Andy Reid Gives Promising Update on Patrick Mahomes’s ACL Rehab

The Chiefs quarterback wants to be back for Week 1—but will he be?

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is handling his ACL recovery well. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

One of the biggest questions looming over the Chiefs this offseason is: when will Patrick Mahomes finish his rehab and be available to start for Kansas City? The star quarterback tore his ACL in December, ending his 2025 season early. He has since undergone surgery to repair his ACL and LCL and is continuing to recover.

The best-case scenario, of course, would be for Mahomes to be ready by Week 1. Realistically, an ACL recovery typically takes at least nine months for football players. That means Mahomes could be back on the field in Week 2 or 3 of the 2026 season. If things keep progressing well, there’s a chance Mahomes will be ready to start in Week 1. Otherwise, the Chiefs will start their new backup, Justin Fields, until Mahomes is ready to make his 2026 debut.

On Monday, ahead of Thursday’s NFL draft, Chiefs coach Andy Reid spoke with the media and provided a promising update on Mahomes’s recovery timeline, something we haven’t heard too much about since Mahomes’s surgery.

“He goes to meetings, he can lift, do all of that, rehab,” Reid said. “That’s the phase he is in right now, so we’ll just see, kind of play it by ear and see where he is at. He’s doing great, but we just have to be smart with this thing.”

It sounds like everything is going well in the three-time Super Bowl champion’s recovery, which is a good sign. It’s too early for the Chiefs to make any dramatic announcements about when Mahomes could be back on the field; he is only a few months removed from surgery, after all. And, we still have four-plus months until the 2026 season starts. Still, it’s good to hear that Mahomes is on the right track and staying healthy as the upcoming season approaches.

Mahomes made it very clear after his surgery that his goal is to start in Week 1. This is the goal for Chiefs fans, too.

“I think, the long-term ... I want to be ready for Week 1. The doctor said that I could be, but I can’t predict what’s going to happen throughout the process. That’s my goal. I’ll try to prepare myself to be ready to play in Week 1, and have no restrictions,” Mahomes said back on Jan. 15.

Mahomes shocked the NFL world on March 25 when he was seen throwing passes and doing drills at an indoor facility just three months after undergoing surgery. “Day by Day!” Mahomes wrote in the caption of the post. “Great being able to throw the ball around today.” This video definitely proved that Mahomes remains on a promising recovery track, as long as he doesn’t have any setbacks in the meantime.

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