Patrick Mahomes has stuck to the calendar his surgeons handed him in December.
“It’s nine months. It’s the amount of time [doctors] said from the beginning, that if I did everything the right way, I would be ready to play Week 1,” the Chiefs quarterback told reporters this week.
Mahomes tore the anterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments in his left knee during a Week 15 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on 14 December 2025. Dr Dan Cooper, the Dallas Cowboys’ team physician, operated on the knee two days later, with the club describing the surgery as successful and setting a nine-month rehab window.
That window closes on 16 September. The season opener falls two days earlier, a Monday night home game against the Broncos.
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Cleared before training camp
Mahomes was fully cleared to practice by Dr Cooper before the Chiefs reported to training camp in St Joseph at the end of July, and he has since taken part in every scheduled session with the first team. He will not appear in the preseason at all, an unusual step for a starting quarterback and a first in his own career.
“Honestly, the more we practice, the better I feel,” he said.
“Being able to go out there, day after day, and have the grind of a camp, that can even be harder than the [regular] season.”
His motivation on the opener has not been subtle.
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“I don’t want to miss that game against the Broncos because that’s the team that won the division while we were gone,” he said in July.
Reid takes it day by day
Head coach Andy Reid has refused to commit publicly to a start, even with Mahomes clearing every practice benchmark.
“Listen, he’s doing great. We’ll just see, literally taking it day by day,” Reid said on 24 August.
“No predictions here on anything. If the doctors and trainers and everybody involved with this give him the OK, and most of all if he feels like he can, then we’ll address that when we get there.”
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The final medical sign-off is expected in the days before kick-off. Mahomes has already decided how he intends to walk into it.
“This has always been the plan. From the day I got the surgery, as quick as I did, to hopefully the first game of the year, the plan will go accordingly, and I’ll be able to go out there and be myself.”
Kick-off at Arrowhead Stadium is on 14 September.
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