Andy Reid Reveals Patrick Mahomes's Recovery Status Ahead of 2026 NFL Season

The Kansas City Chiefs did not qualify for the playoffs in 2025, yet the NFL’s release of the 2026 schedule underscored the team’s continued status as a marquee franchise. The Chiefs are set to play six primetime games in the upcoming season, including two in the first two weeks. Their Week 1 home opener against the Denver Broncos will air on Monday Night Football, followed by a Sunday Night Football matchup against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 2.

This scheduling has fueled speculation that the league anticipates Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will return after recovering from last season’s torn ACL. However, head coach Andy Reid clarified on NFL Network that the team did not communicate with the NFL regarding Mahomes’s health as part of the scheduling process.

Reid also provided an optimistic update on Mahomes’s recovery. “He’s doing great right now and that’s kinda how you gotta go about this,” Reid said. “People go ‘well, he’s ahead of schedule.’ Who made the schedule? Everybody’s different, let’s just take it day by day. Nobody is spending more time than he is rehabbing—he spends seven hours here going through it. He hasn’t missed a day and he wants more, all the things that are Patrick Mahomes. Let’s see where we are at as we go forward as we get a little bit closer to the game.”

Reid also addressed the Broncos’ quarterback Bo Nix, who is recovering from a broken ankle. Reid joked that the NFL might have scheduled the Chiefs’ opener against Denver as “motivation” for both quarterbacks during rehab, but emphasized that the schedule would not influence the team’s plans.

“He’s making progress, but you don’t know,” Reid said. “That’s the reality of it. You’re not going to put the player in a position where he can’t tend to himself on the football field.”

The NFL will closely monitor Mahomes’s progress as the 2026 season approaches, hoping to see him return to the field on a grand stage.