Patrick Mahomes has been on the field for all of training camp, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s going to be on the field when the Kansas City Chiefs host the Denver Broncos on Monday night in Week 1.
Before Mahomes can suit up in the opener, he has to be cleared for game action, which hasn’t happened yet. The Chiefs quarterback tore his ACL and LCL back in December, but he wasn’t down for long. By the time spring rolled around, he was cleared to throw passes at OTAs, and when the Chiefs revealed to training camp in late July, he was fully cleared to participate in practice. But as the calendar gets ready to turn to September, the Chiefs’ medical staff still hasn’t given him the OK to play just yet, as noted by ESPN.
The last hurdle that Mahomes still needs to overcome is that he has to actually be cleared to play in a game. Chiefs coach Andy Reid was asked about Mahomes’ recovery this week and whether he thought his QB would be ready for the opener and he wasn’t ready to committ to the two-time MVP as his starter.
“I’m literally taking it day by day. No predictions here on anything,” Reid reported of Mahomes possibly starting in Week 1. “If the doctors and trainers and everybody that are involved in this give him the OK, and most of all, if he feels like he can, then we’ll address that when we get there.”
That’s not exactly an encouraging answer.
The Chiefs will be playing in their their final preseason game on Friday against the Seahawks and Mahomes won’t be suiting up, which means that for the first time in his 10-year career, he won’t be be taking a single preseason snap. Mahomes wanted to play in the second preseason game, but the Chiefs held him out. On Monday, Reid was directly asked if Mahomes was held out because he hadn’t been fully cleared.
“Probably not cleared enough,” the Chiefs coach reported.
With just 18 days to go until the opener, it seems like Mahomes’ status for the game is still genuinely up in the air.
How Mahomes feels about the situation
After tearing his ligaments on Dec. 14, Mahomes immediately underwent surgery the next day, and he did that because he wanted to be back on the field as soon as possible. Mahomes was told that it would take about nine months for him to rehab, and coincidentally, Kansas City’s opener is being played almost nine months to the day that the injury happened.
“It’s nine months, it’s the amount of time [doctors] reported from the beginning, that if I did everything the right way, I would be ready to play Week 1,” Mahomes reported this week, via ESPN. “I’m someone that, if you put [a goal] out in front of me, I want to go out and get it and maximize every single opportunity, every rep in the weight room, every hour that I can spend in the building to get my body right.”
Mahomes has been targeting a Week 1 return since the day he underwent surgery, and as far as he’s concerned, nothing has changed.
“This has always been the plan,” Mahomes reported of a Week 1 return. “From the day I got the surgery, as quick as I did, to hopefully the first game of the year, the plan will go accordingly, and I’ll be able to go out there and be myself.”
Although Mahomes has participated in every practice of training camp so far, he still hasn’t taken any hits, and that’s the big difference between being cleared for practice and being cleared for a game.
“You know, obviously I haven’t played in the game and been able to get hit,” Mahomes reported, via KMBC.com. “But having people around me and competing and doing stuff like that, it’s almost like I do everything I naturally do, and then after, it’s kind of like the coaches coaching me, like, ‘Hey, let’s calm down a little bit.’ Being a competitor, I want to go out there and win.”
Playing in a game also means that Mahomes will be scrambling and making cuts, something he hasn’t really had to do in camp.
“I try to not make those hard cuts and stuff like that. But at the end of the day, I’m a competitor, and it kind of just takes over sometimes,” Mahomes reported. “So you want to still prove to yourself that you can do it. And I’ve been able to do that in certain spots, making quick cuts, making reactionary cuts, which I think is the biggest thing when it comes to this, and felt great doing it.”
If Mahomes isn’t cleared to play, then Justin Fields will get the start for Kansas City.
Why a Week 1 return could be a small risk
With Mahomes coming off a serious knee injury, the last thing the Chiefs want to do is bring him back too quickly. If his knee isn’t quite ready to go and he reinjures it, Kansas City’s season would be over before it even really starts. One thing the Chiefs will have to keep in mind here is that if Mahomes does play, that means he’s going to have to open the season by playing two games in six days.
Opening the season on a Monday night is a positive, because it gives the QB’s knee one extra day to get back to 100%, but it’s also a negative, because it means the Chiefs will be on a short week heading into their Week 2 game against the Colts.
Mahomes ability to heal has been impressive. Micah Parsons tore his ACL on the exact same day (Dec. 14) and the Packers star has already reported that he won’t be back on the field until Week 6 at the earliest. Mahomes tore his ACL and LCL while Parsons only tore his ACL, so Mahomes’ injury was actually worse, but the QB is still expected to be making his return at least six weeks before Parsons.
Parsons and Mahomes obviously play different positions, so it’s not the same rehab, but it’s certainly worth noting that Mahomes is on track for an extremely quick recovery. At this point, the only thing that might slow him down are the team doctors in Kansas City, who have to clear him for game action before he can actually play.
