Patrick Mahomes injury update: Chiefs QB says torn ACL rehab is 'going great,' aims to be ready for Week 1

Speaking to reporters for the first time since tearing his ACL in Week 15, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes provided a positive update on his rehabilitation and expressed a desire to be back for Week 1 of the 2026 season.

"Rehab's going great so far, just hitting all the checkpoints that the doctor wants you to do and getting the strength and the range of mobility back," Mahomes said Thursday on a video press conference. "So that's been going great, been doing all of it here in Kansas City so far, and [Chiefs athletic trainer] Julie [Frymyer]'s been crushing it, pushing me. The doctor kind of gives you goals to get to, and I try to maximize those, and they hold me back, because I always want to go a little bit further.

"It's been going great. Obviously, I think the long term, I want to be ready for Week 1. Doctor said I could be but can't predict what's going to happen throughout the process, but that's my goal, and so I'll try to prepare myself to be ready to play in that Week 1 and have no restrictions."

2026 NFL playoffs power rankings: Seahawks top eight remaining teams still vying for a Super Bowl title

Tyler Sullivan

Mahomes said he hopes to be able to do "some stuff" in OTAs and "a lot" come training camp. The star quarterback suffered the ACL late in an eventual loss to the Los Angeles Chargers the same day the Chiefs were eliminated from playoff contention and Green Bay Packers star Micah Parsons also tore his ACL. Speaking to the media Monday, Parsons also said he hoped to be back by Week 1 but "realistically, probably like Week 3, Week 4."

Mahomes said after suffering the injury he initially asked the Chiefs' medical staff if he could put a brace on the knee and finish the game, a request the staff denied.

Mahomes also looked back on the season as a whole as Kansas City missed the playoffs for the first time since 2014 (Mahomes was a freshman at Texas Tech that year) and finished the season with a 6-11 record.

"I think just compounding mistakes," Mahomes said. "You make mistakes throughout a game. For myself, I look at some of the red-zone interceptions I threw in kinda bigger moments in the third and fourth quarter of games. That's stuff that I hadn't done in the past. Speaking for myself, just trying to be better in those moments. I think offensively, we weren't consistent enough throughout games. We had stretches in games we played good, we had stretches in the season we played really good, but we gotta be better, and that starts with me and it has to feed throughout the entire offense."

Mahomes' 7.1 yards per attempt this season was the third-lowest mark of his career, and his 256 passing yards per game was his second-lowest.