Patrick Mahomes didn’t just start planning a return after last December’s knee injury. According to Andy Reid, he was already doing it while the MRI was being taken.
That scan would show torn ACL and LCL damage, but even before the diagnosis was official, the Chiefs quarterback was talking like a man who had already chosen his ending.
“He was calculating it pretty early,” Reid said Thursday.
Reid said Mahomes made it clear in that room that he expected to come back, and the coach said there was “no hesitation.” That stubborn certainty, Reid added, is part of what makes Mahomes different.
“I don’t doubt,” the coach said, “anything he puts his mind to.”
Now Mahomes is set to start Monday night when the Chiefs open their 2026 season against the Denver Broncos at Arrowhead Stadium, roughly nine months after the injury that sent him toward surgery in Dallas the next morning and rehab the day after that.
The recovery was long, and by all accounts demanding. But the bigger question now is what happens when the real stuff starts again. Mahomes was a full participant in training camp and said his knee got stronger and more confident along the way, yet he never took a snap in any of the Chiefs’ three preseason games.
So Monday brings a different test. Reid says Mahomes is physically cleared and has shown enough in camp that the Chiefs don’t need to scale back what they normally would do. Still, no workout or practice rep can fully answer the one question that matters most: how will the knee respond once he’s taking hits in a live game?
Mahomes seems to know where the answer lives. During his Thursday interview session, he kept circling back to one idea - being himself.
“Not necessarily. I think it’s going to be hard for me not to just be myself once I step on the field,” he said when asked whether he had a mental checklist to work through.
He described how camp settled him in.
“The moment stuff started happening, I just became a competitor.”
And when asked whether he’ll have to balance protecting the knee with ignoring it, he kept coming back to the same point.
“A little bit. (But) I think you’ve got to go out there and be yourself. I’ve built up the strength, I’ve built up all the days of rehab, so that I can be myself.”
That doesn’t mean he plans to play reckless. Mahomes said he’ll try to stay out of danger and avoid taking big shots, and even joked that he’ll probably “try not to lay any blocks.”
“Hopefully,” he said. “Unless it’s needed.”
But the instinct to do even that, to throw himself into the mess when necessary, is part of the package. Asked about blocking, Mahomes put it plainly: “That’s what makes me who I am.”
It’s also why Reid and everyone else around the Chiefs never really doubted the timeline. Mahomes said he never had a day when he wondered if he’d be back for this opener.
“Never those days.”
That confidence has carried him through rehab, pain and the dull grind that comes with recovery. It also fits the way he talked about what he took from the injury and from last season, when the Chiefs went 6-11 and saw their run of five Super Bowl trips in six seasons come to an end.
On the injury, Mahomes said, “you have to get past that (and) you have to move on, just like anything else in life. You have to push forward and learn from it and get better from it.”
On last season, he talked about the small mistakes and details that piled up for Kansas City, and the need to reset.
They have to … push forward, he said, “and kind of learn how to win again.”
That is the backdrop for Monday night: Mahomes trying to be the same quarterback he’s always been, only with a repaired knee and a new season waiting. Reid has seen enough to trust the bet. The rest of us will find out when the Broncos come to Arrowhead.
In Other News...
Chiefs Fans Going To Arrowhead Need To Know These New Gate Rules
With the 2026 opener against the Broncos set for Sept. 14 at Arrowhead Stadium, Chiefs fans heading to the first home game of the season will want to be ready for more than just kickoff. The team has laid out its standard game-day policies around tailgating, parking pass requirements and what can and cannot come through the gates, all of it aimed at keeping entry lines moving once the season gets underway.
Fans will also need to remember that a game ticket is required to get inside, and the NFLs Clear Bag policy still applies at the stadium. For anyone planning a full day around Arrowhead, the details matter, because a smooth arrival starts well before the first snap and the rules on whats allowed inside can shape the whole trip. [Read more 🡒]
Chiefs Fans Just Got A Painful Hint About Arrowheads Future
The Chiefs are heading toward one of the biggest transitions in franchise history, with a new stadium set to open in 2031 and move the team across the state line. For fans who have spent decades tying the identity of the franchise to Arrowhead Stadium, the future is already looking different, even if the long goodbye still has a few years left.
Clark Hunt said the new building likely will not carry the Arrowhead name, a reminder that the club is preparing to turn the page on one of the NFLs most recognizable venues. The plan is to preserve pieces of Arrowheads legacy in the design, but after the current stadium hosts its final years and is retired, the emotional shift for Chiefs fans could be as real as the physical one. [Read more 🡒]
Andy Reid Succession Talk Just Got Real For Chiefs Fans
The conversation around Andy Reids long-term future in Kansas City has started to feel less like idle offseason chatter and more like a question fans are going to keep circling back to. On The Ringer Fantasy Football Show, Danny Heifetz and Danny Kelly dug into what the next chapter could look like if the Chiefs ever hit a prolonged rough patch with Patrick Mahomes still in place, a scenario that would put Reids place in the franchise under a very different kind of scrutiny.
Heifetz floated the idea that repeated playoff misses could eventually bring pressure on Reid to step aside, and even pointed to Kyle Shanahan as a possible successor down the line. Nothing about the discussion reflected any official decision or even a timeline, but it did show how naturally the coaching succession topic is creeping into the background whenever Reids name comes up. [Read more 🡒]