{"id":777195,"date":"2026-02-26T08:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T08:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/777195\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T08:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T08:52:18","slug":"chiefs-could-trade-for-former-first-round-qb-amid-patrick-mahomes-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/777195\/","title":{"rendered":"Chiefs Could Trade for Former First-Round QB Amid Patrick Mahomes Injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> quarterback Patrick Mahomes<\/a> certainly believes he will be ready to play by the 2026 season opener after undergoing surgery on Dec. 15 to repair a torn ACL.<\/p>\n

And the Chiefs are certainly hoping he\u2019s right.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, I want to be ready for Week 1,\u201d Mahomes recently told reporters<\/a>. \u201cThe doctor said I could be, [and while we] can’t predict what’s going to happen throughout the process, that’s my goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ll try to prepare myself to play in Week 1, and have no restrictions. So, hopefully [I’ll] be able to do some stuff in OTAs, and then get to training camp and be able to do a lot of stuff. It’s a long process, but I’m excited for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Kansas<\/p>\n

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But despite the optimism coming from Mahomes\u2019 camp about his recovery timeline, few would blame the Chiefs if they had a contingency plan in place just in case Mahomes does miss the first part of the season (ACL recoveries typically take 9-12 months).<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s exactly why ESPN\u2019s Seth Walder thinks the Chiefs could go and acquire a veteran backup with plenty of starting experience as an insurance policy \u2014 and Walder believes that player is former Washington Commanders QB Marcus Mariota.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny prediction about [Mahomes\u2019] Week 1 status is just a guess, so I imagine that the Chiefs would want to be cautious with Mahomes, given his importance to the franchise,\u201d Walder wrote. \u201cIf that is the case, they’d want a reliable backup who can ideally win a few games while Mahomes finishes up his recovery. I believe Mariota fits the bill.<\/p>\n

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\"Washington<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe 32-year-old stood in for Jayden Daniels for eight starts in Washington last season and was capable, with a 50.2 QBR. He has a long history of being solid, which is essentially what Kansas City needs — a player who can keep the team afloat in Mahomes’ absence but is willing to be a backup and won’t be overly expensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playing in 11 games in relief of Jayden Daniels, Mariota had a strong performance.<\/p>\n

The 32-year-old threw for 1,695 yards, 10 touchdowns and seven interceptions while rushing for 297 yards and another score. During his 11-year career, Mariota has a 36-46 record as a starter, including a 29-32 record with the Tennessee Titans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes certainly believes he will be ready to play by the 2026 season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,7,118,110,2438,2437,6,499],"class_list":{"0":"post-777195","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-kansascity","13":"tag-kansascitychiefs","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-patrick-mahomes"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116136086917717011","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777195","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=777195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}