Patrick Mahomes has not backed off the target he set the day his 2025 season ended. Speaking Wednesday in an interview with Yahoo Sports, the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback said his aim is still to be on the field for the team’s Week 1 opener against the Denver Broncos as he recovers from the torn ACL he suffered last December.
“That’s my goal,” Mahomes said. “I’ve said that since the beginning is being ready to go Week 1. I can’t predict the future and I know that it’s a long process. It’s not just my decision, but at the same time I’m going to give the doctors and the coaches every single opportunity I can to let me be out there Week 1.”
The date carries weight. Kansas City opens the season at home on Monday night against a Broncos team that won the AFC West a year ago, while Mahomes watched the stretch run from the sideline. “I don’t want to miss that game because that’s the team that won the division while we were gone,” he said. “You want to be out there and ready to go with your teammates.”
What sets Wednesday’s comments apart from the steady run of positive rehab updates this offseason is the source. Most of the optimism had come from the front office and from national reporters tracking his progress toward full-team work. This time it was Mahomes himself, tying his recovery to a specific game rather than a general return window.
The caution in his answer matters just as much. Mahomes took part in offseason workouts and OTAs but was held out of full-team drills, and he described the rehab as “a long process” whose timeline is not entirely his to set. Clearing an ACL roughly nine months after the injury is an aggressive schedule, and the final decision belongs to the medical staff, not the quarterback.
The next checkpoint is close. The Chiefs open training camp at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Mo., with rookies reporting July 24 and veterans on the 28th. How much Mahomes does once the pads come on will answer more than any July interview — but for now he has stated his intention plainly, and set it against the team that took the division while he was out.
