Patrick Mahomes’s season ended in a horrible manner last year. The three-time Super Bowl MVP, who tore his ACL and LCL in his left knee in December, is making progress in his return from the injuries.
That’s the good news. But at least one NFL analyst thinks the Kansas City Chiefs need to pump the brakes before getting too excited about the quarterback who ranked 17th in the league last season, according to PFSN’s QB Impact Metric.
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NBC’s Mike Florio recently weighed in on Mahomes’ recovery on “Pro Football Talk,” and his message was clear: Be careful, very careful.
“My big concern with Patrick Mahomes continues to be when you consider how he plays the game,” Florio said. “Is he gonna be able to confine his movements to not putting extra stress on the knee as he pivots and pirouettes and changes directions?”
It’s a fair question, as Mahomes isn’t a pocket statue. He scrambles, extends plays, and improvises better than almost anyone in the league. That style of play is exactly what makes him great, but it’s also exactly what makes his recovery so complicated.
Florio didn’t sugarcoat it. He warned that Kansas City needs to be intentional about protecting its quarterback from himself.
“The challenge is going to be for the Chiefs to be very careful to make sure he’s not put in a position where he’s doing too much and taking risks that could cause a reinjury,” Florio added. “That would be the worst possible thing.”
He also pushed back on the idea that ACL tears are no big deal anymore. Fans and media have grown almost numb to the injury. Players come back from it all the time now. But Florio wants people to remember what’s actually at stake.
“ACL! Oh, no big deal! No, it is a big deal,” he continued. “There’s a lot of stuff that can go wrong. And you need to do all of the things necessary to get that knee ready to go, and it still takes a year for most quarterbacks until they’re back to who they were before it happened.”
A year, that’s the timeline most quarterbacks work with. And Mahomes is only a few months removed from his surgery in December.
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Still, the early signs are encouraging. Chiefs head coach Andy Reid gave reporters an optimistic update ahead of Kansas City’s voluntary offseason program.
The team’s first OTAs are scheduled for May 26-28, and Reid suggested Mahomes could be out there doing something.
“He is in a good position to be able to do some things,” Reid said. “There’s some rules and regulations that go with that, so we got to just make sure that we’re on top of that part.”
Reid also noted that Phase 2 of the offseason program doesn’t involve contact or offense-versus-defense work. That matters as there’s room for Mahomes to ease back in without anyone accidentally cutting to his knee the wrong way.
Mahomes himself has been putting in the work behind the scenes. He’s been a constant presence at the team facility, training alongside athletic trainer Julie Frymyer, who has been in his corner through previous injuries.
Back in March, he even posted a clip of himself throwing on Instagram. Short, simple, but enough to get Chiefs fans buzzing.
“I know he’s doing a lot of stuff right now,” Reid said. “He is throwing the ball. He does it on his own.”
So the picture being painted is one of steady, disciplined progress. No shortcuts, no rush, just a future Hall of Famer putting in the quiet work.
But Florio’s warning still hangs in the air. Mahomes returning healthy is one thing, but him returning as the same electric, unpredictable force he’s always been? That’s the real question. And nobody will know the answer until the regular season arrives.
