Patrick Mahomes is the most recognizable face in the NFL today, but pro football has been without its poster boy since Dec. 14 of last year.
Mahomes suffered a complete tear of his ACL and an avulsion tear of his left LCL on that date against the Chargers.
The question most Chiefs fans are asking following the NFL schedule release is will Mahomes be ready to play in Week 1 of the 2026 season against the Broncos?
Below, we will dish out an injury update on Mahomes and take a glance at his MVP and NFL Comeback Player of the Year odds.
Patrick Mahomes Injury Update: Will he be ready to play Week 1 vs. the Broncos?
In a recent appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show,” Chiefs head coach Andy Reid said that Mahomes had not had any setbacks, but stopped short of saying that his QB was a lock to play Week 1 against Denver.
ESPN’s lead NFL reporter, Adam Schefter, was asked on Monday by Darius Butler of “The Pat McAfee Show” to provide the latest on Mahomes. Schefter indicated that he believes that Mahomes will play in Week 1, but cautioned that the three-time Super Bowl MVP might not be fully ready to dominate like he typically has over the past eight seasons.
Butler: “We’ve seen clips of him doing some football drop-backs, we saw him swinging a golf club at his golf outing recently. Any health updates on Mahomes?”
Schefter: “[The Chiefs] have said that he’s way ahead of schedule. It sounds like he’s tracking to be ready in time for that Monday night regular season opener. The fact that he’s out there playing golf is an indication. But, just the one thing that I think is important to remember is that he tore his ACL five months to the day from last Thursday. Five months to the day from when the schedule came out. He tore his ACL and he tore his LCL. And the opener is now under four months away. It’s hard to imagine that Patrick Mahomes wouldn’t be back for that game … he’s gonna be out there. I think the more relevant question is how much of Patrick Mahomes is he gonna be in that opener? Is he going to be 80 percent? 90 percent? 100 percent? It’s hard to imagine he can just step in after such a significant knee injury and pick up from where he left off.”
If Mahomes is to play in Week 1 of the 2026 season, he would place his name among the NFL players to have returned the quickest from an ACL tear. Former NFL running back Adrian Peterson is noted for having one of the quickest recoveries from the devastating injury. He suffered a torn ACL on Christmas Eve 2011 and was ready to go by Week 1 of the 2012 season. The time in between when Peterson suffered the injury and returned was just 260 days.
If Mahomes is to return in Week 1 on Sept. 14 against Denver, it will have been 274 days since the injury occurred.
Most NFL players return from an ACL injury anywhere from 9 to 12 months.
Patrick Mahomes MVP odds
It might not be like the early portion of this decade, where you could pencil in Mahomes as the betting favorite to win NFL MVP prior to the start of each season. But the Chiefs superstar is still top five on the odds board to win the league’s most prestigious individual award.
Mahomes is +1000 to win it at Fanatics Sportsbook. Only Josh Allen (+550), Lamar Jackson (+750), Drake Maye (+850), and Joe Burrow (+900) appear ahead of Mahomes on the board.
Mahomes is a two-time NFL MVP, having won in 2018 and 2022.
Patrick Mahomes NFL Comeback Player of the Year odds
One board at Fanatics where Mahomes is the undisputed favorite is the NFL Comeback Player of the Year market as he has +165 odds.
His primary competition is Kyler Murray (+400), Micah Parsons (+750), Malik Nabers (+850), and Daniel Jones (+1200).
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