After years of dominance, the Kansas City Chiefs missed the NFL playoffs last season with a 6-11 record. Even worse, quarterback Patrick Mahomes suffered a torn ACL in the middle of December against the Los Angeles Chargers.
However, videos of Mahomes’ rehab progression have been posted online showing him throwing the football around. With that, NFL analyst Chris Simms predicts that Mahomes will be back ahead of Week 1 of the 2026 season.
Chris Simms Calls Patrick Mahomes a ‘Psycho Gym Rat’
On earlier NBC programming, Mike Florio and Simms discussed Mahomes on their show, “Pro Football Talk.” In regard to the rehabilitation video, Simms had the following to say:
“This is one of the great psycho gym rats in the history of the sport. He’s gonna be back Week 1, especially with current technology and where the ACL is, I know it. Now, can he run around like a chicken with his head cut off and do all the crazy stuff we always see him do in Week 1?
“No, I’d bet maybe not that, but I’d bet almost anything that he’ll be out there, and it’s good to see him take that first step of throwing the football and getting the body back in shape and used to that again.”
Perhaps Mahomes could be back ahead of Week 1, but due to the nature and severity of the injury, is it the right move? After all, Mahomes is under contract with the Chiefs until the 2032 season, when he’ll be a free agent, and if he plays after that, he’ll almost certainly re-sign with the Chiefs. Yet, what if he comes back too early, re-injures his knee, and suffers an even worse injury to the point he can’t play anymore?
Prior to the injury, the 2025 NFL season was the second-worst of Mahomes’ career in terms of PFSN’s NFL QB Impact Metrics. With an impact score of 77.2 and a letter grade of C+, Mahomes ranked as the 17th-best quarterback in the league, his lowest season rank to date.
In 14 games, Mahomes completed a career low of 62.7% of passes for 3,587 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. However, last season was the most productive Mahomes has been as a rusher. In 64 rushing attempts, he ran for a career-high 422 rushing yards and a career-high five rushing touchdowns.
Although it could be tempting to have your All-Pro and MVP quarterback return to play at the beginning of the season, is it really a risk that the Chiefs should take? Or should the team rely on Justin Fields for the start of the season, whom they acquired from the New York Jets for a 2027 sixth-round draft pick?
