All eyes are on the Kansas City Chiefs as the NFL reveals the 2026 regular season schedule.
Everyone is wondering if star quarterback Patrick Mahomes will be available to play right off the bat in Week 1, or if he will need to sit out a few weeks as he continues to rehab from the torn ACL and LCL he sustained late last season.
NFL Is Confident Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes Will Play Week 1
The league has already announced that the Chiefs will host the Denver Broncos in Week 1 on Monday Night Football. According to NFL insider Adam Schefter, that wouldn’t have happened if there wasn’t a high level of confidence that Mahomes will be ready to play (H/T Sleeper Chiefs).
“The Chiefs have said he is way ahead of schedule,” Schefter said on ESPN’s ‘Get Up’. “You would never bet against Patrick Mahomes, and the NFL certainly hasn’t. The league has scheduled the Chiefs for the opening Monday night game of the year. The league doesn’t do that unless they think that there’s a realistic chance that Patrick Mahomes is going to be back. I think the feeling is you have to see how the knee is progressing during the course of the summer. The feeling right now within the organization is that he is tracking to be ready for that Monday night game against Bo Nix — who is coming off his own surgery of his ankle — and the Denver Broncos in Kansas City.”
A lot can happen between now and Week 1, but as Schefter alluded to, the NFL definitely would not have scheduled Kansas City in a primetime slot if it didn’t feel positive about Mahomes being available. The Chiefs acquired Justin Fields in a trade with the New York Jets earlier this offseason to back Mahomes up and start for him if needed.
Chiefs’ Updates on Patrick Mahomes Have Been Consistent
GettyChiefs QB Patrick Mahomes
What Schefter reported lines up with everything the Chiefs’ brass has said about Mahomes over the past few months. General manager Brett Veach and coach Andy Reid have both praised Mahomes for working hard and being ahead of schedule. Reid recently stated he believes that Mahomes will participate during OTAs in late May and early June.
“He is in a good position to be able to do some things,” Reid told the media in early May. “There’s some rules and regulations that go with that, so we got to just make sure that we’re on top of that part. If he can do some things, remember Phase 2 there’s no contact. There’s no offense versus defense. It’s Phase 3 that you get into that. Once you start the clock, then the clock’s got to be rolling, so you have to evaluate what you want to do there. He’s in a position where he can do everything, I think.”
Missing OTAS wouldn’t be a big deal for Mahomes, so the fact that he will likely participate means the Chiefs are extremely comfortable with where he’s at in his recovery. Mahomes has been dropping back and throwing the ball for a while now. The big test will be how much he participates in training camp later this summer.
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