Mahomes also said what he wants if the Chiefs hire a new offensive coordinator.
For the first time in his NFL career, Patrick Mahomes is spending his offseason rehabbing from a major injury. How quickly that progress goes by will be up to him and his body.
The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback met with reporters via video call on Thursday for the first time since sustaining a season-ending torn ACL late in the regular season. The injury has left Mahomes' availability for the 2026 season in some doubt, but he said rehab is going well and he hopes to be 100% by Week 1:
"It's been going great. Obviously I think the long term — I want to be ready for Week 1. Doctors said that I could be, but I can't predict what's going to happen throughout the process. That's my goal, so I'll try to prepare myself to be ready to play in that Week 1 and have no restrictions. You want to be out there healthy and give us the best chance to win.
"Obviously, I hope to be able to do some stuff in OTAs and get to training camp and hopefully be able to do a lot there. It's a long process, but I'm excited for it."
Those hopes line up with what Rick Burkholder, the Chiefs' vice president of sports medicine and performance, told reporters last month following Mahomes' surgery. He threw out a loose recovery timeline of nine months, which would add up to a Sept. 15 return date. That's a few days after the NFL's season-opener, but with a large margin of error.
His comment:
"Every player is different. Every sport's different. Every position is different. With him, traditionally, he's going after it so hard and he's so in tune with what he does, he does it a little quicker. Ballpark on this is nine months. Could be a month or two less, a month or two more. You never know what goes on and everyone's designed biomechanically, and so you just have to go through it.
Mahomes' knee won't be the only thing that needs recovery in the Chiefs organization. The team missed the playoffs for the first time since it drafted the future Hall of Famer and is facing the effects of an aging core in a quickly changing league.
Among the biggest question marks in Kansas City is what happens at the offensive coordinator. The incumbent Matt Nagy's contract is up and he has been interviewing for head coaching position over the past few weeks. A return appears unlikely, leaving head coach Andy Reid to find a replacement.
Mahomes said he trusts Reid to "have a good plan of whom he wants to bring in," then laid out what he wants to see in the team's next offensive coordinator:
"I just want someone that loves football, that cares about football, that wants to give everything they can to win, to hold people accountable and to bring new ideas every single day. I think that's something that we have to continue to do if you want to continue to be great.
"In this league, you have to continue to evolve and get better and better. That's something that we'll try to do here. I want to get back to that winning culture and being accountable to each other and going out there and playing great football every single day, practice or game."
Whenever he comes back, Mahomes' talents figure to be an asset while trying to find a coordinator. Reid could very well look for a familiar face — perhaps Mike Kafka or Eric Bieniemy — or bring in someone entirely new. Whether or not the hire works out could have a significant effect on the rest of the AFC.
Category: General Sports
