Patrick Mahomes News Emerges as Chiefs Start Preseason

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will find himself in an unfamiliar place as his team starts the preseason — on the bench.

Chiefs head coach Andy Reid announced this week that Mahomes would not be playing in the team’s preseason opener as he continues to recover from a season-ending injury. Though Mahomes has been cleared to play in full, the Chiefs are expected to keep him off the field and out of danger until the regular season begins.

Insider Explains Why Patrick Mahomes Won’t Play

As one team insider revealed, the move is more out of caution and not a reflection of any lingering concerns the team has over Mahomes’ surgically repaired knee.

ESPN beat reporter Nate Taylor opened up on Mahomes this week, saying on the “Chiefs Collective” podcast that the quarterback is a “full go.” Taylor added that the Chiefs simply want to keep Mahomes out of danger on the field, saying he could play in full if the regular season were to start today.

“There’s no reason to play him in the preseason. But man, if they played the Broncos on Sunday, he would be out there,” Taylor said.

Taylor added that after talking to several people in the organization, they believe that “the juice is not worth the squeeze” to play Mahomes in the preseason. While Reid would like to see exactly how Mahomes operates in real time and not a controlled practice, he’s willing to heed the advice of the team’s medical staff and wait until September.

“I know Andy would feel like, I just wanna see [Mahomes play] from an operation standpoint just one time,” Taylor said. “But the medical staff understands that like the longer he has to wait to get hit on that leg, the better.”

Chiefs Have Yet to Make Full Decision on Patrick Mahomes

Reid’s comment this week pertained strictly to the team’s first preseason game, leaving open the possibility that Mahomes could see some playing time in one of the other two games. But many team insiders have predicted since the start of training camp that the Chiefs would keep Mahomes out of all three games, giving him additional time to gain strength in the surgically repaired left leg.

For his part, Mahomes said he will defer to whatever Reid believes is best for him.

“I’m for whatever coach says,” Mahomes said, via SI.com. “Like I said, I’m going to prepare to play. He hasn’t told me anything, so I’ll prepare to play and prepare to get myself ready. We’ll see where we go from there and if not, I’ll be as locked in as I am during the game and try to get myself as ready to go [as possible] for the game. It’s just a process of trying to make sure you’re ready for the season and whatever coach thinks is best, I’ll do it.”

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