![\"Patrick](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/bill-belichick-patrick-mahomes-hall-of-fame-vote.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Patrick Mahomes could not believe the Bill Belichick Hall of Fame vote.<\/p>\n
The Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> have delivered some conflicting messages on whether quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be ready to start the season, but oddsmakers seem to have more confidence in his return.<\/p>\n Mahomes has spent the offseason rehabbing from a complicated knee injury that cut short his 2025 season just before the team was officially eliminated from the playoffs. While there is no official word on whether he\u2019ll be ready for the season opener, Mahomes is facing an optimistic prediction when it comes to the MVP race.<\/p>\n Patrick Mahomes Among MVP Frontrunners Yet Again<\/p>\n Though Mahomes fell out of the 2025 MVP race long before his injury, Fox Sports<\/a> noted that he will once again be among the frontrunners when the next season starts. The early odds show that Mahomes has the third-best odds, behind two other recent winners \u2014 Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen and Baltimore Ravens<\/a> quarterback Lamar Jackson.<\/p>\n \u201cMahomes won MVP in 2018 and again in 2022,\u201d the report noted. \u201cHe received 41 first-place votes the first time around (Drew Brees received the other nine), throwing 50 touchdowns that season, tied for second-most in a single season all time. In 2022, he got 48 first-place votes. Allen and Jalen Hurts each received one first-place vote.\u201d<\/p>\n Mahomes did get a boost with the return of tight end Travis Kelce, one of his favorite targets. Kelce briefly contemplated retirement before deciding to return in 2026, signing a three-year contract.<\/p>\n The MVP oddsmakers don\u2019t have as much faith in last year\u2019s winner, placing Los Angeles Rams<\/a> quarterback Matthew Stafford near the bottom of the list.<\/p>\n Patrick Mahomes Still Rehabbing<\/p>\n Mahomes could see his MVP odds drop if he\u2019s not able to start the season. He underwent surgery immediately following the injury in December, but the complicated nature of the torn ACL and LCL could make his rehab more complicated than the typical ACL tear.<\/p>\n Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said he wouldn\u2019t bet against Mahomes returning in time for the season opener, but team owner Clark Hunt was a bit more reserved in his prediction. Hunt said he wasn\u2019t sure if the NFL would schedule the Chiefs against the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks<\/a> to start the year, owing mainly to the uncertainty surrounding Mahomes.<\/p>\n Reporter\u00a0Pete Sweeney of the Kansas City Star<\/a> believes it will be hard to tell, noting that Mahomes has a history of returning quickly from injuries, but not ones as complicated as this.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to answer because all we have to go off of are less-serious injuries,\u201d Sweeney wrote. In 2019, Mahomes returned from a dislocated knee after two absences. During the 2020 playoffs, he guided the Chiefs to the Super Bowl with turf toe, then won it in 2022 with a high-ankle sprain.\u201d<\/p>\n The Chiefs made a big investment in their quarterback depth this offseason, trading for Justin Fields as the No. 2 to Mahomes. Sweeney noted that the Chiefs would feel confident starting the season with the former Chicago Bears<\/a> first-rounder if Mahomes isn\u2019t ready yet.<\/p>\n \u201cIf he can\u2019t go to start the season, the Chiefs have said they feel good about Justin Fields \u2014 but I\u2019m with Reid. Answer: I wouldn\u2019t bet against Mahomes, either,\u201d Sweeney wrote.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tNathan Dougherty<\/a> is a sports reporter covering the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins. Previously he wrote for the Rochester Business Journal and served as the assistant editor of athletic trade magazines Coaching Management, Athletic Management and Training & Conditioning. He is based out of Rochester, New York, and loves everything football. More about Nathan Dougherty<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Chiefs\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Patrick Mahomes could not believe the Bill Belichick Hall of Fame vote. The Kansas City Chiefs have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":710547,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2063],"tags":[346,7,118,110,2438,2437,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-862627","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"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116377085709282749","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862627","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=862627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/710547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}