Reid reiterated that Mahomes has been active in his rehab, giving him confidence that the former MVP will be ready. However, he noted that nothing is a linear line.
“He’s doing great right now and that’s the way you have to go about it,” Reid said. “I’ve said this before, people say, ‘well, he’s ahead of schedule.’… I’m like, ‘Who made the schedule?’ Everyone is different, right? Let’s just take it day by day. No one spends more time than they do in rehab. He spends seven hours here going through it. He hasn’t missed a day, and he wants more, all things Patrick Mahomes. Let’s see where we stand as we move forward, as we get a little closer to the game. Roger Goodell will likely use this as motivation for the two quarterbacks, both of whom have been a bit of a stretch this season. He’s doing his best in training to get them back in, I think.”
When Mahomes went down in mid-December, there was an immediate question as to whether he might miss the start of the 2026 season. All the indications we’ve had since that point point to him being on the field.
“He’s making progress, I’ve been saying that all along, but you don’t know,” Reid said. “That’s the reality. You don’t know. You’re not going to put the player in a position where he can’t take care of himself on the football field. So you’ve got to be smart about that, I think. Then you’ve got to rely on your medical staff. … If it’s Pat, he’d be playing today. But that’s not where we’re at.
The NFL certainly believes Mahomes will be on the field in Week 1. Now we’ll just have to wait to see if their predictions are correct.