little bit, I thought I might have a chance to kind of get back into the game. You go into the tent, they do the test, and they want to take you back to the locker room. So you don\u2019t know for sure and everything like that. But when I was ready to move, I asked one of the doctors if I could get a brace and just finish the game, but they wouldn\u2019t let me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reasons doctors would not simply give him a brace soon became clear.<\/p>\n

\"KANSAS<\/a><\/p>\n

KANSAS CITY, MO – DECEMBER 14: Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) lies on the ground holding his knee after being injured in the fourth quarter of an NFL game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs on December 14, 2025 at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO. (Photo by Scott Winters\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt kind of sunk in once the game ended,\u201d Mahomes explained, \u201cand then I was able to get the results from the MRI and stuff like that. It\u2019s hard, but at the same time, you\u2019ve got to kind of flip the script fast knowing that it\u2019s going to be a quick turnaround to get to this season. So now, it\u2019s just been motivating trying to push myself \u2014 as much as they\u2019ll let me push myself \u2014 to be ready for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Being ready for next year may involve dual spring responsibilities of injury rehab and studying whatever new wrinkles the Chiefs plan to add to the offense after missing the postseason for the first time in Mahomes\u2019 career.<\/p>\n

Even when he isn\u2019t getting the physical practice reps, Mahomes believes he can improve as a player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think more than anything,\u201d he remarked, \u201cit\u2019s just being in there and being in the room, being on the field as much as they\u2019ll let me. And then when I\u2019m not able to, to take the reps, kind of getting those mental reps behind the play and seeing everything develop. The coaches will put me in the right position in order to do that. I\u2019ll take it slow \u2014 but at the same time, I\u2019ll push to be out there as much as I can be. We have a great plan in place as far as kind of where we want to get to, but we have to let it all play out and kind of take it a day at a time \u2014 which [has] been hard for me. But at the same time, it makes me get the best out of every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n

An offseason spent on site with the training staff will put a temporary pause on \u201cCamp Mahomes\u201d \u2014 the recent trend in which the quarterback invites his receivers to spend the first part of OTAs practicing with him in the Dallas\/Fort Worth area. They will likely begin the offseason program in-house under closer watch of head coach Andy Reid (and subject to more stringent rules about what activities are allowed in the initial phase).<\/p>\n

Mahomes believes he and the group can still build the needed rapport, possibly while taking in some local baseball.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t speak for what Coach Reid exactly is going to do,\u201d said Mahomes, \u201cbut I would expect us to kind of be here a little bit earlier just with me already being here. I\u2019ve talked to some of the receivers already. I think that\u2019s kind of the mindset that we have is we want to be in the building and getting back to it. The thing about when you lose and you don\u2019t make the playoffs, you have a longer offseason than you usually have. So, I think guys are getting away right now, kind of getting their minds right, getting their bodies right \u2014 but guys are hungry to get back out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to watch these playoff games. So we\u2019ll be in the building and you\u2019ll try to build that camaraderie that way. It\u2019s just doing stuff around Kansas City. Maybe [I\u2019ll] take them to some Royals games \u2014 or whatever, wherever that is \u2014 and try to build those relationships with those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Thursday, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes spoke with local media for the first time since last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,7,118,110,23995,922,2438,2437,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-686052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-kansas-city-chiefs","8":"tag-chiefs","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-kansas-city","11":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","12":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-injuries","13":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs-news","14":"tag-kansascity","15":"tag-kansascitychiefs","16":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115915146869547978","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}