Will Patrick Mahomes be ready to play in Week 1 of 2026 — Chiefs HC Andy Reid had this to say about his ACL recovery outlook
Andy Reid weighed in on Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes’ recovery timeline from his ACL injury.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ 2025 season and run of dominance in the NFL all came crashing down in Week 15 when QB Patrick Mahomes tore his left ACL in the final minutes of the game.
Mahomes faces his first extended rehab and recovery of his career, with the significant injury leaving everyone asking a simple question: Will Mahomes be ready to play in Week 1 of the 2026 season?
There are plenty of reasons to be pessimistic about a potential timeline, and the reality is that it’s far too soon to know anything for sure. The Chiefs will prepare for all possibilities, but head coach Andy Reid remains hopeful of a quick recovery for No. 15.
“Yeah, we’ll cross that as we go,” Reid said of Mahomes’ recovery timeline. “Brett (Veach) thinks of everything. I mean, he jumps in on it, and he’s well ahead of all of it. So, I’m not worried about it, that part of it. And then Pat (Mahomes), you never know on these rehabs how they go. I just know he’s got good people that he’ll be working with, and I know how aggressive he is on things. And you know, as long as the surgery goes well and as expected, then I would expect a fairly quick recovery for him just because of those factors.”
Mahomes, of course, came back from his patella dislocation in 2019 much quicker than anyone expected him to, leading the team to its first Super Bowl win in 50 years in Super Bowl LIV. He’s come back from multiple high ankle sprains much sooner than expected as well. His hypermobility is such that people have called him “double-jointed.” However, all those injuries he’s come back from are significantly less traumatic than a full-fledged ligament tear and reconstruction.
What if Patrick Mahomes isn’t ready for Week 1 of the 2026?
The dilemma the Chiefs face heading into the 2026 NFL season is that Patrick Mahomes is the only quarterback currently under contract. Despite Reid’s optimism that Mahomes will attack his rehab, you don’t know the challenges players will face until they go through it.
“I know the process of rehab, and for sure he’ll get in there,” Reid said. “And I know he’ll come out on the strong end of this thing.”
When Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray tore his ACL on December 12, 2022, he didn’t return to play until mid-November during their Week 10 game the following season. Chiefs GM Brett Veach has to prepare for the very real possibility that Mahomes is not ready to start Week 1.
With that said, in the eyes of Coach Reid, these next three games will act as an audition of sorts for K.C.’s current backup QB, Gardner Minshew.
“Yeah, sure,” Reid told reporters on Monday. “I’ve got a ton of confidence in Gardner (Minshew). So, I mean, I’ve watched him play with these other teams. He started in the league. Our guys have confidence in him. And then Chris Oladokun, behind him, will work up there. And Chris has been with us for a while, too. So I think these are two guys that our guys trust in there, and we’ll play hard for them.”
If things go well over the next three games, Minshew and Oladokun could both remain with Kansas City, providing valuable depth for the team as Mahomes works his way back from the ACL tear. The key will be ensuring the Chiefs have someone in place that they trust to go out, perform, and win games if Mahomes’ injury recovery and rehab bleed into the 2026 NFL season.
Kansas City Chiefs News
Chiefs found out something extremely important in their loss to the Chargers that they can take into next season
The Chiefs found out after their loss to the Chargers that they have some really good depth pieces.
