3 Women Inspiring Chiefs’ Mahomes During His Comeback

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Sunday’s Super Bowl isn’t expected to surpass last year’s viewership record of 127.7 million. After all, Patrick Mahomes isn’t playing, for just the second time in seven seasons.

The day after Sunday’s game, though, Mahomes will be back in action. He kicks off his ninth week of rehabilitation as he fights through the grueling process of strengthening his left knee, marching toward his goal of returning in time for the mid-September opener.

And there’s no shortage of inspiration. Three of his inspiring sources are impressive women.

Brittany Mahomes and NFL’s other leading ladies take over Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover with WAG message https://t.co/07alBBA73g pic.twitter.com/k2hrna8xit
— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) February 5, 2026

Britanny Mahomes

His wife and mother of the quarterback’s three children, Brittany Mahomes is also now on the cover of the annual Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.

After a brief pro soccer career in Iceland, Brittany became a fitness entrepreneur and personal trainer. She also purchased an ownership stake the Kansas City Current, a member of the National Women’s Soccer League, in 2020. And in 2024, she celebrated a long and tireless process to present the franchise with Kansas City’s newest sports venue, CPKC Stadium, the world’s first facility constructed exclusively for a women’s pro sports franchise.

Brittany posed with other wives of NFL stars for the issue on location in Fort Myers, Fla.

Lindsey Vonn

In one of the most inspiring sports stories of all-time, three-time gold medalist Lindsey Vonn will compete in the Winter Olympics only a week after rupturing the ACL in her left knee. The legendary skier said she’ll use a brace and, incredibly, still compete in Sunday’s Milan Cortina Games.

Vonn, 41, sustained the injury Saturday in Switzerland, competing in a World Cup downhill race.

“We have been doing extensive therapy,” she said on Tuesday. “Been consulting with doctors, been in the gym, and today I went skiing. And, considering how my knee feels, my knee feels stable, I feel strong, my knee is not swollen, and with the help of a knee brace, I am confident that I can compete on Sunday.”

Her initial event is the women’s downhill on Sunday. Later in the games, she’s scheduled for the super-G and a new event, the team combined competition.

Patrick Mahomes also sustained a left knee injury, damage to both his ACL and LCL on Dec. 14.

Julie Frymyer

Speaking of knee braces, ironically during last summer’s taping of a State Farm commercial, pop star Meghan Trainor tried to affix a knee brace on the arm of Mahomes. But the real trainer in that commercial, Chiefs assistant athletic trainer Julie Frymyer, would never let that happen.

Frymyer is the individual charged with the day-to-day management of the quarterback’s rehab.

“Yeah, first off, rehab has been going great so far,” Mahomes said Jan. 15. “Just hitting all the checkpoints that the doctor wants you to do, and getting the strength and the range of mobility back. So that's been going great. Been doing all of it here in Kansas City so far, and Julie has been crushing it, pushing me.”

Frymyer has earned plenty of trust from Mahomes, who recognizes her as the primary reason he was able to play in Super Bowl 57 three years ago and lead the Chiefs to a 38-35 win over Philadelphia.

“As in the past with Patrick and his injuries,” Rick Burkholder, the Chiefs’ vice president of sports medicine and performance, said in December, “he attacks them and does very well. And he's in that mode right now. … The majority of the rehab he'll do with my staff, and in particular Julie Frymyer, who's done his dislocated patella, his toe injury and his ankle injuries.”

Frymyer arrived in Kansas City the same year Mahomes became a full-time starter, 2018. Prior the Chiefs, she spent three years (2015-18) as an assistant athletic trainer at Princeton and held similar roles at Towson (2013-15) and in the Naples, Fla., community.

In 2008, Frymyer worked with the Butler men’s basketball team that advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

She owns several degrees and certifications, including a bachelor’s in athletic training from West Chester (’05), a master’s in exercise physiology from Florida International (’07) and a doctor of physical therapy from St. Augustine (2012).

Don’t be surprised to see Frymyer become a head athletic trainer with an NFL team in the near future.

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