All eyes will be on Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes this spring and summer as he recovers from the torn ACL he sustained back in December.
Mahomes went down with the injury during a Week 15 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers, causing him to miss the final three games of the season. He was fortunately able to have surgery the very next day before the swelling in his knee became too prevalent.
Because of that, and Mahomes’ relentless work ethic, he’ll have a shot to be ready for Week 1 of the 2026 season. While appearing on The Dan Patrick Show on Thursday, NFL insider Jay Glazer shared that he believes Mahomes will be ready even sooner than that.
Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes Could Be Ready to Play Before Start of Regular Season
Here is what Glazer had to say about Mahomes’ recover:
“Patrick’s different,” Glazer said. “He went down and immediately got the surgery. Got the surgery the next day, which normally they don’t do because you want the swelling to [go down]. He got it before it really swelled up. That was on a Tuesday. I believe it was either Thursday or Friday of that week, he was already in the Chiefs’ training room doing rehab. He already had gotten his knee bending 90 degrees at that point. He’s just different. He heals differently. His pain threshold’s different. His work effort’s different. At first they were [talking about returning] the start of the season. I would hedge on him being [back] sooner than that, by far.”
If Mahomes is fully cleared well before the beginning of the regular season as Glazer predicts, he could take part in training camp during late July and early August. He could also play during the preseason, although the Chiefs would likely want to hold him out in an abundance of caution. That would mean Mahomes would return in 7-8 months, which is incredibly fast for an ACL injury.
Patrick Mahomes Needs Pressure Taken off of Him in 2026
GettyPatrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs
Elite quarterbacks like Mahomes are always going to have to shoulder the load, but even by those standards he has been asked to do too much for Kansas City’s offense over the past couple of years. Too often he has had to work with a patchwork offensive line, inconsistent wide receivers, and virtually no threat of a rushing attack.
It caught up with the Chiefs last season, resulting in a disappointing 6-11 record. Even before Mahomes got injured, their chances at making the playoffs were microscopic. Mahomes still has a long way to go in his NFL career and is due a lot of money, so protecting him and giving him to tools to remain successful should be the Chiefs’ top priority.
They have the resources to do that during the offseason. Kansas City has created a comfortable amount of salary cap space to sign at least a couple impact free agents, and now have a whopping nine picks in the 2026 NFL Draft after trading cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams.
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