The Chiefs have been waiting on this for months. And according to a new report from Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, that wait is almost over. Patrick Mahomes is expected to be fully cleared this week, ahead of training camp, after tearing the ACL and LCL in his left knee back in December.
But here’s the part that actually matters for Kansas City. It’s not just about the medical green light. It’s about what happens next. Breer wrote that people inside the organization know that when they tell Mahomes he can go, he will really go. So the plan is to be smart. Ease him in. Make sure he’s at his best from September through February, not just for Week 1.
That’s the right approach. But let’s be honest. Mahomes has never been great at pumping the brakes.
The injury and the timeline
It happened on December 14, a home loss to the Chargers that effectively ended Kansas City’s shot at a fourth straight Super Bowl appearance. Mahomes went down in the second half, and the diagnosis was brutal: torn ACL and torn LCL in his left knee. For most quarterbacks, that’s a 12-to-18-month recovery. For Mahomes, the target has always been Week 1 of the 2026 season.
That target now looks realistic. Training camp opens at the end of July. Mahomes will be there. He’ll take reps. He’ll test the knee. And then the real work begins.
Because here’s the thing nobody’s saying out loud yet. Even before he got hurt, Mahomes wasn’t playing like Mahomes.
Last season wasn’t great even before the knee
In 14 games, he completed 62.7 percent of his passes for 3,587 yards and 22 touchdowns. Those are decent numbers for most quarterbacks. For a guy with two MVP awards and three Super Bowl rings, they felt like a warning sign. He also threw 11 interceptions. The offense looked out of sync. The downfield passing game just wasn’t hitting the way it used to.
Some of that was personnel. Some of it was scheme. Some of it might have just been a long season catching up to a guy who’s played more football in the last five years than anyone else at his position.
But the point is this: getting healthy is step one. Finding his old form is step two. And that might be the harder part.
What happens now
Once Mahomes is cleared, the conversation shifts. It stops being about the knee and starts being about whether this offense can get back to being dominant. The Chiefs have made moves this offseason to fix the supporting cast. But ultimately, it comes down to No. 15.
If he’s healthy. If he’s sharp. If he’s the guy who threw 50 touchdowns in 2018 and made that ridiculous left-handed shovel pass in the Super Bowl. Then Kansas City is right back in the conversation.
If not? Then all the clearance in the world doesn’t matter.
Training camp starts in a few weeks. Mahomes will be out there. And for the first time in eight months, the Chiefs’ season will actually feel real again.
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